Stardew Valley is a farming game like no other. It shows you what it’s like to run an actual farm and places you in the shoes of a humble farmer. There’s an exciting sense of freedom and accomplishment to be gained from playing this game. Learn more about Stardew Valley and why it is worth having among today’s top mobile games.
Stardew Valley Overview
Taking its inspiration from the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons games, Stardew Valley begins with you inheriting your grandfather’s farmstead. It’s a desolate place that appears to be unsuitable for growing crops at first sight. That is until you learn the ways of farming and kickstart the revitalization process.
Stardew Valley is out on platforms such as PC and consoles like the Nintendo Switch. Stardew Valley is also available for mobile phones, including iOS and Android devices.
If you’d like to spice up your gameplay with mods, you’d be happy to know that these are available for Stardew Valley Mobile. You can also play multiplayer sessions with this version of the game.
While Stardew Valley is predominantly a farming simulator, it also carries some RPG elements with a progression system that makes it feel like an actual RPG. When exploring the mine, for instance, you’ll encounter monsters that you can kill by arming yourself with weapons.
Starting Out in Stardew Valley
Playing Stardew Valley for the first time may prove confusing. While there are many people who can’t get into it, should you choose to commit to this charming game for the long haul, you’re in for a real treat. At first glance, Stardew Valley may seem to be a typical farming simulator, but in actuality, there’s a lot more to it than that.
Once you start off in Stardew Valley, the game will allow you to choose from a variety of farm types. After choosing your inherited farm, you are thrust into a world with numerous day-to-day activities to complete.
You should introduce yourself to the villagers or start cutting down some trees immediately, as there is little time to waste. Time management is key in Stardew Valley, as your character runs out of energy and the game runs on a night and day system.
From creating your own farm from scratch and catching fish to fighting monsters and talking to villagers, there’s no end to the daily activities you can do. You might be at a loss as to what to prioritize, and that’s why we’re here to guide you through the essentials.
Everyday Tricks in Stardew Valley
There are things in Stardew Valley that you should set some time aside for every day. They don’t take up too much time anyway, and doing them is beneficial for you.
Look Out for Rain on TV
When you wake up in the morning, watch your TV to monitor the weather forecast. This will help you plan when to plant crops and whether or not to water them.
Rain in Stardew Valley is especially helpful. It waters all your crops for you, which saves you valuable time. On these days, you can set aside the time you were supposed to use for watering crops and use it to talk to locals and upgrade your equipment instead.
Talk to Neighbors
One of your first quests in Stardew Valley is to talk to the villagers. You need to keep interacting with villagers because they may have some stuff they want to give you. You also have the ability to marry, so daily interactions with the person you’re interested in are crucial.
Over time, your relationships with the characters will grow, unlocking new character interactions. You’ll be exposed to sides to them that you didn’t know before, and there will also be new dialogue options. If you give characters gifts on their birthdays, they’ll also find your gesture hard to forget, and you may be rewarded in the future.
Keep an Eye Out for Traveling Merchants
On Fridays and Saturdays in Stardew Valley, a traveling merchant will visit. Usually, they spawn south of where your farm is. On days that they’re present, be sure to pay them a visit.
The items that traveling merchants sell are expensive but there is a good reason for this: the items they sell are mostly off-season and/or limited items. Sometimes, these items are extremely useful, and occasionally, they’ll be good for completing bundles in the Community Center.
Go to Bed Early
Yes, you read that right. In Stardew Valley, going to bed early gives your character plenty of energy. Staying up doesn’t have too many repercussions, but it will impact your energy level. If you sleep for fewer hours, you’ll usually have less energy to expend the next day.
You can stay up until 2 AM in Stardew Valley, but once the clock strikes that time, you’ll pass out and hit the ground. You’ll then find yourself waking up in your bed the very next day. Of course, you’ll have less energy the next day, and some of your gold will be gone, too.
Essential Tips
Stardew Valley can be difficult to grasp for some players. You can spend tens of hours and find out you’re doing things completely wrong. Here’re some general tips for you to get the most out of your game.
Make Lots of Chests
In the early game, stocking up on items and making chests is good. You might think that selling stuff is more of a priority to build up your farm. However, you’d be surprised how useful random items are later.
You need to find out how things work first, and this entails finding out what items do. Thus, it’s better to stock up on items while finding out what they do instead of just selling random stuff to make money. You might find a use for items that you randomly pick up off the floor, so don’t sell them immediately. Every item in Stardew Valley has a use.
