Stardew Valley
reviews and complaints

Overall I liked the game and the controls are very good on mobile (must be fixed after all the negative comments I saw just after the release). One fatal flaw in my mind - the unnecessary sense of urgency. The game play revolves around “chores” that your character must do to keep the progression moving forward. The problem is the day is a fixed length, so you’re always having to (quickly!) decide on what facets you will move forward that day (do I need to hit someone’s birthday up, focus on farming, upgrade stuff, mine, or just tool around and dig stuff up, clear my farm). This is a bit in conflict with the theme of the game - getting away and relaxing. I really wish there were at least a game mode where the day simply ends when you go to sleep. This would give you the time to play it with a completionist game style and eliminate the irritating looming shortness of the day. It would be nice to be able to set my phone down for a minute and come back to the game without the day being blown. Or have to frantically construct in my head the order I need to do things in to be as efficient as possible. The theme of the game is relaxation - make it more relaxing to play.

One other smaller gripe. Managing inventory becomes a pain. Let me upgrade my “total house storage” by building more and better chests, but let me go to any chest to access an aggregated storage inventory. Running around from chest to chest (especially with the urgency of time ticking by) was a pain.

That being said, I gave it 4 stars for a reason. With a few tweaks this could be an all-time great in my mind, but the urgency of the gameplay juxtaposed against the “getaway and relax” theme is a glaring error.

Edit:They added joystick and action buttons making it even better + auto save. Thanks Erik!
As an owner of sdv on pc and switch with a decent amount of time into the game, take it from me and ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO PRAISE THIS GAME, this game is incredible! I constantly get lost in the game planting crops, fishing, mining in the mines, trying to get deeper into skull cavern, there is so much to do!
This port works fantastically, the controls are quite comfortable but i kinda wish that there were joystick/d-pad + action button but im fine with what ive got. There haven't been too many bugs but i did experience the infamous blacksmith glitch (witch along with others, HAVE ALREADY BEEN PATCHED)! Take my word for it its worth the $7.99!
I do have a few suggestions. First, a few more crops. Maybe around year 5 or so (if you are level 10 in farming) the player gets a letter in the mail saying that a company that has found a new kind of crop/crops on a previously undiscovered island and has heard about you and your farm wants you to begin growing and selling it to see if they can be grown in the valley. They could sell for a lot more than starfruit but are incredibly expensive (G7500 per pack maybe?).
Second and finally, a way to get to ten hearts with all marriage candidates when you are married without punishment. I want to get to ten hearts with all of them (I am married to Leah) but i cant without losing hearts with my wife. Maybe change the 10 heart event so that it isn't romantic and allow 10 hearts with all when you get married.
Thank you for reading.
Tl,dr: great game, worth the money. Has had some bugs. It could use more crops and a way to get to 10 hearts with all.

I have had the game for a few days now and I love it it’s such a fun game to play you can spend countless hours just doing all the missions, completing quests, farming, mining, fishing, and countless others, but there are a few flaws. My first major flaw is that, in the fishing game, if you’re not prepared for it there’s a very slim chance that you’re going to get the fish. It might just be my problem because I struggle with the fish but I’ve noticed that it’s extremely difficult to a beginner. My second fall is that in the in Robin’s shop and in the museum, the arrow next to the cash register glitched out and is no longer there but you can still click on it and it just confused me for a while and I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this or if it’s just my game but that would probably be my only other flaw.

Changes/Additions

In my opinion I think that it would be great if in the map, say you were trying to find a location, if you clicked on that location there would be a green line showing you how to get there from your current location on the map. Secondly with the bundles in the Pelican Town building I wish that in the pop-up menu, you could place the items directly into it but you would still have to go into the building to get the reward.

Overview

Overall, Stardew Valley is a great game. For starters, the characters are great and well-designed and their appearance directly conveys their personality. The art in the game is great. It is everything you could ever want in this type of game and it is very fitting for the style of the game. I strongly agree with everyone else who is giving it a five star rating or even a four star rating and I also agree that it is worth the money that the game cost.

Long ago, friends tried to get me to get Stardew Valley on PC. I declined, despite it seeming to be something I’d enjoy. It would be a long time before I’d find that Stardew Valley had been ported to iOS and decided to give it a go. I can honestly say I’ve never spent so much time nor had so much fun on an iOS game and I’m likely to buy the PC version to continue my fun on my PC as well as enjoy the addition of multiplayer. I do hope that multiplayer makes it to iOS.

This game is getting four instead of five stars for one reason:
While I love the addition of ‘pinch zoom’ (absolutely brilliant), I don’t understand why the UI and text has gotten much smaller with the latest update and why there hasn’t been more control over it in the first place.

I got my mother into Stardew Valley. It’s really the first video game she’s ever played (I adore the bonding we’ve had over the game and seeing her come to grasp concepts used by many games such as inventory/equipping items). I know that if things are difficult or less convenient for me to see, they must be for her as I’m usually teasing her for not being able to see things. While helping her last night, I noticed her UI elements were much smaller than mine and made the observation.

Later on, I updated my game (to get the amazing ‘pinch zoom’) and now almost regret it due to the shrinking UI which makes it much more difficult to see and touch. This seems like such an oversight to push in an update. Why not keep it the same? Why not give the option to resize or select from choices for size of UI? It’s always been a real shame that the only two options we have are to give the menus extra padding and make number font larger which hardly makes a difference with the latest update.

