➤ Stardew Valley, the review 🎮

Stardew Valley he has come a long way. The review of the PC version dates back to the now distant March 2016. Meanwhile the title of Concerned Ape has grown, has been enriched with content and features, has been smoothed where necessary and made its debut on numerous other systems. The version Android is the most recent and keeps the charm of the others intact, so much so that it proposes itself as the best Harvest Moon derivative on the mobile market, superior even to the official titles of the series in the store, namely Harvest Moon: Light of Hope and Harvest Moon: Seeds Of Memories, which are also more technologically advanced.

After all, Stardew Valley is first and foremost the act of love of a single individual towards the classic Harvest Moon, the 16-bit ones (of which it mostly incorporates the graphic style) that had not yet had to undergo all those compromises. necessary to make them accessible to the general public. As such it offers itself as the purest and most radical expression of the original idea of Yasuhiro Wada, the author of Harvest Moon, who also made public appreciation for Stardew Valley ... After all, the act of love has managed to sell millions of copies, let's not forget that.

History of the farm

Stardew Valley tells the story of a boy (or a girl, depending on the sex chosen during the character creation phase) who, inherited from his grandfather a farm located in the charming Pelican Town, decides to abandon his city life made of traffic, office and a lot of stress to dedicate yourself to the land and its fruits. Arrived on the spot he finds a disastrous situation: the farm it is a shack and the surrounding land is full of stones and weeds.

Not wanting to give up, there is nothing left for him to do but roll up his sleeves and start what will become a thriving agricultural business only after many hours of play. As we said, the Android version of Stardew Valley is essentially identical to the others, with the interface adapted to touch controls that really works perfectly (compatible controllers are still supported). Basically some functions have been made contextual: sd example to remove weeds or rocks just click on it and the system will automatically select the tools suitable for the work, or, to give another example, to talk to a Pelican Town resident. just touch it and the protagonist will automatically reach him, starting the dialogue. These seeming trifles allow you to come into play without drama, even if you are used to the traditional control system. The management of the fighting, which instead pays a lot to switch to touch controls, so much so that we advise you to use the virtual controller that can be called up from the game options to face them.

The alternative is to go crazy with manual controls trying not to make mistakes by clicking on the creatures of the mines and on the boxes that allow you to retreat, or set the automatic combat which however works in half, in the sense that the character often stands still to fight without dodge the blows of the enemies, ending up regularly killed. It is true that fighting is not the focus of Stardew Valley, but in the mines there are so many fundamental objects and materials to advance in the game, so it is not possible to ignore it.

Gameplay and conversion

Clarified the specific strengths and weaknesses of the port di Stardew Valley for mobile systems, the rest can be defined as identical to what has already been seen on other platforms, apart from theabsence of multiplayer. Our character has an energy bar, rechargeable while sleeping and eating, which allows him to carry out a certain number of actions during the day, choosing between devoting himself to agriculture (hoeing, sowing, watering and so on) or breeding. , go fishing, tackle the mines, go to the village to talk to the inhabitants, make purchases and carry out small missions, dedicate yourself to furnishing and customizing the farm and much more.

The playing time is marked by the passing of days and seasons, which bring specific problems, but also events (festivals, fairs and company) and different products to grow or find. Stardew Valley does a truly exceptional job of slowly opening up to the player, which is to reveal hour after hour that it is so much more than it may initially seem. For example, by becoming familiar with the inhabitants, some are unlocked linee narrative unexpected, closing others, such as those linked to the twelve characters that can be courted to start a family. Furthermore, you soon realize that it is worthwhile to specialize the farm, because it is not possible to dedicate oneself to all the economic activities foreseen by the game system at the same time. The result is a very high replay value that greatly extends the life of Stardew Valley.

Comment

Tested version Android 1.4 Digital Delivery Google Play Price 8,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.9

Readers (12)

8.8

Your vote

The text of the review should have clarified that Stardew Valley on mobile systems is an excellent port that is worth as much as the other versions and is therefore a highly recommended title, even to be taken at full price. The highest rating compared to the PC version derives from the fact that over the years the game has been enriched with many contents, which have made it even more valid (obviously the PC version has also improved). The only lack of importance of the Android version compared to the others is multiplayer, however not essential.