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Overview

Stardew Valley is a simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who takes over their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game was released for Windows in February 2016 before being ported to several other computer, console, and mobile platforms.

Stardew Valley is open-ended, allowing players to take on activities such as growing crops, raising livestock, fishing, cooking, mining and foraging, and socializing with the townspeople, including the ability to marry and have children. It also allows up to four players to play online together.

Barone developed Stardew Valley by himself over four years. He was heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series, with additions to address some of the shortcomings of those games. He used it as an exercise to improve his own programming and game design skills. British studio Chucklefish approached Barone midway through development with the offer to publish the game, allowing him to focus more on completing it.

Stardew Valley was praised by critics, who highlighted the game's music, characters, and relaxing qualities, with it later being cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of Harvest Moon, also praised the game for retaining the freedom that later entries of his series had lost. The game was also a commercial success, selling over 20 million copies by 2022.

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Gameplay

Stardew Valley is an open-ended country-life RPG! You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley.

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Development

Stardew Valley was created by American indie game designer Eric Barone, under the alias of ConcernedApe and originally titled Sprout Valley.

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Reception

Stardew Valley received generally favorable reviews, according to the popular and respected review aggregator Metacritic.

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