As the winter months hit, days get colder, and nights grow longer, it’s the perfect time to get cosy with a cuppa and start a new indie game. For me, that game was Stardew Valley. I had heard of the game before, having such a big name in the gaming industry, but I had never played it. Although it has become more mainstream, with a review score of 9.5/10 from IGN (an American video game and entertainment media website), it is still an indie game at heart.  

Stardew Valley (currently £10.99 on Steam) is a farming simulation game primarily inspired by Story of Seasons, a series by the Japanese video game developer Marvelous. It was solely developed by American indie game designer Eric Barone, known professionally as ConcernedApe for over four and a half years. He graduated from university with a computer science degree and used this base knowledge to help teach himself the skills he needed to create the game, including programming, art, music, and design. Barone was also inspired by other games such as Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, Terraria and my personal favourite, Minecraft — adding features such as crafting, quests and combat. At the Golden Joystick Awards, it was nominated for ‘Best Indie Game’ and won the ‘Breakthrough Award’ in its release year.  

The game starts with the option of creating your character, where there are endless options of hairstyles, clothes and the choice of your “favourite thing.” This comes into play when the player eats a stardrop, and this icon appears:  

Depending on the favourite thing you choose, it will appear where “ConcernedApe” is written above – but this specific message will appear if you choose the game developer himself.  

Once you have created your character, they inherit a plot of land and a dilapidated house once owned by their grandfather located in Stardew Valley. As the game is open-ended, it is up to you how you choose to play – whether you prefer to interact with the NPCs and form relationships with them, foraging and collecting materials or even fishing (which might be my favourite part so far).  

The creator of Stardew Valley still remains very involved in the game, informing users directly via the blog on the Stardew Valley website about new updates and other information. The most recent update (Stardew Valley 1.6) was released on November 4th for mobile and console users. This brought a range of new content, visual improvements, multiplayer changes, bug fixes and many more features.  

I would highly recommend this game to anyone who has always had a soft spot for Minecraft but also feels that it lacks aesthetics. Also, you’ll soon find out that Stardew Valley Wiki will quickly become your best friend throughout your journey in this indie video game!