Stardew Valley was originally released back in early 2016, and quickly exploded in popularity as ConcernedApe basically took the foundations of casual farming simulators like Harvest Moon but cranked the whole thing up to 11. When it’s released on the 24th, I’ll own Stardew Valley on three different platforms. Between the original PC game, the Switch port, and now the mobile port I’ve got over 500 hours clocked in and I still find myself discovering new things.

If you’ve never played it before, you’re in for an absolute treat as Stardew Valley is nothing short of a delight. The game begins with you taking over your grandpa’s derelict farm with a loosely structured tutorial through a quest system that has you first clear a bit of your farm to plant a patch of parsnips. After watering them for a few days, you’ve got your first crop to sell at the market in town, where you then buy more seeds, and expand your fields a bit more to turn an even greater profit. At its most basic, this is the loop that powers the whole game, but aside from tending your farm there’s a silly amount of other things to do ranging from fishing, meeting all the people in the town and discovering their stories, form romantic relationships with them, go adventuring down in a mine filled with monsters, collect artifacts for a museum, and so much more. In fact, if you want to power game it, all the things you can do are fully cataloged in a wiki, but I ...