Stardew Valley is a life simulation game released in 2016 developed by Eric Barone a.k.a ConcernedApe. In this game, the players grandfather owns a farm in a small village called Pelican Town, which he passes down to the player after he passes away. After inheriting the farm, the player can escape corporate life and run away to the village in the outskirts of the city where they becomes in charge of caring for the farm.

The first time I played Stardew Valley was on my Nintendo Switch that I got for my 16th birthday. My brother had gotten it for me, it came with the Animal Crossing New Horizon game. Stardew was the second game that I downloaded onto my Switch, and I became instantly attached to it. I was going through a difficult time in highschool, I was very lonely and I needed a way to escape from what I had been going through at that time. This game sucked me in and there was nothing I wanted to do more than get my hands on my switch so I could complete all the little goals I set for my self everytime I started a new day in Pelican town. I can't say that was a good idea because my school grades did NOT look pretty by the time I graduated but I felt at peace when I was playing the game and at that time, that was all that mattered. Alot of people may find Stardew stressful due to the time mechanics, caves and the goal of reaching perfection but I strongly believe that the game is only stressful if you make it stressful. In stardew, there really aren't any major concequeunces for not being able to reach a specefic point in your farm, if you can't pass Grandpa's evalutation a the start of your third year, that's okay. He hasn't disappeared forever and you can call him back for another try at anytime. I have the game downloaded everywhere I can...on my macbook, phone, and Nintendo Switch. I'm planning on getting a Switch Lite eventually because I've noticed my sister becoming interested in mine (lol), so I'll obviously be gettign Stardew on there. Personally, I don't think it's an obsession but I find a sense of comfort knowing that I will have access to this game no matter where I am!

I started to play modded Stardew Valley on my laptop at around 2019-2020 and it felt as if it was one of the best things I've discovered for myself. I loved Stardew to death, but to be able to add elements that would make me love it even MORE had me glued onto my laptop. Changing the interface, MAP COLORS!!, toning down the neon colours etc. It made a game that I adore into a game that was basically perfect for me in everyway. It wasn't just being able to change the aesthetic that I loved but also elements of the game that I found particularly difficult, like the fighting mechanics. Being able to add more villagers!! Stardew is very easy to mod and I'm very happy that the creator made it that way! I heavily support modding, I am moddings #1 fan. WIth modding you can really make the game your safe space, changung characters, avatars, environment, gameplay in a way that makes you even more immersed in the game. Modding Stardew is very easy, tutorial is down below!

Modding Tutorial

Modding stardew is very easy, most if not all required mods + the modding api can be found on nexus mods!
Keep in mind that I play stardew using the STEAM version, and I don't know if the launch process is different for different stores!

1. Download the most recent version of SMAPI from Nexus Mods. Download Content Patcher as well but this will go in your mods folder AFTER you've installed SMAPI!!

2. Extract the SMAPI zip file and open it, then choose the install file that corresponds to your desktop. I picked MacOS because I play on my macbook. Then a terminal thingy should open, follow the prompts on the screen. SMAPI will automatically set up a modding api in your games folder.

3. SMAPI is installed!! To find your games folder, you can right click your game on STEAM, go to 'manage' and you'll find 'browse local files'. There should be a mods folder within the games folder, if there isn't, create a folder called 'Mods'. Here you will put all the mods that you download.

4. That's it! Extract Content Patcher in the mods folder and you should be good to go with downloading mods on your game.