Genre: Simulation
Developer: ConcernedApe
Publisher: Chucklefish Games

Like indie hit "Cave Story" before it, Stardew Valley is the work of one-man band Eric Barone. The professed inspiration for his art was the original Harvest Moon on the Super Nintendo, and-- no kidding; right down to the style of the character sprites. Both games-- Amcuss' SNES original, and Barone's contemporary work-- have a sort of clean, Pokemon-like innocent look, with the Stardew Valley even consummating a marriage with the modern-day "hi-bit" trend. Stylistically though, it's all a little too folksy for this reviewer.

Barone composed, performed, and recorded a plethora of Webb Pierce-like country folk songs, and they are catchy if not terribly atmospheric and mood-lending. In a way, they're trite enough to be the perfect match for this game form of "A Stop at Willoughby"-- except in this version, the main character doesn't jump off of a moving train. Sound effects-- especially the high-pitched "warble" when a bite is on the fishing line-- are distinctive and fresh.

Stardew Valley supports both mouse and keyboard, and a gamepad, with both modes of play making it a cinch to navigate the game's world, and to interact with farm fields and NPCs alike. The game's energy management forces one of the player's eyes, but isn't so strict that it becomes stressful-- although the game's design does make it feel padded, with a new player taking nearly ten hours of play time to accomplish anything meaningful.

Stardew Valley stretches itself too thin: it's not a particularly demanding or rewarding simulation game compared to, let's say, Bullfrog's classics; it's nowhere near as interesting as games like Minecraft in the exploration and resource gather; and the relationship management pales in relativity to Will Wright's "The Sims". The aesthetic is also kind of corny, in a "Secret of Mana" sort of way. All of that said, once the game picks up from its early pacing issues, it can lend itself to addictive "one more day" syndrome.