10 Stardew Valley Habits That Is Making The Game Unnecessarily Stressful

Games like Stardew Valley are an oasis of peace and tranquility in a world that is getting increasingly stressful. Having the freedom to build a farm from the ground up with no constraints or expectations can be a great source of relaxation, and the multitude of options available to make pretty much any farm you want goes a long way in giving you control over this little virtual world.

The freedom offered in sandbox games like Stardew Valley can, however, have an unintended side effect of becoming more stressful as pressure mounts to be perfect or the sheer number of options available becomes overwhelming. This can be worse over time as you learn the systems and understand exactly what is possible, rather than sticking with a dinky farm at the beginning with limited tools. These habits can turn a simple game like Stardew Valley from a relaxing cozy game into a min/max nightmare.

10 Thinking There's a "Wrong" Way to Play

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

It can be tempting to go onto Reddit and see the farms that others have created for inspiration. This is perfectly fine, but it can be easy to see the streamlines, the optimizations, and the efficiency of other farms and feel like you're not playing Stardew Valley the "right" way.

Players who achieve major milestones such as marriage, greenhouses, fixing the Community Center, or unlocking the other locations within Year 1 can be intimidating. Comparing yourself to others and trying to live up to invisible expectations is a surefire way to make Stardew Valley unpleasant and stressful. Stardew Valley doesn't punish you for taking your time, so go at your own pace.

9 Min/Maxxing

This is Not Elden Ring

It's very easy to turn to min-maxing when playing cozy games. Doing so gets you a farm that operates like a well-oiled machine, but that way turns your relaxing cozy game into a stressful endeavor. Min-maxing requires careful planning and logistical setup with great rewards at the end of it, but it's also a stressful process that requires planning and locks out many other features that could bring you joy.

Instead of embracing the grind, pick one thing to be good at, such as making great cheese, and invest in the skills that require that. Create space for a barn, keep your cows happy, and focus on making a great product. This still allows you to be specialized, but it's a far more relaxing process. It'll take longer to achieve success, but getting there will be less stressful and more rewarding.

8 Trying to Do Everything

Become a Master of One

Streamlining doesn't necessarily have to mean optimizing for peak efficiency. My favorite Stardew Valley farms have all been focused on doing one thing well. One save file focuses on fishing and everything that comes with that, another on making a wine farm, another on artisanal products, one on making the best cheese and dairy products.

Focusing on doing one thing well does a world of good in keeping Stardew Valley relaxing. Instead of worrying about a bunch of different systems, or needing to remember to check things while also traveling across the map to get to the mines, one to five tasks is far more manageable. Just because the options are there, doesn't mean you need to do them all.

7 Embracing Capitalism

You Don't Need to Support JoJa Mart to Become a Capitalist

Ditch capitalism... I mean, avoid turning your farm into a money-making machine. Chasing numbers is a surefire way to turn Stardew Valley into a stressful endeavor, and it's entirely unnecessary.

Using every scrap of available land for greenhouses and massive fields yielding high-value crops that make your farm look like the most bleak factory farm would stress out anyone. Avoid the temptation to maximize profits, and take joy in the charms of a small farm. The money will still come in, albeit at a slower rate, and your cortisol levels will thank you.

6 Letting Chore Creep Take Over

Prioritize and Let the Rest Take Care of Itself

Chores aren't fun in real life, and too many of them hit the same way in Stardew Valley. Running a farm will inevitably lead to doing chores, but the issue comes when you're freaking out about not being able to get everything done in the day, or find yourself passing out every night because you didn't get to bed in time.

Stardew Valley is very forgiving for missed chores and quests. Things will stay there if you put them off for a day or so and prioritize something else. Keeping the list of chores you need to do will make Stardew Valley a far more relaxing experience.

5 Turning to Speedrunning

Stardew Valley Isn't a Race

Stardew Valley is technically infinite, and you can take as much time as you like getting your farm where it needs to be, building relationships, and fixing up the community center. That said, the lure of speedrunning is always there.

I can say from experience that the best time I've had playing Stardew Valley was when I resisted the urge to get everything done as soon as possible. Yes, it's annoying being confined to a small plot of crops that you can only water with a watering can when you know you can turn this bad boy farm into a self-automated, well-oiled machine.

4 Rejecting Slowburn Relationships

Let Romance Develop Over Time

Having a spouse in Stardew Valley is a big help on the farm, and it's nice just to have someone else around. The thing is, relationships in real life rarely solidify within the space of a few months. Taking relationships slower to develop them organically can be more fulfilling than trying to speedrun a marriage within Year 1.

Set the gift guides aside and try a more experimental approach when giving gifts based on their personality and interests rather than approaching them from what you know. A slower pace and fewer expectations make romance less stressful, and it's great to see the characters come together after knowing each other for longer than a few months.

3 Not Prioritizing Aesthetics

Make Things Pretty

This is a bit of a strange one, because being on a mission to create the perfect cottagecore farm can become a stressful experience if you focus too much on getting it done quickly. But creating a beautiful farm can be a relaxing experience, and forces you to shift from getting the most profit out of every space.

Some of my most relaxing Stardew Valley playthroughs involved planning the aesthetics of the small spaces on the farm. One time, I had chosen the river farm layout, and giving each island a theme and planning how to make them as beautiful as possible, rather than having each produce to capacity, was deeply fulfilling and put no pressure on me.

2 Hoarding Everything You Find

An Infinite Bounty of Chests

Finding something innocuous and then keeping it in chests dedicated to keeping things forever is a strategy used by savvy players. This can escalate very quickly. There are a lot of items in Stardew Valley. Items need to be stored in chests, and chests need space. Hoarding will turn into a situation where there are a lot of chests, filled with things that you need to remember.

I fall into this trap every time I play Stardew Valley, and every single time I do it gets to the point where I ask myself what I'm even doing. Just having a ton of stuff hanging around on the farm is a source of stress when I look at them. Sometimes, it's better to keep a couple of things around and sell the rest.

1 Letting the Farm Get Out of Hand

Fewer Things Means Less Stress

The property you're given is very big, and it can be tempting to use every part of the space. And it's very possible to do that with all the automations Stardew Valley gives you.

Rather than diversifying and dipping into every single system on offer, focusing on a couple of things and keeping the space used to a minimum gives you a farm that's close to nature. Put down some mushroom stumps in a forest that actually grows on the farm, and give yourself a moment to enjoy things that aren't entirely predictable.