I won’t lie: I’m disappointed.

Ok, I’m not gonna blabber on about how much I like stardew valley, but instead I want to make a few suggestions.

First off, children. They really need a rework. They’re very interactive and there not very useful. So here’s a couple suggestions:

Give children likes and dislikes. I think this would be an interesting addition to the game because you would have to figure it out for yourself instead of looking it up.

Children should also show up on your social bar when there at full growth. (With infinite gifts, of course, and also starting with half of the hearts filled) things like forgetting there birthday, giving them trash, not interacting with them everyday may lower your hearts with them. Doing the opposite gives them higher hearts.

This one kinda plays in with the suggestion for. Full grown children should have dialogue. The dialogue could also mention there surroundings, your spouse, things that your doing, your relationship with them, siblings, etc. I think that would really add depth and overall incentivize children. And if you REALLY wanted to go the extra mile, you could even sprinkle in different personalities for children.

Yes, I have more. Full grown children should have to do chores if they have good hearts. And no, I am not ashamed of enslaving my child.

Last one. I think it would be cool if kids could take after the player instead of the spouse, maybe like a 50/50 for the eye color, hair, and skin tone?

Whoops, I lied. This is the last one. Do you think you could add heart event with your kid and spouse? Like, when you kid is somewhere around the toddler you witness them saying there first word, something like that.

Ok, I’m done. Thanks for reading this, and please take my suggestions into consideration. They would really vamp up the game.

SV is so fun to play on the iPad. My Apple Pencil works wonders with it, especially when zooming out of the mining map to see where the ores are, then precisely tapping on the ore which would lead my character to it. Some comments/concerns/tips:
1. The game does crash when I enter Pelican Town or leaving the mine at times. Sometimes it allows you to continue where you left off but most of the time I need to restart the day
2. Combat is more difficult on iPad navigation, so I recommend entering the mine on a luckier day to maximize ores and chance of ladder spawning. Try to do 5 mine floors per day and eventually you will get a high damage sword on floor 100 that will make mining so much easier. At the beginning, you want to prioritize progressing the ladders and not so much mining.
3. Completing the Joja warehouse than community center is much easier in my opinion, since you want to pass grandpa’s evaluation at the end of year 2 to get the Statue of Perfection to earn iridium ores, because right now skull cavern seems very difficult to play on iPad and mine iridium. Completing the community center might just take too long for what the game entails on an iPad.
4. I don’t know if it’s this iPad version or not but there are zero mahogany seeds drop and I chop a lot of mahogany.
5. Make money early on by catching sturgeon and starting a fish pond to collect roe and produce caviar. Then make a bunch of kegs by tapping the oak trees early as you progress. This is helpful if you are going through with the Joja route
6. Do your research on professions that are best suited to your needs and also what they entail when played on an iPad. For example, for combat it’s probably better to choose the Fighter route at level 5 which will increase your HP when you advance your route again at level 10

Loves:

*Farming, fishing, and mining are a lot of fun.
*Getting to know the characters personalities is interesting.
*Being able to opt out of ceremonies, e.g. egg hunt, winter star, etc., is a huge bonus for me, personally.
*Learning new ways to maximize profit and productivity is challenging.
This is a list too long to write in detail.

Now for the hates (at least for me personally):

*Too much magic. It’s honestly hard to avoid. I don’t interact with the Wizard at all, but he pops up everywhere. It’s not just that. The monsters and such in the caves are magical and unrealistic. I personally understand this is hugely popular, but if you’re looking for a game without magic and witches, and all that crap, this game isn’t it. You can play it to a point, but you aren’t going to get around it 100%.

*You and your spouse can only produce 2 children, and they never get older than toddler stage. This is obnoxious! I have a massive farm and farm house, but I can only have 2 kids, and they never get big enough to even help on the farm! Oh, and get this, if you want more kids, you can release the children you have by making an offering on the Dark Shrine of Selfishness, which will turn them into doves so they fly away never to be seen again. Child sacrifice? Really? Just let us have a house full of kids and let them grow up at least to the ages of the other kids in the game. This is hands down the number one thing I absolutely detest about this game. And I’d have rated it higher but for the who sacrificing your kids so you can pop off another couple. Seems pretty straight up demonic to me. I’ve never done it and would never do it. It’s rank. I can add child beds to my house, I should be able to have at least six kids easy peasy without all that other rubbish.

Rant over. Three stars it is.

I’ve wanted to play stardew valley for a long time so I’m really glad it came to mobile! But of course, it has its own set of bugs and flaws. I see that the team is updating the game 1-2 times a week (great job devs!) so I am expecting that these might be fixed in the next patch.

1. A couple of times I have entered an npc building (Leah’s cottage, marnie shop, adventurers guild, etc) and the framerate drops HORRENDOUSLY before coming to a complete halt and crashing the game. This just happened to me upon entering Leah’s cottage, which is what inspired me to write this review.

2. Not sure if this is a bug or not, but I am finding it very difficult to increase heart levels with chickens and/or ducks (haven’t gotten rabbits yet so idk about them). I got chickens in (iirc) summer of year 1, and ducks in spring of year 2. I’m currently in fall of year 2 and have yet to see their hearts increase at all. I’ve fed them well, I let them walk around, and I check their heart levels almost every day and they still never go up. Because of this, I can’t get large eggs to complete the animal bundle for the pantry.

