Stardew Valley on Android is Fantastic

Over the past number of years, I cannot tell you the number of times that I have purchased and played Stardew Valley, across multiple devices. I own it on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, and now even on Android. Despite few updates over the last little while, I still see myself beginning new farm after new farm, and loving every minute of it.

My initial reaction to Stardew Valley coming to Android was relatively optimistic, but of course there were concerns about how the controls from the PC and console versions would port over to the tablet and phone. Thankfully, with a multitude of control options – from tap to move, to virtual joysticks and buttons – there really is no control mechanism not explored in this release.

And thankfully, the company realized a flaw early on and rectified it. While using tap to move and perform actions is ideal when going around the farm, tackling the mines is much more difficult and requires a bit more accuracy. Thankfully, there are a host of special control options that automatically come into effect when you enter the mine, my favorite being the automatic attack option.

It’s also great to not have to transfer to specific tools when completing ‘small’ tasks such as hacking up branches, smashing single stones, or chopping down weeds. This is incredibly valuable in the mines. When setting your combat to automatic, and making sure your sword is equipped, players can tap on stones to break them, keeping their sword equipped and stopping the need to tap between items on the side tool bar.

Using the tap feature makes farming more efficient than ever. Watering plants is much faster on Android than it ever was on consoles or PC. This makes some of the more boring tasks manageable by making it so much easier. This is a huge benefit to playing on Android over the consoles.

Another Android specific feature is the ability to drop in and drop out of the game, saving your progress. Half way through the day and you need to take a phone call? No worries, as the game will remember where you left off when you originally left. The portability of this experience is fantastic, and I cannot wait to play even more!