Stardew Valley – Just One More Day…

I’ve been playing a ton of Stardew Valley lately on the Xbox One, and I’m beginning to suffer from what I like to call, Just One More Day Syndrome. When you explain a farming simulator game to a friend who might not be that into video games, you probably sound like an idiot? You build and take care of a farm? You have nothing better to do? And yet, it is so addicting, in the best possible way.

Last night was another great examples of Just One More Day Syndrome. 11 PM quickly melted into midnight, and before I knew it, I was shutting off the TV and Xbox One at 1:30 in the morning, knowing full well I had to get up for work at 7 AM. Stardew Valley, you are killing me here!

What makes this type of game so addicting is that it dangles that next big thing on a string at the end of a poll, and slowly marches one day past you as night comes. You just need one more trip to the mine to get the ore you need, which turns into one more day of waiting while your next building expansion gets finished, which leads to one more day to get animals in your barn, which…well, you get the point. It is the Just One More Day issue again, and again, and again.

I have to tip my hat to Concerned Ape, the developer behind Stardew Valley. He took the game we all loved on the early Nintendo consoles, made it 100 times better, and launched it on high powered machines for the reasonable price of 14.99. It was brilliant. And, he did all of this with a blessing from the original creator of Harvest Moon. The similarities are definitely there, but no Harvest Moon game in the past has ever gripped me as much as Stardew Valley has.

Stardew Valley has the benefit of hind sight. Concerned Ape saw what worked in the original Harvest Moon titles, saw what didn’t work, and created something that almost everyone wanted. There are lots of items to find and collect, item bundles to complete – which pushes you to try all types of farming, fishing, and foraging – buildings to construct, house expansions to purchase, farm land to clear, and so on. As far as I can tell, Stardew Valley may be a flawless title?

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