3. This isn’t rly a bug either, but the controls feel really clunky/slippery. I'm glad you added different control options but with things like the joystick I sometimes find myself going in the wrong direction, but that might just be me.

4. Bear with me, this is the last thing. I would love it if you guys added the option to zoom out like on pc because I’ve seen videos of the game on pc and it’s zoomed out and I like how it looks a lot more. Maybe not a permanent change, but more like an option in the settings.

If you are still reading this, I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my reviews. If you are a dev reading this, thank you for bringing this game to mobile and keep up the good work!

I ported my PC save with no problem. There are some areas that this version's player can't reach, such as this:
(*)(_)(_)
(_)
(_)(_)(_)
(*)(_)(_)
(_)
(_)(_)(_)
Each "(_)" is a reachable keg, and the kegs with the star are out of reach. If this is intentional, then it's fine, like in the console versions where you can't reach diagonally. HOWEVER, since this version supports PC saves, it would make sense to make upper diagonal spaces to be interactive.

There is a bug that I ran into immediately, and it's the sudden dismount from the horse. When you ride your horse out of the farm, you'll go to the next screen but without it. On the previous screen, the horse is on the spot where you entered to the next area. You're only stuck on using the horse in your farm, and you can't go far enough without using up time. [FIXED]

The controls are alright, with many different kinds to choose from like tapping to move, invisible buttons, or both. HOWEVER, there isn't an option with VISIBLE buttons WITHOUT tapping to move. I've used the "tap-to-move & joystick" for a moment, and didn't like the way my character kept facing other directions when I'm interacting with NPCs or using tools. It seems as if as soon as I let go of the joystick, my character faces another direction instead of what I needed. There should be an option for visible joystick and buttons without tapping to move.

I don't know what's the issue with the fishing, but it's just how it is in the PC version!

Still, it's a good game, for patient people. The auto-save really saves you time, unlike the other versions where the only way to save is by ending the day. Harvest Moon and Terraria (or more) in one game, and it's worth the price. For the new players, it is slow to build your farm, but there are plenty of things to keep you busy. Make goals for yourself, and this game will be great!

⚠️I am so sorry that this is like paragraphs but it’s so important⚠️

Okay so I played this game for so long, and I love it too! But there are some bugs Like If my phone dies when I’m playing this game, and I get back on it, it restarts the day (it’s pretty annoying) and I get mad because I have hard work on that day
The second one is On the first year, there are flower dances in spring- Right? But it won’t let you have a partner and everyone has an excuse like “ oh I’m going to dance with someone else” or “ oh I’m sorry, but no” like bro then what’s the deal of having a flower dance if your not going to danceAnd also an fyi about that..when you hang out and the big finale is done, all it just says is “ that was fun, let’s go home” but like can’t you add more games or something to it, cause it’s not fun without at least 2 games in the party. Please fix that. IT BUGS ME.
And the last thing is- I was trying to play this game with my mom, so she downloaded the app, and we were so excited to play together! but there wasn’t the party group server in there. Then I looked it up and it says it won’t work in phones, you guys won’t put it on PHONES but sure you will put it on Nintendo, PS4 or PS5. Please put party groups in. It must be very annoying to other kids or adult when they have to deal with this. And it’s a waste of money to get a Nintendo(not really) but I don’t want to buy a 300$ Nintendo to just get my game on and buy an extra 20$ to get the tiny game chip. I rather get it on my phone.
But, on the other edge, it’s a good game, it is good for everyone (especially children) because everyone needs to learn on having a farm place but yeah, I just recommend to think twice and always charge your phone be careful out there mi amigos, AND ALWAYS HAVE FUN NO MATTER WHAT✨✨✨✨
Bye bye my munchkins ‍♀️

(Btw it’s my birthday so happy b-day to me!)
Bye bye
From: bearbear, the squirrel

First let me say - this game is well worth the money. Don’t think twice, just buy and try.

The art is fantastic. The music is something you can listen to repeatedly and never tire of. The game is very cheerful, but not childish. Characters are endearing and realistic. Animals are cute, but not cartoonish. Whether you like exploring, following the storyline, questing, fighting monsters, fishing, farming, or grinding for cash - there is something for everyone.

I’m a Stardew Valley fan girl through and through - and the iPhone version DID NOT disappoint! I was amazed at how well they pulled this off. It’s outstanding. Check out DangerouslyFunny’s youtube vid about the iPhone version for a great review of the controls.

The only issue I’ve encountered is that my game doesn’t save properly. It’s minor. The game runs fine while I’m playing it, and it will save fine from one day to the next if I have the app open. However, when I’m done playing and I end the day, wait for it to save, wait for the next day to load just to be sure, and exit the game for the evening - if I come back to the game later, all of my outdoor slimes will be gone. They are perfectly enclosed and provided with water, and they last so long as I’m actively playing the game. When I stop playing for about 12 hours or so, and I come back, 4-5 slimes will have vanished without any notifications. I’ve also noticed that something seems funky about my kegs - they appear to produce products, even when they shouldn’t have been able to yet. Also, none of my animals are able to develop hearts. I cuddle them every day, and they all have auto feed buildings, but their hearts consistently remain at 0. I think something is messed up with how the app is storing data on my phone - but it doesn’t interfere with my gameplay. I hope someone can look into it!

