Sometimes I wish I could leave school behind and move to a ranch. Just me, my pets, and my plants. Unfortunately, I cannot leave my duties behind, but I can play pretend. In Stardew Valley, you can develop your grandfather’s farm, fight monsters, adopt pets, explore mysterious tropical islands, and fall in love—if you want. It is a fun role-playing video game (RPG) created by Eric Barone under the alias ConcernedApe available on multiple platforms, and adored by many. Just beware of evil, exploitative corporations.

Open-ended RPGs aren’t for everyone, and there are some flaws. One objectionable aspect of the game is the length of each day. Shamsa Mayanja (‘25) is one person who doesn’t “like how short the days in the game are” and “wish[es] they were more than twenty minutes.” Once it’s two a.m., your day is over. This problem can leave players stressed about not completing their goals. I, for one, always find myself annoyed when I spend so much time taking care of my farm that I run out of time to complete other quests. One freshman commented that she doesn’t “like how it gets repetitive after a while and [the] dialogues don’t really change.” Each non-player character (NPC) has a set number of dialogues, and it can get boring for long-time players to have the same conversations. No, Alex, I didn’t get new pants. This is the fourth time you’ve asked. 

But, many great aspects of the game make up for the problems. For one, the art is amazingly detailed, especially the pixel art. ConcernedApe taught himself how to make the art, music, and programming for the game, which is incredibly impressive. The freshman said she enjoys how “you can do the game [how] you like” and you “can make the most out of it.” The world may be small but there are hundreds of tiny details and Easter eggs to find. Crops have specific growth stages, the environment changes with the seasons, and each NPC has several unique character portraits. The NPCs are fairly developed themselves, despite their limited dialogue. They have interesting personalities, and Shamsa claims she “may or may not have gotten invested in the characters like, emotionally.” Completely understandable, and perfectly enough, you can romance the Stardew Valley bachelors and bachelorettes if you’d like. 

I recommend this game to people who like semi-open-world games. Stardew Valley has specific storylines and quests to complete to advance in the world, but there is no time limit and the player can do mostly whatever they want without repercussions. In Stardew Valley, “if you like decorating you can focus [on that], or [on] mining or fishing,” according to the freshman. However, for players who like having direction and purpose in games, there is an end goal of achieving Perfection, which includes finishing many quests. Stardew Valley is a great game I recommend to anyone who wants to sit back, relax, and enjoy farming and exploring a little town in a valley.