Game profile
Stardew Valley
An abandoned farm is revived from scratch, with crops, fishing, mining and villagers to befriend. The game can be enjoyed at your own pace and still offers new content after years.
Affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What kind of game this is
At its core this is Simulation / RPG, set in the present day. Visually it is built on pixel art, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
Difficulty stays forgiving, so progress rarely depends on your reflexes. Story exists mostly as background texture rather than a reason to keep going. Co-op is supported, so you can bring someone along. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Relaxed farm life
- Deep relationship systems
- Enormous scope
This fits you if
- you want to wind down rather than be tested
- you would rather build something than be told what to do
- you want zero frustration and no difficulty wall
- you have someone to play with
- you are watching your budget
- you like a deliberate retro look over photorealism
Look elsewhere if
- you need real difficulty to stay interested
- pixel art puts you off
- you specifically want an open world to roam
- you want something with real weight to it
How long is Stardew Valley?
About 55 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 9 weeks, or 28 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 91 out of 100, which puts it above 91 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 110 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Simulation averages 79 points across the database, so this one sits 12 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 1849 collected ratings.
Released in 2016, so it has 10 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2016
- Genres
- Simulation, RPG, Cozy
- Playtime
- approx. 55 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Relaxed, forgiving
- Story weight
- Background flavour
- Play with
- Solo, Co-op
- Setting
- Present day
- Visual style
- Pixel art
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 91 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardew Valley | 2016 | approx. 55 hrs. | 91 | Budget |
| Coral Island | 2023 | approx. 55 hrs. | 82 | Mid price |
| My Time at Sandrock | 2023 | approx. 45 hrs. | 85 | Mid price |
| Fields of Mistria | 2026 | approx. 40 hrs. | n/a | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- 82/100 Coral Island Shared: Simulation, RPG
- 85/100 My Time at Sandrock Shared: Simulation, RPG
- n/a Fields of Mistria Shared: Simulation, RPG
- n/a Moonstone Island Shared: Simulation, RPG
- 70/100 My Time at Portia Shared: Simulation, RPG, shorter
- n/a Wylde Flowers Shared: Simulation, RPG, Present day, shorter