Other than that small issue - everything else about the game is 100% functional, and out of this world fun!

I really love this game but i have a few problems, so the first problem is that you should be able to get multiple pets like dogs and cats, also you should be able to rename your pets, and another problem is that you should be able to get trucks, cars, and tractors, and another thing is that you should be able to buy more land and if you dont like your current land for example i have the beach type of land and i think if you bought more land you could choose what is would be like the forest or mountains, you should also be able to move your house, and another thing is that you should be able to hire workers and assign them to sertain jobs like farming or choping trees, and your kids should be able to grow bigger so then you could assign them to jobs, also you should be able to pick up animals,and you also should be able to buy stone and quartz from clint, also hay better be much cheeper im really struggling to feed my animals,AND yes i know this is alot, also once you unlock the green house you should be able to upgrade it and you also should be able to move the green house and buy more from robin, and another thing is that you should be able to fly to the city and other places, and there should be more exotic animals you could get like llamas and other exotic animals, and if you get chickens you could also get roosters and roosters would give you chickens a boost in laying eggs and the eggs would be a better quality, so you could have six roosters in one coop and roosters would not count as chickens so in the max upgraded shed you could still have 12 hens and 6 roosters, one rooster would be 1200 because everyone would want a rooster, and you could also get bulls, they would be like roosters but they give cows a boost in milk and the milk is higher quality, the more you feed and pet you bulls and roosters the better boosts they would give, and one bull would be 2100 because everyone would want a boost, also this is one of my favorite games but please add all of this and then it would be my favorite hame in the world, please add this, and thats all goodbye!...

This game is by far one of the best I have played on my iPhone. Very addictive because of the depth of gameplay and options you can take as you build relationships with other people in the town.
However, a few criticisms which I hope are constructive and lead to some fixes:
- It would be nice if I could save my game from anywhereon the map, at any time. My “saved game” that displays when I load a game indicates that it is whatever time it was when I ended last, if I didn’t make it back to my house. However, it ends up starting with me waking up in my bed at 6:00 am anyway. So in order to make sure my progress has been saved, I have had to make sure I go back to my house each time I want to quit playing.

- The map does not always display the information I need about each location I tap. My fingers aren’t huge, so it seems like it might be a bug.
As I’ve gotten to know my way around the valley it’s gotten less necessary to use the map, but at the beginning was very frustrating trying to figure out which building was which and ended up not making it to places before they closed or I ran out of daylight.

- It would be nice if I could use items in my inventory without having to bring them to the top row first so they display in the game screen.
- Most recent bug I experienced: I’m currently at the Stardew Valley Fall Festival, where you put up your “grange display”, and it seems when I interact with any of the games at the festival, not only does the mini-game not respond correctly, as soon as I am finished with it (usually not doing well because the controls aren’t responsive), my character freezes in place and I can’t move him around, and then it seems to freeze altogether so that I can’t move or get my character to do anything except talk to a single character, and their dialogue box just keeps popping up.
I’ve had to restart from a save once already, and am about to do so again, which means I have to start over at the beginning of the day.

I hope you’re able to address some of these, especially those that affect gameplay and freezing during events. Thank you for an awesome, creative and in-depth game!

(TL;DR at bottom)
This is my first time ever playing Stardew Valley in any device and I absolutely love it! It’s an incredibly immersive game that is able to demand your full attention at all times and never seems to have a dull moment. There are days in the game where I wake up not knowing how to spend it, then by 10pm realize I’ve filled a full day and need to get back to my bed soon. As someone who gets distracted easily, I absolutely love how fully immersive and attention-grabbing it is.

There are some technical difficulties that seem to need work though. I’ve noticed on the first day of every new season for some reason walking becomes incredibly difficult for my player. He’ll only move diagonally and only about half the time that I touch the screen. Usually if I touch a tile adjacent to him he’ll briefly snap out of it, but pretty soon will go back to gliding diagonally only. I’ve also noticed it gets hard to walk sometimes with a scythe equipped. Also tools in my toolbar will sometimes be randomly selected when I don’t want them to be. I’ve lost many crops from watering then suddenly my pick axe is selected. I also wish there were a “are you sure you want to gift this item” button. Because there have been so many times I forget I’m holding an item and go to talk to an NPC and end up gifting them a soggy newspaper or other trash that drops my friendship score with them, or worse accidentally giving away a super valuable item. I’ve also seen on desktop and other devices the player view area is much larger and I know on a smaller screen that’s harder to achieve. But I wish there were an option to zoom out to that size of a view area for foraging or farm planning.

Overall the content and gameplay are absolutely phenomenal! Easily the best mobile game I’ve played in years. There are just a few technical changes that could make this game even more outstanding than it already is.

TL;DR
Amazing game! Needs some technical changes, such as:
-Walking glitch on first day of new seasons
-Walking glitch sometimes when holding scythe
-Tools randomly getting selected
-A confirmation for gifting an item
-Being able to zoom in/out of player view area to where desktop users are able to see

I’ve been a fan of harvest moon, story of seasons games for years. I was super excited to see something similar was available to iOS.
I’m new to Stardew Valley and don’t know what to expect.
I was honestly surprised on how good the whole game turned out (unlike the seeds of memory iOS game...very disappointed).
I loved everything and I’ve been playing for hours non-stop.

