Hit indie farming simulation game Stardew Valley is now playable in board game form, offering players another way to be a farmer without actually being a farmer. Stardew Valley: The Board Game lets 1-4 players build their farm, catch legendary fish, mine rare minerals, and more to keep the exploitative Joja Corporation from getting a foothold in the Valley. Although the game is a bit overwhelming at first, it quickly becomes a rewarding experience which heavily promotes teamwork.
Stardew Valley: The Board Game was announced and made available the same day. It does a decent job capturing the spirit of the video game; players have multiple objectives surrounding the farm they inherited from their grandfather and are tasked with rebuilding the town's Community Center. Stardew Valley: The Board Game is played day by day, season by season until either the objectives are completed or the Joja Corporation has taken over.
Seemingly straightforward in its gameplay, Stardew Valley: The Board Game really shines when players need to coordinate their daily routines. The more players in the game, the more objectives there are, and the ever-present encroachment of Joja Corp. adds a nice sense of urgency.
Rewarding Cooperative Play Uplifts Stardew Valley: The Board Game
Emulating the video game Stardew Valley's spirit of saving a small, tight-knit community, The Board Game emphasizes teamwork above all else. It's a welcome respite from the cutthroat nature of strategy games such as Catan or the classic Dune board game. The initial set-up of Stardew Valley: The Board Game can be quite daunting – there are a lot of little cardboard pieces that make up a tabletop farm. Thankfully, those familiar with the farming sim game's gameplay loop will have a general idea of how all the pieces will work since it stays fairly faithful to the Stardew Valley blueprint.
However, once the rules have been read and re-read, players have chosen their professions, and an argument over whether the farm is going to have a pet cat or dog has taken place, what emerges is a wholesome cooperative experience that rewards good team coordination. The energy meter from Stardew Valley the video game translates into finite actions in Stardew Valley: The Board Game. Only two actions can be taken per turn, and movement across the board is limited, so players will have to carefully plan their days around each other's schedules in order to get all the necessary Stardew Valley farming tasks done.
The whole table will quickly settle into routines, usually centered around the individuals' professions, but everyone will get to do a little bit of everything in the effort to combat the debilitating presence of the evil Joja Corporation. The end of the game constantly looms as the Season Deck gets shorter, foreshadowing failure, but there is great satisfaction waiting for Stardew Valley: The Board Game players when a Community Center bundle is completed after a carefully coordinated turn.