This article is my Stardew Valley Beginner Guide. Along with some quick beginner tips on the game, unravel the narrative a bit, and in the process, let me share some helpful lessons learned from playing the game. Whether you’re just starting out, or returning to the game, I’ll show you how life in Stardew Valley pans out from parsnips to star drops.
So, without further ado, buckle your overalls, because we’re headed to the ultimate cozy game Stardew Valley. Let’s have some fun, shall we?
Stardew Valley Beginner Guide: Starting With NOTHING
First of all, Stardew Valley is a great game for anybody who likes open-ended game worlds. Perhaps that is one of the many aspects of it that attracts so many players. It’s a great game for fans of life-sims, but also those who like an adventure as well as a good story. With so much to do, there’s something for everyone.
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So, you don’t really have to be confined to one mechanic. Yes, it is a farming sim most of all. However, Stardew Valley has a complex array of achievements, quests, socializing, holidays, events, crafting, building, and exploring. That’s just the beginning too, and with a plentiful mods community, the possibilities are endless.
Conceptually, yes, you do start with nothing. But in reality, you are given a large estate with inexhaustible tools. There’s also a town to trade with, and tutorials just about everywhere you look online. So where to start?
Stardew Valley Beginner Guide: Getting Started
After the character creation, you encounter a story process that ends up with your acquirement of your uncle’s farm. After much ado, you’re finally left free in the game–to do whatever you want to do, however, you want to do it.
Move around using arrow keys, interact with your mouse, and learn key shortcuts as you go. Tip: Controllers are fully supported as well!
The best way to get started is to clear your farm yard. You can do this with an ax or whatever tool you need. Farming is quite important in the beginning for gold and also just something to do since you don’t know anybody or anything.
When you’re satisfied with your space to work, start tilling the soil, this requires the use of the “starter hoe.” Select from the action bar at the bottom of the screen and simply click somewhere on the dirt.
You should have 15 parsnip seeds from the mayor (your first quest.) This will allow you enough capital to farm more crops and repeat the process, profiting exponentially each time.
You don’t have to know a ton about gardening or agriculture. It does help to know a few basic things though (i.e. a shovel will dig out the ground, a pickaxe will break rocks, and a hoe will till the soil.) Plants grow from seeds, seeds need to be sowed (planted,) and plants need to be watered, then eventually harvested.
Stardew Valley Beginner Guide: What To Do First
Nearly every day, you’ll receive a new quest in your mailbox from someone. This keeps things interesting and also helps give you the lay of the land and lets you know what’s possible. One of the first quests, as I mentioned, involves planting some parsnip seeds. The quests are optional a lot of the time, but make the game more interesting.
Stardew Valley as a game is ultimately quite cozy, and time is sped up, so things will grow within a few day cycles. You can easily sleep through these quite quickly actually. The premise is relatively simple though. Farm, fish, trade, make friends, get new farms, and complete quests.
Eventually, you can do a thing where you collect star drops which give you energy. With energy, you can be more productive. It’s pretty practical as far as game mechanics go.
Seasons in Stardew Valley
Also, one thing you need to know is that like real life, Stardew Valley–the imaginary region the game takes place in–has seasons just like real life. That affects what plants can grow.
If your seasonal plants aren’t harvested in time they will wither. If this happens you’ll need to clear them out and start over. It’s no big deal, but if you don’t prepare using the calendar in time, you could end up wasting money and time on a bunch of crops that don’t make it.
Eventually, once you have a few items, you can head into Pelican Town. It’s simple, just walk there, it takes about 10 seconds (more or less.) There you can meet everybody, and sell your harvest for gold, which can be used to purchase almost anything. Try talking to people, you can open up new opportunities and also improve your regular visits to Pelican Town.
Features of Stardew Valley
Overall, the game is quite robust and has many features. Here is a sample of what to expect.
- Start a farm
- Grow, harvest, and sell crops
- Socialize with town members of Pelican Bay
- Fish, Cut Down Trees, Mine Ore
- Build Devices To Help With Tasks
- Crafting, Cooking
- Raise Animals
- Gardening
- Seasons that Change With the Calendar
- Get Married, Start a Family, Have Pets, Build Your House
- Rebuild the Community Center
- Get Rich
- Take on the Joja Soda Empire
- Co-Op!
- Full Controller Support on Steam, and Available on Many Devices
- And Simply Tons More
Some Screenshots of Stardew Valley
Who Made Stardew Valley?
Stardew Valley reminds players of what it’s like to play games that rely on creativity. In fact, the lore of Stardew Valley‘s creation is almost as important to the game experience as the game itself. The lore being that this game was created by a solo developer (ConcernedApe) who put every single method of skill and practice into creating it.
It’s clear that this particular indie deserves respect on that alone because it is as if a massive team tirelessly thought out mechanics, which in actuality unfold very intuitively. Like a brilliant composer or a relentless author, this is what you can do when you give it everything you’ve got.
Without a doubt, this is one of the best games of all time. And it might even be within the top 5 indie games. And replayability is very strong. Many reviewers on Steam log around a thousand hours in Stardew Valley. I think one reason it succeeds is it allows you to see the fruit of your actions fairly quickly. Or, you can pace things and explore. There is no real objective in the game other than playing it the way you want to play it.
Therefore, I’ll probably play this more. I generally play shorter games, but it’s nice to have a routine game that can be picked up or set down at any interval. Just don’t forget to sleep. Literally, that’s how you save the game.
If You Have Any Other Questions, I’m Happy to Help!
In conclusion, this isn’t a Joja conglomerate operation here, it’s the homegrown blog from Mr. Dave Pizza, that’s me! Thanks so much for stopping by today to read this article. I hope you’ll stick around and take a look at this site. I update fairly frequently usually, but there’s enough content to keep you entertained for a while I’m sure. If you like what you see here, feel free to share, comment below, or just enjoy more content here. Happy farming!
