Nintendo Switch gets another impressive title in its library of games in the name of "Stardew Valley." For the uninitiated, "Stardew Valley" is a farming game that is reminiscent to "Harvest Moon." Both are strikingly similar in basic gameplay that "Stardew Valley" could have been dubbed as Harvest Moon for the PC.
Farming, socializing, and dungeon crawling!
The game takes everything from the Harvest Moon series of games and makes them bigger and better.
There is much more to the game than just growing crops and selling the fruits (and veggies!) of your labor.
There's a social aspect, a home building aspect, and even a dungeon crawl designed with RPG elements in mind.
However, as impressive as the game is, some people dislike playing something like "Stardew Valley" on the PC.
This is how The Verge columnist Andrew Webster felt, and is the reason why he held off on playing the game for so long. Sure, "Stardew Valley" was later ported to consoles, but by then he was "without much in the way of free time."
Now, in a recent The Verge article, he describes how he is glad that he first experienced "Stardew Valley" on the portable Nintendo Switch.
Better for the portable
"It's an ideal pairing," the columnist writes. He further describes how certain gameplay elements in "Stardew Valley" work better with the handheld console.
As mentioned, Webster only has little free time, so the portable Nintendo Switch is a great way to shoehorn a few gaming minutes in.
And it works very well because "Stardew Valley" is not a demanding game by any means. It is not like an action game that requires a lot of attention and concentration. Webster even related how he could play the game while multitasking — he once harvested potatoes in-game while watching an ice hockey match.
Of course, one can get lost in the game for hours, too. But if you're someone who only has a few minutes to spare every day, then this video game is still for you.
"'Stardew' is largely about incremental progress. Even if you can only contribute a little bit in one particular session, that work still helps you build up your farm into something you can be proud of," Webster said.
"Stardew Valley" is one those titles with gameplay that never gets old. It is mostly a homage; a labor of love from fans of the Harvest Moon series that is so wonderfully executed. At this point, calling it a spiritual successor would not be frowned upon, even by hardcore HM fans.