However, there are a couple things that bugged me.

Saving feature -> only saves when you go to sleep... didn’t make sense to me.
I would often find myself re-do the whole day over again because I went to do something else on the iPhone. There were days that I mined, finished a couple quests, fished then had to do something else urgent and all progress for the day were lost. It’s a very frustrating and sometimes even angry situation.

Skip feature -> quest didn’t show up when I clicked “skip”...
I’m not sure if it’s a bug or supposed to be designed that day.
The day I first got the “rat problem” progress was lost (‘cause I exited the game), so I had to re-do the whole day again. Try to save time I clicked “skip” when the community building - rat problem scene came, and went on to finish the day. However I later realized the “rat-problem” quest never pop up in the menu/question section...tried everything but nothing worked.
I re-started my game from the beginning... thank god I wasn’t far into the game yet.

Crashes -> related to the saving function... I have encountered crashes and the whole progress would lost (not surprising)... need to to the day over again (sigh...

How to collect the bundle reward?
I completed the spring forge bundle quest and when I dragged the reward (I believe it was some seeds) it disappeared when I accidentally let-go of seeds before being able to move them into the inventory... then it just disappeared... can’t find it anywhere.

Small maps - I’ve love to have a small mini map on a corner showing where I’m heading, the big map is wrong (the location of the character) on certain areas.

Hold / press and move -> it’s useful most of the time. however there’s always that time when I click something and the character starts watering/ chopping etc when there’s little energy remain...

Overall it’s a wonderful app.

I don’t say this lightly but Stardew Valley is easily my favorite game ever. And I’ve played games since the early 80s (yes, I’m old). I play it more on Steam, but have also spend a few hundred hours roaming around Pelican Town while in bed stabbing at an iPad screen with my fingers or an Apple Pencil (my favorite way to play). In many ways the interface lends itself even better to a mobile platform and makes for an even easier interaction with NPCs, objects and tasks in the game. For me gaming has become relaxation more than anything, shooters just don’t do it for me anymore, and for that SDV is absolute perfection. The simplicity of it makes it easily accessible, yet the details and vast world we inhabit makes it playable, replayable, and enjoyable for hours on end. The level of detail, beautifully thought-out characters and and game pieces, wonderful cut-scenes etc, shows the level of dedication and love ConcernedApe not only has for his game, but for those of us who play it. It’s constantly updated and improved at no extra cost and that’s a gift. For someone a little older there’s a sense of nostalgia that comes with the pixelated art and animation and it fits perfectly with the catchy and soothing soundtrack. It feels comforting every time I start the game up. And because of the wholesomeness of the game, I never ever feel bad for using it as an escape when I need a break from whatever travesties are happening in the real world. I also want to thank ConcernedApe for creating an inclusive game where most people can create a version of themselves that they identify with and the game has been written in a way where same gender marriage with NPCs is possible and the script has been subtly altered so that it makes sense (for example, same gender couples adopt children). Although one thing I’d love to see in future updates is the ability to create your character as non-binary or gender non-conforming. Lastly, on a personal note, and I think this has been the case for many more people than me… I’m a trans woman, and when I started my transition, I loved the fact that I could create a character for myself that corresponded with my gender identity, try out names that I might like to adopt, and be able to play in a very non-threatening, friendly environment. That may not sound like a lot, but it has been huge me and for that I’m very grateful. I mention this as a side-note to show that games can make an impact far beyond simple entertainment. Stardew Valley is worth so much more than the $15 price tag, and I recommend it wholeheartedly as a perfect all-ages gem of a game. There’s something so wonderful about a video game where the main concepts are making friends and cultivating the earth.

I love this game. 35 hours in. I’ve only played it on iOS. I do have some suggestions though.

In iOS when you swipe down from the top of the screen you get Control Center. So dragging things down into your inventory opens Control Center about 50% of the time.

It’s very irritating to be hoeing in the spring and accidentally pull up your sprinklers. Really, how the game switches between tools seems random. In the mines if I stop to eat something while fighting I’ll often still get immediately killed since I can’t switch quickly enough back to a weapon. Just let me open the inventory to pause the game and eat, like every other game does. Sometimes it’ll switch to the weapon from my pickaxe and sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it’ll switch from pickaxe to axe and sometimes it won’t. But it will never switch to the scythe automatically if I tap on some grass. I don’t get the logic.

Certain items just degrade way too fast. I have rock walls IRL on my property that have been there since the Civil War, but in this game iron fences last longer. Realistically, neither item should degrade at all in this game.

It’s WAY too easy to sell something accidentally and then be unable to get it back. Today I lost 25 bars of iron that way. Why can’t the sale “chest” have slots just like all the other chests?!

It’s also frustrating when your pet blocks the bed or the doorway and all you can do is sit there waiting for it to move. Same for animals blocking the coop/barn.

Starting over and paying a doctor’s fee is enough punishment for losing all your health, without ALSO having to lose a whole bunch of stuff. Like ALL of the iridium I just mined.

There should be an option to auto-order certain items on a schedule. Just fill up my silos with hay once a season, please!

