Stardew Valley’s most recent big update doesn’t turn it into a whole new game, but it does show that ConcernedApe’s farming sim will stick around for a long, long time.
When Stardew Valley first came out in 2016, it was positioned as a Harvest Moon-like. The comparison was the only way at the time to describe a low-stakes farming simulator with a village of locals to meet and perhaps marry. It’s difficult to remember that now, in an era where “cozy gaming” has taken on a life of its own and “wholesome” games have their own showcases with hundreds of thousands of viewers, but Stardew was released into a different world. And then it made this one. Its latest major content release, the 1.6 update, is a testament to the game’s longevity in the genre that it shaped.
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Stardew Valley was a huge success when it launched; it sold a million copies in two months, and as of 2024, that number is 30 million. Reviewers at the time enjoyed the satisfaction of its tasks, and how they built toward something bigger: allowing you to escape the daily grind of life by putting your hands in the soft dirt and making connections with your community. Stardew was also somewhat ahead of its time when it came to depicting same-gender relationships, allowing players to date and marry any of the romanceable NPCs regardless of gender.
Each of these elements has been critiqued over the years — the game’s anti-capitalist framework belies a grinding chase for profit that doesn’t lift up anyone else in Pelican Town, and its playersexual NPCs only highlight a lack of diversity more broadly. But it is, to put it simply, nice to be able to feel as if you’re sticking it to Joja Corp. and its real-life equivalents by creating a satisfyingly clean and efficient wine production line and kissing your gay girlfriend (Leah, if you’re wondering), despite these imperfections.
This core to Stardew Valley has never changed, and neither has its appeal. In fact, its runaway success has only accelerated. As the niche it once filled alone became saturated with hundreds of other indie farming games and adjacent AAA titles like Harvestella, it began to loosely coalesce under the cozy gaming banner.
