Black Friday - any game recommendations?

[hexnessie]

Hi, could anyone recommend a game that is similar to Stardew Valley? There are promos all over Steam and GOG right now and I thought I might stash up while I wait for ConcernedApe's new game.

What I generally like most about SDV:
- farming and crafting to make money, decorations and gifts
- grinding for resources (fishing, foraging, mining, fighting)
- building up the base, i.e. the farm - expanding, increasing in scope, clearing out debris, unlocking new areas
- the "time and resource management" aspect of early gameplay when you are struggling to get enough money for that single Cauliflower seed so you can plant it in time
- generally sweet and wholesome nature of the game, i.e. that I'm not playing as a nasty violent bully who intimidates people, humiliates others and steals their stuff
- friendship building with villagers that is not geared towards romance
- full Single Player experience

Have you played any games like that? They don't have to be about farming or even simulation, SF or fantasy setting is OK, I loved Skyrim for mostly the same reasons...

 

[Lew Zealand]

I wish I could recommend something as I’d probably be playing it! The kids play Animal Crossing and that seems to be a great game but you need a Switch.

I played My Time At Portia last year and enjoyed it but the base building didn’t seem as compelling as SDV and overall I felt the game had less “heart” than SDV.

Looking forward to everyone’s recommendations!

 

[haywud]

I'm not sure I've played many games like Stardew Valley. Probably the closest I've played is Minecraft, then again I'm not sure how much in common it really has. I mean it does have farming and crafting, plus grinding for resources and you can definitely get creative with building. You will have a time and resource management aspect as well, especially since not all resources are easy to come by so you have to be careful about what you use them on. Plus no matter what platforms you have available, it's on just about everything. So if you haven't tried it, maybe give it a go. There is a PC demo too (I believe there's one on PS4 as well), so you can potentially try it for free.

By the way, what platforms do you have available to you? By platforms I mean things like gaming consoles, PC, Mac, etc. I ask because it will help others to recommend some games since they will know what they can actually suggest. If I can think of anything else I'll either edit this post, or make a new post if there are a lot of other replies by then.

EDIT: Well I already thought of one to add lol. It's a game called Astroneer, though not sure if it's really similar to SDV. It's a space themed game that heavily focuses on gathering resources and crafting items. Resource management is definitely vital since you will be crafting a lot, plus there are multiple planets and not all resources are available on every one so you will need to be wise with your resources. Since you're on planets with no oxygen, you also have to be careful with that. At first the oxygen is more annoying to deal with, but as you go along you will probably find it easier to manage. I don't know if you would like it or not, but hey it might be worth looking into plus it seems to be on sale on Steam.

 

[LRangerR]

I recommend staying home for Friday and keeping your sanity, but that's just me.

 

[Magically Clueless]

I really like Littlewood which has plenty of similar things to Stardew, but is still interesting and unique on its own. I also really enjoyed Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, which is a remake of the classic GBA Harvest Moon game, and it frequently goes on sale. (I think the style is not as charming as the original game but I still really enjoyed it and I plan to go back to it)

 

[Zen_the_Ogre]

Turnip commits tax evasion........more fun than it should be. Dwarf, Vincent and Abigail love it. Lewis breaks out in a cold sweat and runs hearing the name. Huh didn't know he was a gamer......

 

[hexnessie]

By the way, what platforms do you have available to you?

Ah, I forgot to add this! Thanks for pointing it out. I play on PC only. I have mobile devices but don't really like mobile games.

Thank you for recommending Astroneer, I added it to my wishlist!

 

[hexnessie]

I really like Littlewood which has plenty of similar things to Stardew, but is still interesting and unique on its own. I also really enjoyed Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, which is a remake of the classic GBA Harvest Moon game, and it frequently goes on sale. (I think the style is not as charming as the original game but I still really enjoyed it and I plan to go back to it)

Thanks!

 

[haywud]

Ah, I forgot to add this! Thanks for pointing it out. I play on PC only. I have mobile devices but don't really like mobile games.

Thank you for recommending Astroneer, I added it to my wishlist!

Yeah it definitely helps for others to know what you have available, otherwise you will end up with a lot of replies mentioning games you can't play.

Someone mentioned Animal Crossing, which obviously you can't get the full experience without something like a Switch or 3DS or other older Nintendo platforms, and I know you said you don't like mobile games though if you wanted a taste of Animal Crossing there's always Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. It's a free game to play, though they will try to lure you into spending real money to get in-game stuff from time to time but I mean it is a mobile game so what do you expect lol. I don't think it's even close to what the standard Animal Crossing games have to offer, but hey it could be something to mess with especially in times where you just need something to kill some time.

Have you ever tried Terraria? I just started it today after seeing one of my favorite YouTube channels play it, and it seems pretty interesting. So far I would say it's almost like a 2D side-scrolling Minecraft with a visual style that reminds me a lot of SDV. I haven't played a lot of it so far so I can't say much about it, but figured I'd mention it in case you haven't played it and wanted to look into it.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Terraria is a good suggestion and can be fun to play but I can't figure it out by myself. It's user interface just doesn't work with my head. With help from my MP buddy I can get by in the game but that's because he knows what he's doing while I can do some junk. Sometimes. With careful direction. The UI just bonks off my skull, fully failing to be understood or assimilated.

However Minecraft and Astroneer are fun games, too. I play MC as does my MP buddy, and he plays Astroneer as well and likes it.