Unlike many people I don’t have any problem with the system of moving from point A to point B. However, there are sometimes issues with iOS that make moving from one area to another difficult. You have to tap riiight on the edge of the screen. That’s problematic when going down, because of the bar that iOS puts there for quickly switching between apps.

Also, smarter navigation would be good. Often the game tries to draw a straight line path between where you are and where you tap. So my character walks as far as it can on that line until she hits an obstacle and then she has to go alll the way around it, instead of predicting it and planning the best route before starting. Likewise I wish she could better keep up with/remember where I tap. If there are 10 rocks to hit, let me tap quickly 10 times and watch as she hits them. Right now it’s only 2-3 times, if that.

Finally, I’m not sure if others have this experience but I find fishing to be so difficult that it’s basically impossible. I don’t think it’s me, since I’ve been a gamer since the Atari 2600.

UPDATED REVIEW (again)
Well, you fixed most of the bugs so far. I still have to switch to touch to move in order to properly put down fences and other objects (something about the on-screen joystick movement won’t let me place it 99% of the time - or maybe it’s the invisible buttons? No idea). I wound up ordering a steel series controller for my iPad, so hopefully it brings it more in line with how it’s meant to be played.

Other than that, good job. 4 stars until you fix the controls fully. I know they’re “fixed”, but they still feel so off.

UPDATED REVIEW
Ok, so you guys fixed the silo glitch and the fishing glitch (I wasn’t aware of it, as I haven’t been fishing lately), but my wooden gates still refuse to close manually (or even at all, in fact).

You added the on-screen joystick/buttons, but the problem with the way that you implemented them is that they’re invisible and arguably even worse than the original controls. I tried it out, and while I liked the left side of the screen, I hate the button areas. Why can’t you just make 1/2 transparent buttons on the bottom right, next to the health and energy, and let us scale them up and down to our preference while keeping the somewhat visible transparency?

I brought the game back down to 3 stars because now I am experiencing extreme amounts of lag on my iPad Pro when inside of some buildings. It’s making walking (let alone purchasing things) nearly impossible.

Also, PLEASE add iCloud support! :(
——————————————

I love Stardew very much, but I have encountered a few glaring issues.

First, I am in spring of year 3, and have my silo right by the main farm entrance (just above it). If I tap it to check my hay amount, the game crashes. When I load it back up, it says there’s a previous auto-save file, and then loads it to the last time I walked through a doorway. This has somehow also impacted my animals (two chickens, two ducks, a cow, and a goat) as they are now not able to enter their homes anymore and are stuck outside. I removed the gates from the walls surrounding the buildings, thinking that might somehow be blocking the animals out, as my gates are no longer able to be manually closed, but that didn’t do anything either. I’m going to try and move the buildings around to see if this fixes it, and if it does, I’ll edit my review.

Second, choosing the talents has either bugged to the point of not being allowed to pick them at each talent milestone, or they’ve just simply been removed from the original game. You used to be able to hit a certain level in mining, for example, and then be able to pick between two different upgrades that impacted how your character played (more ore being given, or easier mining, etc). Please add this back to the game.

Third this is for quality of life, iCloud support PLEASE. I want to take this between my iPad AND my phone, not one or the other.

Overall, I’d say that Stardew Valley is a fantastic game that paints a perfect caricature of the beauty of nature and how in today’s society, it’s threatened by the advancement of technology and urbanization, as portrayed by Joja Mart. Harkening back to a simpler time, Stardew Valley simultaneously emphasizes the importance of both self reliance and community. The game gives you minimal help on the farm, forcing you to start from scratch, while also encouraging you to build new relationships with townsfolk as if you were all in it together against the encroachment of Joja Co. into the valley. The art makes the game that much more enjoyable, maintaining a light, cute, airy tone that’s only ever interrupted by the purposeful mundaneness of anything related to Joja Co.

Bravo.

Overall: 9/10

The narrative of Stardew Valley is among the best I’ve ever encountered. Every NPC has their own backstory and unique interactions that add to the immersion of the game. I love how no single aspect of the game is valued over any other (except for possibly the NPC relations?); as a result, you’re forced to balance your precious energy and time between farming, mining, building relationships, foraging, and fishing. It’s difficult to find yourself bored in the world of Stardew Valley. There’s always another goal to be completed, whether it be reaching 10 hearts, constructing more buildings, or completing another bundle.

Narrative and Concepts: 10/10

As a first time player (I never purchased the PC version), I was enthralled by both the simplicity of the gameplay and the complexity of the world. I invested about 37 hours of time into this game within the first week of purchase, getting to about mid spring, year 2. It’s simply that addicting. I will, however, admit that entering year 2, I was beginning to get burnt out with the gameplay probably simply because of the 5 hours a day I invested into the game. Farming got a bit repetitive, and grinding for the bundles started to somewhat feel like a chore. Nonetheless, I’m still playing the game, just not as much as I initially did. I still find myself struggling to put my phone down, telling myself “just one more day...” whenever I have to go do something, so the game still hasn’t lost it’s addicting nature.

