Originally published on Trevor Trove on March 26, 2016
While appearing on tonight’s recording of Irrational Passions, I got to talk about Batman v Superman, Daredevil Season 2, some of my Favorite Games from the NES, SNES, and Gameboy, and a handful of other topics. As we each went around taking turns talking about the games we’ve been playing, Scott Guthier talked about Stardew Valley.
As someone with great affinity for the classic Harvest Moon games, Stardew Valley caught my eye but as a predominantly console gamer, I’ve avoided a lot of coverage on the game. Part of this aversion also comes from a resentment of how rapidly a game like this took off, considering how long I’ve admired the genre (with this being one of the most “hipster” sentiments I’ve ever felt), while another aspect involves my fear at how much of my time those games can take up. I probably spent 50 hours last year playing Harvest Moon: Back to Nature on my PlayStation Vita.
But as Scott regaled us with his time with the game so far, all the old familiar feelings started to come back. The days spent maximizing my time and efficiency working on the farm. The relationships built with the townspeople. The pure joy in experiencing the “simple life.” By the time he’d finished, I was already logged into Steam to add it to my library. I’ll try to dedicate some time to it tomorrow. It should be nice to experience a new twist on the formula.