Your Next Great Farming Adventure

When You’ve Terraformed ’til You’ve Dropped

Picture it. March 20, 2020. The game to save the quarantine monotony: Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH).

ACNH was the first of the Animal Crossing franchise that I had played. Somehow I missed the boat on every other version of the game. Experiencing Animal Crossing for the first time was like a breath of fresh air. There were no consequences to what I did in the game. No bosses to beat. It was simply tranquility amidst the chaos of the world.

Like many others, I found myself shocked at the hundreds of hours I had put in effortlessly and yet my island was no where close to perfection. I felt so social hopping from island to island. Having fishing parties with my friends, accidentally releasing my prized Dorado into the river when trying to show it off, going stargazing with family followed by forgetting to get my stars the next day. I believed the fun could never end. It truly was the best thing to come out of 2020.

Then came the winter.

All year, I had been looking forward to my island being blissfully blanketed in snow. What I failed to factor in was the actual outdoors also being blanketed in snow. This season brought on something so unexpected, a freeze on my interest in the game all together. Every action was monotony. The cute snowflakes and impossibly perfect snowboys were not doing it for me. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of a tranquil simulation game, like no game I had ever played before. Or was it?

Enter Stardew Valley.

It’s essentially the same game. You pick flowers, hit rocks, fish, give gifts to your villagers and decorate your house. Yet a day isn’t an actual day. A day is probably 20 minutes of a mad dash to check your crops, get the ore, gift your villagers, fish for quick cash and somehow make it to bed at a decent hour.

Your crops don’t magically grow and regenerate if you forget to water them. While there are no bugs to catch, those slimes will get you every time. There is an element of questing that makes gathering so much more exciting. Your villagers can’t be sent away and there are many of them who are just so stubborn, you find yourself asking why should we even be friends! As you persevere through the stubbornness, you find the friendships with your villages are more rewarding as you learn about their troubled backstories and they randomly show up on your doorstep.

To be honest I had played Stardew Valley years ago and gave up halfway through the first year. Why? I couldn’t figure out mining and I got tired of not having sprinklers. What changed this round? I allowed myself to explore, just as I would my Animal Crossing island. I didn’t focus on cultivating my wealth right off. I welcomed the joy of watering my crops every day (until I got sprinklers then hello adventures.) I forged friendships and tried to grow every single plant each season. I’m now happily married in the Fall of Year 2 and can’t wait to see how I can grow my farm even further next year.

While Stardew Valley may not be as calming and low-key as ACNH, there are definitely elements that keep the content from becoming stale. The crops change every season and with each new item you grow there is a chance to learn a new cooking recipe. One day you may be lucky in the dungeon, the next all the monsters will be out to get you. Each day feels like a fresh start even if you have all the same tasks ahead of you. ACNH could really stand to take some notes. Even something as simple as introducing new seasonal vegetables to grow or adding a cooking feature would change things up drastically.

If you too have felt the deep freeze on your ACNH island, try Stardew Valley. Grab your friends and start a co-op farm. Live a full virtual life and then revisit your island when there’s a better update. Or when you’ve just forgotten what it looked like. It will still be there waiting for you, exactly as you left it.