Pick the Default Farm (For First-Time Players)
As we’ve mentioned earlier, at the start of the game, Stardew Valley will allow you to choose from a host of different farms. Some of these farm maps are more difficult to manage than others.
There’s a riverland farm, and as its name suggests, it is surrounded by a huge body of water. This restricts the amount of space you have available for farming, and you’ll have to rely heavily on fishing for income.
There’s also a forest farm, which gives you a lot of farming opportunities but not much else.
The standard farm is a balanced map to help you figure out how the game works. So for now, since you’re just starting out, it’s better to choose the default farm. After you’ve become more adept at Stardew Valley, then you can start branching out to the different maps.
Activate Show Tool Hit Location
Controls can be confusing for some players. This is especially true for users of iOS Stardew Valley and Android Stardew Valley. When you start out in Stardew Valley, you may sometimes not know what you’re hitting. You should thus turn on the “Always Show Tool Hit Location” option, which can be found in general settings.
This will show you a red outline wherever you’re targeting so that you know what you’re hitting. It helps you identify what you’re doing and prevent any mishaps from happening.
Farming Tips
There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to farming. You’ll be learning as you go along, but we’ve listed down some tips to make your life easier.
Pay Attention to Seasons
Seasons in Stardew Valley only last for roughly a month. This becomes a problem in the long run, as some crops may take half a season to grow before you can harvest them. Knowing how the seasons work is crucial to success in this game.
If you don’t harvest your crops before the season changes, they’ll probably die. And if they die, then you’ll have wasted all of the time you’ve invested into them.
Till 3×3 Patches
Tilling 3×3 patches is important when you get a sprinkler. This is because sprinklers will affect everything in that 3×3 patch, watering all crops within range for you. You don’t get it until later in the game, but save yourself some time and till 3×3 patches for your crops. This way, you don’t have to rework your farm in the future.
Also Read: The Best Games Like Stardew Valley
Mining Tips
Mining is another one of the most important things that you’ll be doing in Stardew Valley. Whenever you’re not fishing or farming, you might be out mining. So it’s good to have a good grasp of what you need for mining.
Conserve Your Energy
Mining copper, iron, and gold can be tough work. This is especially true because of the energy system in Stardew Valley. So when you feel like you’re running out of energy, you should probably stop what you’re doing and get out of the mine.
In the early game, you don’t have to do much exploring in the mines. This will come later, so in the early game, you should just get as much ore as possible and then leave. Don’t die in the mines or lose all your energy. Your main goals are simply to amass ore and survive.
Have Food Ready
Food helps you regenerate your health as well as energy. This makes food extremely important when you’re mining, where you need as much health as possible.
If you want to make the most out of your mine trip, then you should prepare a lot of food. Food can really be the difference between passing out in the mines and making it out or to the elevator.
Upgrading Tips
In Stardew Valley, you’ll be upgrading your items a lot. There’s a lot of choices whenever you upgrade, and it can be overwhelming at times. So here are some strategies on upgrades you can consider.
Prioritize Watering Cans and Pickaxes (Early Game)
In the early game, you ought to prioritize watering cans and pickaxes. Watering cans are essential for crop growth. The better your watering can, the more time and energy you’ll be saving when watering your crops. Pickaxes are important in mining to gain ore. Having a better pickaxe will save you more energy.
Once you’ve upgraded your watering can to copper, you’ll be able to water crops in 1×3 patches. This won’t cost you any additional water or energy and saves you valuable time. And once you have iron, you can craft sprinklers, which will do all the watering for you.
Upgrade Strategically
Upgrading items in Stardew Valley will take you two in-game days to complete. This usually means that you’ll be unable to use the items while they’re being upgraded. So you need to upgrade tools on days when you know you won’t need them.
For instance, you should upgrade your pickaxe when you already have an abundance of ores. But for watering cans, you need to ensure that you’re upgrading when you know that rain is coming. This way, you won’t be missing out on watering your crops.
The Verdict
Stardew Valley is a great farming game for just about anyone willing to invest time to get into it. There’s tons of stuff to do other than farming, like talking to your neighbors, fishing, and upgrading your tools.
On top of it being one of the most highly rated and praised games on platforms like Steam, players mostly think of it as a relaxing game to destress. So go out there and enjoy Stardew Valley on your phone!