Gameplay: 8/10

With respect to controls, I wish farming was easier with tap, and attacking was easier with joystick. Powering up the watering can or hoe in the desired location is simply too difficult with tap controls. Meanwhile, in combat, the joystick controls are simply to clunky and non intuitive. I find myself switching between control schemes based on my task at hand. If I’m tilling and watering soil or fishing, I use joystick. Planting seeds, mining, and movement, I use tap. Luckily, the game has a toggle on the top left of the screen by the inventory, making it rather convenient to switch control schemes. I’m amazed at how effective auto attack is; it’s effective at detecting and prioritizing enemies to swing at and I’ve rarely run into issues with it. Overall, I’d say that although individual control schemes have their issues, the game makes it easy enough to toggle between them for the best of both worlds.

Controls: 9/10

So I’ve seen plenty of people on here complain about the people in town, the fishing mechanics, and just not knowing what to do or play the game!

Well here are my tips and tricks to help you have a better time playing this and putting the devs hard work to better use!

—— These are tips not spoilers! ——

1. Building!
So you probably know about robin who lives north of your farm, well she sells all sorts of things for you to be able to buy to construct on your farm, for example a well. These building are super helpful! But not necessary to play the game and experience it so don’t worry about them early in the game, aim for them a bit later when trying to complete certain tasks!

2. Tools
Upgrade them ASAP! They will help make the game smooth and better for you impatient ones, it’s not crucial but I highly recommend it, not only that but certain tools get cool perks when upgraded like the water can!

3. Town and people
So I’ve seen reviews such as, “people in town are super rude!”

Well this game is so cool that people in town have a meter on how much they like an individual, at first no one likes you, but you can fix that! Certain characters are just normally rude but other are really nice if you get to know them. Gifting them items and going to town events is a great way to get your likeness higher and to allow for the townspeople to appreciate you more! There are also some hidden things which can happen and are very cool when they do

4. Fishing

Ok, let’s be honest if your reading this and you’ve played the game a lot like I have then you probably know how hard fishing can be when getting started. It’s not an easy task and a little hard to tackle but overall it gives the game so much character. To master fishing takes a couple things besides skill like: good bait, a good fishing rod, and patience. You aren’t going to get the fish right away and you might not get a fish at all, and hey that’s ok! Try again! Just take your time and know there are tons of places to fish at besides the ocean or besides the lake, be creative!

5. Overall game

THIS GAME IS NOT INSTANT GRATIFICATION

You need to play with it and get things done! You can’t just sit around your farm and do nothing that’s not how this game works, you need to go out and talk to people, explore places, do quests, forage items, etc. You can’t expect the game to play itself. So don’t say it’s hard, because it’s not. The game is just so deep and immersive you need to take your time and figure it out and play it out, have fun! That’s what this game is, it’s fun! And if you make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world

Ok! that was a lot of info! But if your looking for my review here it is!

Overall this game is awesome if I could give it more stars I would but there’s only a limit of 5! I’ve played through it enough to know a lot about it and I like it because I can play this for hours and not get bored! I’m glad I spent the money on this game and I wish there were more updates! *winkdevs *wink:)

Overall awesome game, couldn’t love it more, highly recommend for people looking for a story based game with creativity aspects!

Oh and to everyone saying fishing is impossible on mobile, I've caught every single fish in the game

on mobile

Yea

(Takes multiple tries but is super worth it!)

It says it’s saving but it never does. It stays on a black screen that says saving...

So basically every time I start the app I just go right back where I was and it won’t ever get past the black screen.
I was really far in the game and contacted the support team and never got an answer back. I guess my $7 is gone. I would like a refund please.

I’m having the same problems as other people since this update came out. I love the new auto save feature, but when I interact with animals and villagers my character flips out and it’s hard to get it it to interact. And also I can’t plant things or dig up artifacts. And the green square feels like it’s off the area you click or isn’t calibrated right.

Sorry but I am kind of over the game when my game started working I was 3 season behind and it just not as fun as it use to be it’s kind of boring I did like it for the first month it came out but then it just get boring. Just tried playing it again it’s not the same I wish it was better but it’s just not but if you don’t have this problem it is a very good game

Put 25+ hours into the game but all of a sudden my touch controls have been all messed up. When you plant seeds or pretty much try to do anything the cursor is offset from where it is supposed to be making the game literally unplayable. I tried removing and reinstalling the game and surprise surprise the saved game got lost AND the bug still exists. Total bummer.

I absolutely love the game, but I think the new update created bugs. The game crashes everytime a tap on the silo and when I exit the community center. This is a bummer because how am I supposed to unlock the greenhouse if the game keeps crashing everytime I try to unlock the bundles. Hope this gets fixed soon cause I paid for this only to be disappointed because of the crashes.

First, great game. All the other reviews speak to how much fun it is so I won’t rehash it.

However, been having major save issues for a while now. I am on most recent update. I go home to save at the end of a day and it just gets hung up trying to save. Says “Saving...” but never advances to next screen. This happens more than half of the time, which means I’m basically playing “Groundhog Day”

Love this game so much until 1.13 came out. Now when I interact with people or animals my character flips out and starts spinning in circles and is unable to talk to people/interact with animals. I can’t get milk from cows and goats, can’t pet my chickens, etc. I also can’t plant any produce unless it grows on a trellis. When I reel in fish after getting a “hit!” prompt, my game crashes. I was having such a good time with this game but now it barely functions.

I loved this game, even with all the game breaking bugs Chucklefish has shipped. But removing the ability to copy save files to another device (via the Files app) has ruined it for me.

