I haven’t made a secret on the site about wanting the Stardew Valley game to come to the Switch. And on Thursday October 5, it finally did, in America and Europe. Funny that the first time that I heard about the game is already 1,5 years ago, when I featured it in Handheld Gaming News in May 2016.
Back then, it was only available on Steam, PC version. And it was THE hot topic in the gaming community, people were so crazed by it that they simply had to tell everyone how great is was. There was even a group on Reddit who offered to help out people buying the game who couldn’t afford it. The way the game came to be was pretty amazing too: a single guy’s vision of a farming simulation inspired by Harvest Moon.
Waiting for the download
I was anxiously waiting to download it at 6 am Thursday morning, as I had to get to the train at 6.10 am for my commute to work. I hoped to take it with me, and spend the first hour on my new farm. But sadly, the European eShop updates somewhere at 3 pm or so I read. So no Stardew Valley for me that day. Because I was also home late from work. Not fair how life can interfere with your gaming, lol.
Still, Friday I finally had my chance, and though I’ve not gone far yet (day 15 in the first Spring) I’m already enjoying it very much. It does take a while to get started, as the first few days money is tight, and the room available in your backpack is very restrictive. But after a while, things start happening fast.
Back to Harvest Moon of old
It does feel like an old day Harvest Moon, but here they have thrown in everything and the kitchen sink! Not just the farming, but side questing too, finding stuff for people, making things, a wizard to make things interesting, mining..too much to mention really. This is a game that intends to keep you busy for a long time, and this for $ 14,99 (and EUR 13,99)!
No surprise really that it has shot to number 1 of the eShop charts in virtually every territory! What a great success once again for developer Chucklefish! To me, it’s proof too that the Switch was in dire need of other game-genres, like the simulation game this is. There are some minor negatives though. I wish the graphics were more like we are used to today, but I’m getting used to it. And the loading and saving screens are very long!
There is no info in the game at all, so I only recently found out that I can make a chest to put things in in my own sub-menu! I’ll put a picture in here with the controls for the game on the Switch, that might help if you have the same problem! I’ll leave you now, back to my game and see what’s happening next on my farm of Sendaria!