Stardew Valley Reviews

Stardew Valley is ranked in the 99th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
IGN
Top Critic
10 / 10.0
May 7, 2024

More than just a cozy farming sim, eight years of updates have grown Stardew Valley into a modern classic with an endless list of enticing activities to complete and a deeply satisfying time management challenge to take on.

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IGN
Top Critic
8.8 / 10.0
Mar 25, 2016

Stardew Valley beautifully combines genres to create a captivating small-town life sim.

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IGN
Top Critic
9.5 / 10.0
Aug 7, 2018

Stardew Valley is a beautiful, fun game that, when all of its parts are pulled together, make for a wonderful countryside adventure.

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Essential
Oct 10, 2017

A modern indie classic on PC finds in Nintendo's Switch the perfect platform.

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80 / 100
Feb 26, 2016

Stardew Valley's blend of pixel charm and gentle pacing makes for an excellent little escape.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
8 / 10
Oct 6, 2017

The best farming sim ever finds its ideal home on the Switch, with gameplay and hardware that complement each other perfectly.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
8 / 10
Dec 19, 2016

The best version of Harvest Moon, or indeed any farming sim, ever made – even if it doesn't move the concept on quite as far as you'd hope.

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8.8 / 10.0
Mar 24, 2016

Stardew Valley is a fantastic game that's much more than its farming simulator sales pitch suggests

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Polygon
Top Critic
Unscored
Mar 30, 2024

It’s unclear whether there’ll be a massive 1.7 update in the future. Barone has been developing a different game, Haunted Chocolatier, since 2020, and while that’s currently on pause to get 1.6 bug-free and available across platforms, surely at some point Stardew Valley will be left to its own devices. But even if it doesn’t get any more major updates, its unshakeable core, long tail, and rooted community mean that it’s bound to stay at the center of the ecosystem that grew up around it for a long while to come.

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GameSpot
Top Critic
9 / 10
Oct 6, 2017

Mastering farming and earning the affection of your special someone in Stardew Valley are fulfilling journeys filled with surprising and rewarding challenges.

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9 / 10.0
Mar 29, 2016

No simulation or game is an exact copy of what it's trying to emulate, but Stardew Valley, above all, expertly explores the connection that someone can have with their environment, their work and the people around them.

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Mar 21, 2016

Far more than just a farming game, this one-man labor of love is filled with seemingly endless content and heart.

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9.5 / 10.0
Mar 7, 2016

Stardew Valley is a game that keeps on giving. There is so much I haven't even explored yet that has my giddy for the future. The core mechanics and relaxing aesthetic merge so well together that players will sink in to the experience and never want to leave.

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Mar 1, 2016

It isn't common that you encounter a game as charming and delightfully addictive as Stardew Valley. It finds a harmonious balance of progression, activities, and rewards resulting in each day being distinct and memorable. It's a triumph in indie game development, demonstrating that a single developer with tremendous heart can make something more meaningful and captivating than even the most prolific AAA studios.

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9 / 10
Apr 28, 2017

The constant churn of daily activities may prove thankless and repetitive for those impatient and unwilling to immerse themselves, but if you surrender yourself to Stardew Valley and dig deeper beneath the surface you'll find one of the best, most impactful games you play this year, homage or not.

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4.5 / 5.0
Oct 14, 2017

Stardew Valley brings a mix of farming and life simulation to the Switch and the platform is absolutely perfect for it.

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9 / 10.0
Oct 16, 2017

Stardew Valley on the Switch is my third time buying it and the only one that actually clicked and got me addicted while proving to be a relaxing experience in the middle of the busy review season.

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8 / 10.0
Mar 9, 2016

Stardew Valley is a highly addictive love letter to the Harvest Moon series with some welcome additions and a wide range of activities to keep you interested.

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9 / 10
Oct 7, 2017

Stardew Valley offers its players a chance to live a second life – one where you can forget the troubles of the real world and get excited over finding a particularly rare carrot. It is a truly magical experience; games can often be enjoyable but they don't all manage to be as captivating as this. This is the sort of game that ideally requires a significant amount of time to be invested; the enjoyment doesn't necessarily come from the day-to-day actions you perform, but rather from the general growth of pride, satisfaction, and sense of security as the days go by. Fans of games such as Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing will be right at home here and, for those who aren't, there is a decent chance this game might just surprise you. For the asking price the risk couldn't be more worth it.

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Unscored
Mar 4, 2016

Stardew Valley is the rare kind of imitation that breaks free of the boundaries of its inspiration, becoming more than just a clone but an experience that thrives independent of its origins.

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