 

[hexnessie]

Thanks! Will have a look at Terraria and Minecraft too (I've been meaning to, for a long time, but wasn't sure if it's subscription based or full of microtransactions and other such not-so-fun mechanics).

I've also seen Medieval Dynasty - anyone played it? Is it any good? (Any negative reviews I've seen mentioned it's a grindfest, but I like grind, so it could be prefect!)

 

[Lew Zealand]

Thanks! Will have a look at Terraria and Minecraft too (I've been meaning to, for a long time, but wasn't sure if it's subscription based or full of microtransactions and other such not-so-fun mechanics).

I've also seen Medieval Dynasty - anyone played it? Is it any good? (Any negative reviews I've seen mentioned it's a grindfest, but I like grind, so it could be prefect!)

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Medieval Dynasty.

Minecraft is buy once, own in perpetuity, zero microtransactions. I've been playing since 2017 (noob!). Terraria is available from Steam with autodownloads and maybe DRM (?) but also from GOG with the option of an old skool installer and no DRM. Pay once, own forever, no microtransactions. If you want to play Terraria online with other people, get the Steam version. My kid cant play with his friends with the GOG version so I bought it from Steam for him and it all works. GOG Terraria does work with local/LAN co-op though. Both have Mac and PC versions and Terraria works in Linux.

FYI Terraria has a 98% rating on Steam with 670,000 reviews which is crazy high and Minecraft is the #1 selling video game of all time with 230 million sales.

So they're reasonably popular. If you believe people.

 

[haywud]

Terraria is a good suggestion and can be fun to play but I can't figure it out by myself. It's user interface just doesn't work with my head. With help from my MP buddy I can get by in the game but that's because he knows what he's doing while I can do some junk. Sometimes. With careful direction. The UI just bonks off my skull, fully failing to be understood or assimilated.

However Minecraft and Astroneer are fun games, too. I play MC as does my MP buddy, and he plays Astroneer as well and likes it.

The UI on Terraria has been a little confusing for me too, then again I've been playing on Xbox using a controller and it seems like a game designed with mouse and keyboard in mind. I can still see it being annoying to get used to even with a keyboard and mouse though. It's been fun so far though, except for the blood moon thing where the enemies suddenly seemed able to get into my house lol.

@hexnessie Minecraft actually does have some sort of subscription service called Realms and Realms Plus (though not sure what it is to be honest) and also has a shop where you can spend real money to get in-game stuff, but it's all entirely optional and I feel it isn't shoved in your face like how some games might do it. Since you would be playing on PC, you could look into mods as well which could potentially help make the game more enjoyable for you.

Never actually heard of Medieval Dynasty, but from what I'm seeing it kind of reminds me of the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

 

[hexnessie]

Thank you again everyone. I finally decided on Terraria.

Can't figure out how to buy Minecraft - it's not on any of the game stores I'm using.

 

[WhiteEagle12]

I really enjoy Terraria and have racked up 300-400 hours on Xbox. If you enjoy watching Youtube videos about the things you play (I do) I would highly recommend Wand Of Sparking. He is a Terraria channel that has recently started doing challenge videos for SDV. He is hands down my favorite channel. Anyways, enjoy the game

 

[Lew Zealand]

Thank you again everyone. I finally decided on Terraria.

Can't figure out how to buy Minecraft - it's not on any of the game stores I'm using.

Minecraft uses its own launcher, it's not on any game store. You buy it from MC's website. And there are 2 different versions of it, Java (original version) and Bedrock (mobile and "Windows 10" version). The 2 versions have subtle differences but Java has far more extensive modding (which I use) and generally is recommended if you're using a PC. Please look at other people's recommendations on the 2 versions though, as that's just my opinion (I use Java).

 

[HomeintheValley12]

Minecraft uses its own launcher, it's not on any game store. You buy it from MC's website. And there are 2 different versions of it, Java (original version) and Bedrock (mobile and "Windows 10" version). The 2 versions have subtle differences but Java has far more extensive modding (which I use) and generally is recommended if you're using a PC. Please look at other people's recommendations on the 2 versions though, as that's just my opinion (I use Java).

Minecraft is best on console in my opinion. But of course you'd have to own a console *cough* Xbox Series X *cough*

 

[WhiteEagle12]

Minecraft is best on console in my opinion. But of course you'd have to own a console *cough* Xbox Series X *cough*

I play on Switch and Xbox mostly, but have done a bit of PC.

 

[hexnessie]

Minecraft is best on console in my opinion. But of course you'd have to own a console *cough* Xbox Series X *cough*

As I live in a teensy apartment and don't even have a TV to hook the console to, I suppose I'll have to bear it on the PC ;)

 

[WhiteEagle12]

As I live in a teensy apartment and don't even have a TV to hook the console to, I suppose I'll have to bear it on the PC ;)

Oof, that's no fun. I can't say I know what you're talking about, as I'm still 15 and I live with my parents (What am I doing with my life, I know) We have an Xbox One S, an Xbox series S, an Xbox 360, that we don't play very often, a laptop that we play on sometimes, and a Nintendo Switch. Now, before you start thinking I'm a spoiled brat, I think it bears thought that I have 7 siblings, 4 of which play video games, and the other two watch a show or movie while we play. And yes, I really do have 7 siblings, 3 brothers, and 4 sisters. (And I'm sure you are wondering if they are all from one marriage, the answer is yes. My mom and dad have had 8 kids.)