A Stardew Valley fan who introduced their mom to the game is shocked to see how many hours she has played. Stardew Valley, like other games in its genre, is well-known for being a time-consuming experience that is easy to lose dozens of hours to.
Stardew Valley is a farming simulator game that was released in 2016 and developed by Eric Barone, also known as ConcernedApe. It is heavily inspired by the 16-bit Harvest Moon games but mixed with the life simulator mechanics seen in games like the Animal Crossing series. Soon after its release, Stardew Valley became incredibly popular and is now one of the prime examples of the farming game genre. ConcernedApe recently celebrated the seventh anniversary of Stardew Valley with a heartfelt letter to fans as well as affirming his commitment to continue supporting the game through updates.
A fan who goes by WolverineR754 on Reddit introduced the game to their mom and checked their Nintendo Switch profile to find out she had played for over 710 hours. They shared an image of their mom's Switch profile on the Stardew Valley subreddit where it was met warmly by other fans, some of which are also mothers who have sunk hundreds of hours into their virtual farms. One user, named braceofjackrabbits, was introduced to the game through her son and has over 1200 hours in the game across PC and Switch. Stardew Valley's reputation for being a game that takes a lot of time is not exclusive to it as other indie games that take a long time to finish include Hollow Knight, Hades, and Terraria.
Much like the games that inspired it, Stardew Valley has enjoyed popularity with casual gamers who may not play video games as often. The Animal Crossing series has this reputation in spades with some of the series' most dedicated fans including people like Audrey, a grandmother who had over 4000 hours in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Stardew Valley has also captured this niche, and its popularity has been bolstered by the game being ported to many platforms, including Android and iOS, ensuring that even people without gaming consoles can enjoy it.
The value of casual gaming experiences has been demonstrated by games like Stardew Valley. The massive success of Stardew Valley has not only given millions of casual gamers more to enjoy but has also helped turn players onto other games similar to Stardew Valley such as Ooblets, Harvestella, and the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons series that preceded it. With ConcernedApe's next game, Haunted Chocolatier, currently in development, the casual audience will not be running out of things to play anytime soon.
Stardew Valley is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