I can't transfer my save from my phone to my new iPad, which has left me not even wanting to play any more, as I don't want to start a new game just because I got a new device.

This amounts to nothing less than a terrible user experience. So, I'm done. Time to cut my losses and move on to another game.

The game is fun and I’m glad that there have already been improvements for combat and bug. However, the fact that there is no way to uninstall this app from your phone and preserve your gameplay is highly unfortunate and frustrating. I needed to clear my phone off temporarily and when I re-installed the game my 40+ hours of gameplay were gone. There’s no way to recover it. What a waste of time. I will not be playing again until there is an easy and reliable way to preserve and reload game files.

Nice auto save but there are more bugs popping up! The horse doesn’t want to go out of my farm! The item I put on the hot bar doesn’t appear in the hot bar. This ruin my lucky day skull cavern run. Also when I try to cut grass with melee weapon it doesn’t goes in the right directions and doesn’t cut it, this also goes with breaking chest in cave. When I select weapon and hitting rock it doesn’t goes back to weapon and the characters stand still letting monster to attack! THERE ARE STILL MANY MORE BUG! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FIX THESE BUG

I’ve run into a glitch where when I attempt to leave the area where my farm is located (from any direction, whether it be towards the bus stop or the mountains) while riding on my horse, my character glitches off of it just before leaving the area.

I end up walking around on foot in the other area with my horse still on my farm.

I don’t know why this happens but I haven’t found a way to fix it, and I’ve tried.

It would be nice if this problem could be addressed in a future update.

P.S. I’m only giving this game 1 star so that this review might be more noticeable.

I loved this game and then they did an update and changed the sword. Why couldn’t there be an option for how you want the sword. On my IOS it used to automatically attack the enemies. Now I have to eep checking if it’s equipped and then hunt the button on screen to hit. Needless to say, I end up fainting and getting nothing done. Also, this last update keeps me from opening the app at all! One last thing, I’ve been playing since it came out and still cannot catch a fish. Please fix. Thank you ! Knocked off a star. Still not letting me play . Throws me out before it even loads.

An amazing game up until today, I’ve been experiencing some bugs and crashes. Every time I get an opportunity to get a fish the game crashes. I can pick up trash just fine. But fish are a no go. It deleted my last save for no reason. And I can’t plant anything, or talk to any characters in the game without it having my character walk to random places in the world or glitching/spinning out of control by another character. I was just hoping you could get this checked out and fixed. I really like this game a lot but it’s frustrating me lately and i don’t want to give up on it yet.

Yesterday when I tried playing after the update, everything glitched. The community center would crash upon exiting. (Which fixed itself) the glitches still prominent are the fence glitch and the saving glitch, which is the worst one. I’m forever stuck in limbo on year 2 summer 19 and every time I try to sleep I get an infinite loading screen, I get frustrated after waiting 5 minutes and just close the app. I’m refusing to touch the app until a update that fixes it is released. After this is fixed, this app is 5 stars and I love it so much, I hope it gets fixed soon so I can continue playing.

Downloaded update this morning and now the game won’t let me plant any crops. The available plots light up but none of the seeds will let me plant them. I tried seeds from all 4 seasons and still no go. I even bought new seeds from the store. Will be tough to live on a farm without being able to plant crops. Secondary issue: the movement indicator for my avatar no longer selects the item or location i want them to pick up/move to. It is askew/off-center which makes fighting monsters much harder since the place I click is not actually where the hit goes. Please fix so I can actually play the game. Thanks!

I’ve been wanting this game for a long time. I never had the disposable cash to get it and now that I did, I decided to download it! I was super excited to start playing. When it first downloaded, there were no issues at all. I was enjoying the game a lot. All of a sudden, the app updated and now my character can’t talk to anyone walking around because when I click the screen, the calibration is off now. I also can’t plant any seeds to farm anything. These are two MAJOR things in the game and I’m really irritated with this. I’m almost wanting a refund but I’ll see if the next update fixes this for me. Please fix this ASAP.

Downloaded the new update and it has made the game unplayable. I guess I’m done until another update addresses this.

I can’t interact with people or animals without my character jerking around.

I can till and harvest, but planting is impossible. I’m not sure if it’s related but where I click isn’t centered so something is off with the tiles.

I haven’t tried fishing because my morning is spent watering, harvesting, planting, and giving my animals some attention. Read from others this is a problem for them. I’ll change my rating once I can play this game.

Plus side, I’ll be getting back a good deal of time because this game is addicting for sure.

1. Why do I have to spend 5 minutes loading. I have an iPad Pro why does it exit and require reloading?

2. Remove *BRIGHT WHITEstartup screens. This is painfully bright on an iPad (in bed) and is so bright it can wake up your spouse.

3. Picking crops is tedious and hard to see. Especially seeing ancient fruit. Need an auto pick option for touch screens.

4. Where is Apple TV support?

5. Where is controller support. Horipad ultimate would be useful.

6. Why is there no cloud backup ? What if I have to delete the app? What if I want to play on my iPad and iPhone?

7. Navigating tree farms is near impossible without accidentally cutting down or removing tree tappers. Needs a lot of work and possibly a first person view.

8. How can I tell which professions I chose a long while ago? What if I want to change, but still have no idea which profession I chose?

#Fail