Recent reviews by Snow

I was apprehensive to buy this game myself because I was too unsure if it would hold up to Stardew Valley, which I've learned is just not a good way to look at video games. We shouldn't compare games and critique them as if they should be similar, competition is good so that games can learn what other games do well and how they can improve, but it shouldn't make them feel the same.

This game was gifted to me by a friend that wanted to try it out and I am always happy to be proven wrong because I always assume the worst, and proven wrong I was. Only about 8 hours in so far and I am very charmed so far, at first I wasn't a fan of some of the UI, like the basic fonts for text, for example but there are so many other things that outshine the bad.
Such as the amazingly cosy soundtrack; I feel like I've not quite heard this sound from other games in the genre, it has it's own style and I like that.
The game-play so far to me feels fun and smooth, the progression with skills feels a little slow but maybe that's for the best. This game feels like it's going to have a high ceiling for where it can go so it could be good to not give too much power to the player early on.

Still very early to write a review but I had these early impressions brewing and I feel I owed this game a nice statement after my own preemptive hangups.

If you were to ask me how I felt about Stardew Valley, I would say it's easily my favourite farming sim/cozy game.

But if you asked me on a deeper level...

I would say, Stardew Valley is one of the few games that make me feel safe.

And what I mean by that is, in a world full of inconsistency, this game is a constant. By every definition of the word. No matter what is going on in my life, no matter how little of a social life I have, this game feels like a place I'll never forget my way back to. As an autistic with no plans for life, that level of security is just not something I think I'll ever have a way of optimally repaying or even just expressing gratitude for.

As you can see from the playtime, this game is almost a second home. But if you also saw my completed achievements, then you'd be confused, because surely someone who loves this game THIS much would want to do everything it has to offer, right? And yes that is true, I do eventually want to complete this game fully, but that right there is what makes this game special to me. I don't feel compelled to rush my experience in Stardew Valley and that is just... so freeing.

I very well might dump another 1000 hours into this game before I complete it, and I hope I do.
I'd love nothing more.