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Ya know what other game is basically the same game 8 years later? Pretty much all of them. Games almost never just up and fundamentally change their core design after release. Why would a dev do that, when they can just make a new game?
What a weird article title.
Title now shows as “In 8 years, Stardew Valley never lost sight of its core philosophy” for me.
People don’t really like to read the articles before commenting, huh.
Knowing Stardew was such a beloved game, I knew I had to get context before judging the author because it could be read both ways.
People who assume games not changing = criticism are telling us more about their own uncharitable view of others than anything else.
EDIT: That said, if I were to offer criticism, I feel like the author gives too much credit to Stardew as though it invented or pioneered the tight gameplay loop: perhaps at least some mention could have been made to Harvest Moon, the game from which Stardew borrows - and perfects - most of its major systems.
Also to be fair, it doesn’t go anywhere with that thought that Stardew hasn’t changed. Felt a little low-effort, like a retrospective on Stardew that just basically listed what people liked about it.
I did read it, and I did notice that the title was editorialized a bit here, and I think that’s immaterial to my main point. The article is basically “sun found to rise once again after 8 years”. As you mentioned yourself, it really doesn’t go anywhere with the idea.
No Man’s Sky on the other hand
Well, that one wasn’t really much of a game at the release. More like a tech demo that they somehow transformed into a game later.
I mean… it started as a resource farming simulator.
Now it’s a resource farming simulator with mechs and submarines and bases.
Still the same basic game with the same basic core mechanic… just with more mindless stuff to keep you busy.
Mecha and subs and bases… and Multiplayer. The galactic hub community in NMS is awesome
So… mindless stuff for more than one mind! Genius!
Wait, is NMS a game nowadays?
Has been for years now
Then you get shit like Stellaris that fundamentally changed their game at least two times. It’s not even close to the game I originally bought, and I say that with mixed feelings.
Stardew is in a good place, it doesn’t need to change. If you want Stardew-but-not then play something else, plenty of good games. Slime Rancher, Core Keeper, Sun Haven…
You can always go back to the old versions
“More than 38 years later, Super Mario Bros. is basically the same game it was at launch back in 1985. Will it make it to 40? Some aren’t so sure, find out why!”
“Minecraft is basically the same game 15 years later.”
Yes and no. But mostly no.
Minecraft is a wildly different game from what they released. The point of this article is that despite 8 years of regular updates, the core experience of playing Stardew Valley hasn’t changed. I wish that were true of Minecraft.
I really don’t want to read this based on the headline and I don’t want to subject anyone else to such a dumb sounding fate, but if anyone already has read it could you tell me where they were trying to go with this one?
In 8 years, Stardew Valley never lost sight of its core philosophy.
Is the actual headline of the article. Why OP decided to change is anyone’s guess.
This feels like a much more sensible statement. I didn’t want to read it if it was going to be some weird game as a service shill article trying to hate on games that aren’t evil
Maybe the title was changed post-publication?
OP didn’t change it, the author did.
That’s… What I expect.
I really don’t like when my games change so much over time that they’re not even the same game anymore. I got the old game. I want the old game. If I wanted a new game, I’d get a new game.
I mean its a game, and not a game as a service.
Also Polygon: water… is wet.
It is strange. I tried it once and it felt incredibly stressful between the passing out mechanic, the questions demanding I introduce myself to every single person in the whole village within the first week,… yet people keep describing it as relaxing.
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Yeah, people kept telling me that I could literally ignore every goal and just do it next year in the game if I missed something but to me doing everything incredibly inefficiently just to work around the bad game design isn’t fun. It also isn’t immersive to have a farm where I grow 3-5 plants per season only. Basically the game reminds me at every turn that I am not actually doing what the story tells me I am doing.
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Check out Graveyard Keeper, a way better designed game with a good sense of humour and none of the wholesome and waifu nonsense.
I did enjoy that one until I unfortunately hit a game breaking bug in the storyline (played it fairly early on, that bug should be long fixed by now). Maybe I should get back to it. But yes, the pacing on that one was much better, as was the energy system.
