👨‍🌾 Stardew Valley and Rhythm

Hey you,

Today's Listening: Overture

If you have at one point suffered from Stardew addiction, raise your hand.

Those of you that didn't raise your hand clearly haven't played more than 2 hours.

Stardew Valley is an insidious little game. It starts with just the right amount of mess to clear up. Just the right amount of people to meet. And JUST the right amount of days in a week.

See, when the game starts, there isn't an obvious "HELLO THIS IS THE TUTORIAL PLEASE FOLLOW ME". Instead it just suggests that you should "introduce yourself to your neighbors" and gives you a little counter for how many you have left to meet.

And so you go out and explore the town, because you can only do so much on your farm without more seeds. And as you explore, you are slowly fed little breadcrumbs, you find Pierre's general store, with the coveted backpack upgrade sitting front and center, tempting you. You find Clint's shop and discover a bit of how tools work. You go down to the beach and discover fishing.

The game does not force you to do any of these things, instead it lets you discover them, and rank their importance according to your own judgement of what is worth your time.

And time does move pretty quick.

But then, something new happens, the mines are open and you discover the risk/reward of spelunking.

And what’s this about a community center?

And then a festival happens, and you see a bit more of the game's charm.

And then summer comes, and you find out what a season turnover is like.

And then you are exploring new ways to get more out of your crops.

And then you discover Robin and the many upgrades she can provide, including livestock!

And then you maybe reach level 5 with your favorite skill and have to make an interesting choice.

And these little things keep coming in perfect step with each other, just as the game starts becoming too boring.

And suddenly you are in winter and you find out you can't have any crops at all...WELL GUESS ITS TIME TO EXPLORE NEW AVENUES.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. This game knows how to spoon feed you content...and it tastes like honey that you can't help but have more of. genius

P.S.