I was never good at video games. While my best friend won all the fights in Street Fight and tournaments in Mario Kart, I’d struggle to get Mario past the first levels. Give me anything that involved quick reflexes and I was a disaster. That’s why I always preferred strategy games, like the ones with some RPG elements, or city-building games such as Sim City.

There was one game I was very passionate about in my childhood – Phantasy Star. I remember going with my dad to this small video game store across the city to buy it (don’t ask me how I found out the place). I’ve spent hours and hours in the company of Alis, Myau, Odin and Noah.

I’ve had some other games I enjoyed over the years, but none at this level. That’s until my partner introduced me to Stardew Valley. I soon learned this is a unique game like no other.

Starting with how the game was conceived. This is not a product of large companies like Master System or Nintendo. It was all created by this one guy – Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe). And when I say everything, I mean everything – from the mechanics to the art design, to the music. Stardew Valley started as a side project and took more than 4 years to get done, and 12-hour-long journeys were a constant.

The final result is amazing. The game starts with the death of Grandpa, who leaves a letter to his grandson (you). Working a soulless job in a large corporation, you decide to finally open the letter. It reads:

Enclosed is the deed to his farm, in a place called Stardew Valley. You move there and start your new life: planting crops, tending to animals and going down the mines to extract ore to make machines to improve your life.

The seasons change during the year, and with every new season comes new possibilities – crops, plants to be collected and even different types of fish you can catch.

But there’s more than just farming. The social aspect is a big one in this game. There are more than 30 villagers to interact with, each one with a unique story. Unlike other games, in which dialogues with side characters tend to be short and shallow, in this one everyone has their own arch.

Barone didn’t spare the player from the dark moments that come with normal life. We see problems ranging from alcoholism to lack of perspectives in a small town. The more you interact with these characters, the more you get to know them, and some profound cut scenes will unfold with enough friendship.

There are so many different avenues you can take in this game. Some spend hours decorating their farm and making everything look perfect. Some use the game mechanics to make as much (in-game) money as possible, investing in the most profitable crops. Some like to explore the mines and caves in the hardest set and kill all the monsters (not me, I assure you). Some reach for perfection, mastering every aspect of the game.

As per usual, being the data person I am, I had to build some databases in Notion and Google Sheets to keep track of my adventures on the farm and understand how many resources I need.

In Notion, I use the Stardew Perfection Tracker created by stelllajo, with some improvements and adaptations. It helps me keep track of the crops I still need to plant and information on the villagers. To calculate the resources I need for each season I use a Google Sheets calculator that I created myself (I’d share the link to it, but the results are still not perfect).

What about you? Do you have a game you love the most?