They say that farm living is better than any other kind of life. Imagine relaxing at the patio overlooking crops raring to be harvested, while homegrown critters run free across lush pasture. This is the good life you’ll get on Stardew Valley, albeit digitally. The hit indie farming RPG that had many trading bedtime for tending livestock and growing crops has officially come to mobile.
The premise of the game is the same as its PC and console counterparts. Tired of your desk job, you travel to Pelican town and settle in the farm you have inherited from your grandfather. Making use of worn out tools, you, little by little and through nuggets of wisdom from the townspeople, work to give yourself the best life.
The game sees you do farm work throughout four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. You have to lookout for which crops grow best for each season, make infrastructural adjustments as your farm grows, feed and provide comfortable shelter for the animals, and learn skills such as farming, mining, and crafting materials, all these on top of keeping good relationships with the people of Pelican town. While it seems a lot of work, Stardew Valley has managed to create an addicting gameplay that would make you want to do more.
It retains its calming soundtrack as well as the colorful 16-bit graphics, but is now tailored for smartphone screens. Going about the farm life has been made easy with tap and drag controls.
Everything’s optimized for playing on the go. Doing tedious tasks such as watering crops have become more intuitive: just tap the watering can icon, tap the crop that needs to be watered, and repeat. Moving items from your personal inventory to the shipping bin also feels more natural than it is on PC as you just tap and drag. Another new feature in the mobile version is the option of moving your toolbar from the bottom of the screen to side, vertically so you could see more of your farm.
When exploring the mines, players have the option to activate the auto attack mode. What this does is when you have your weapon equipped and hostile critters such as slimes are nearby, the character automatically goes into combat mode and attacks the enemies, reducing work on the players end.
Meanwhile, if you need to purchase seeds and materials or sell produce, you will no longer be required to tap as many times as the intended quantity with the new slider menu. Just slide to the amount you need to sell or purchase, and you’re done.
One thing that’s missing, however, is the co-op mode. The highly-raved feature, which allows you to farm with real-life friends, is sadly not available in the mobile version. But since Stardew Valley mobile has just been released this year, it is not impossible for a multiplayer mode to be rolled out as an update anytime soon.
With Stardew Valley available online and offline, you can farm your heart out, be closer to defeating Joja Corporation, and restore Pelican town’s former glory anytime, anywhere.
Developer: Chucklefish Limited
Platform: iOS and Android (PHP 399)
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE May 2019 Issue
Words by Mia Carisse Barrientos