Five Games To Play if You Like Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a pretty enjoyable game. However, if people are interested in playing more examples of such games, they should know that it has clear sources of inspiration. Something that should make it that much easier for them to find more enjoyable content. Here are five games to consider for people who enjoyed Stardew Valley:

Story of Seasons

First and foremost, Stardew Valley takes a lot of inspiration from the Bokujo Monogatari series. In short, the Bokujo Monogatari series was released by Natsume in the North American market under the name of Harvest Moon from 1996 to 2013. However, the maker Marvelous Inc. made the choice to start localizing the Bokujo Monogatari series using its own publishing brand in 2014. Since Natsume owned the name of the Harvest Moon series, Marvelous Inc. is now releasing new installments in the Bokujo Monogatari series under the name Story of Seasons. On the whole, the Story of Seasons series is best-suited for Stardew Valley players who got most of their enjoyment from the non-combat segments. This is because the Story of Seasons series has no combat whatsoever because it is focused on being an agricultural simulation while both fishing and mining serve as viable side-earners. Having said, the series has existed for two decades and counting, so it should come as no surprise to learn that it is very refined compared to a lot of its counterparts.

Rune Factory

For Stardew Valley players who want both the combat and the non-combat elements, there is the Rune Factory series, which started out as a spin-off of the Bokujo Monogatari series. In short, interested individuals can expect to explore fantastical settings packed full of monsters in between running a farm. However, while Stardew Valley was relatively limited when it came to combat options, players can expect a much wider range of weapons as well as other combat capabilities in the Rune Factory series. Never mind the one in which the player-character possessed the power to turn into a close combat specialist sheep. On top of this, it should be mentioned that the Rune Factory series provides players with the option to bring a companion into battle with them, whether that means one of the local villagers or one of the monsters that they have managed to tame. For a while, the Rune Factory series seemed stalled. This can be seen in how Rune Factory 4 came out for the 3DS in 2012 while fans of the series are still waiting on Rune Factory 5. However, there are now clear signs of life. One, a new version of Rune Factory 4 has been released for the Nintendo Switch. Two, it has been confirmed that Rune Factory 5 will also be released for the Nintendo Switch at some point in 2020.

My Time At Portia

Those who are willing to consider titles that are similar but very much not the same as Stardew Valley can start with My Time At Portia, which can be very quirky but more than worthwhile for interested individuals to explore. This is particularly since the game is now fully-released, meaning that it has received a lot of polish since its early access days. Regardless, while players can do a lot of the same activities in My Time at Portia that they can do in Stardew Valley, there is a significant difference in that the former is focused on restoring a long-neglected workshop. As a result, interested individuals should expect to spend a lot of time collecting various kinds of resources from various places, speaking with the local inhabitants to learn about their commissions, and then getting to work on making sure that they are fully-satisfied. My Time at Portia has a strong emphasis on integrating into the local community, which comes with a side-bonus of learning more about its post-post-apocalyptic setting.

Moonlighter

There are a bunch of indie games that Stardew Valley fans should look into. One excellent example would be Moonlighter, which might not share much of a resemblance on the surface but nonetheless offers a lot of the same kind of fun. In short, there are two parts to Moonlighter. First, there is the day-time, which is when the player runs a shop. This a rather repetitive process, but in a way that makes it seem soothing rather than boring and monotonous. Second, there is the night-time, which is when the player gets to stock their shop by delving into rogue-like dungeons. On top of this, Moonlighter actually comes with a pretty decent story, which can be considered the cherry on top of the metaphorical cake.

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale

Recettear came out in 2007, thus making it an older title. However, there is a reason that it has managed to become a cult classic both in and out of Japan. The premise is pretty simple. Recette Lemongrass is a little girl whose shopkeeper father disappeared while out on an adventure, with the result that she is now responsible for repaying his enormous debt by running a shop. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Recette isn’t very good at fighting, which is why she can’t exactly delve into dungeons for the purpose of selling the resulting loot. However, what she can do is to tag along with a wide range of adventurers, each of whom has their own special abilities that make for a different play style. However, this isn’t to say that Recette is useless because she has a keen eye for business for someone so young, meaning that she is the one who heads up the actual running of the shop. Much of this process consists of putting desireable goods in strategic locations for the purpose of luring in potential customers and then haggling with those same customers to get the best prices possible without driving them off. On top of this, there are even customers who will offer items of their own for sale, which can provide the player with great deals on useful items but can also cause them to overspend on useless nonsense. Considering the debt that must be repaid at the end of each month, risk-taking is a must to earn sufficient sums but at the same time, excessive risk-taking can have disastrous outcomes.

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