Stardew Valley Features that Encourage You to Set Your Own Goals

One of the appealing features of sandbox games is the freedom they offer. Games like Stardew Valley, The Sims 4, and Animal Crossing allow you to define your own success.

Success in other video games that are story-based involves some kind of win-state, usually by overcoming some malevolent force or taking power. The power in games like Stardew Valley is in how there is no one way to measure success. With no win-state and no ending, playing Stardew Valley can be challenging if you haven't set your own goals. There are, however, features that help you create your own victories.

10 Open-Ended Farm Design

Do What You Want with Your Land

The premise of Stardew Valley is that you're given an empty piece of land and can do whatever you want with it. This is Stardew Valley at its most basic, and this feature is what encourages you to find your own definition of success.

No two Stardew Valley farms look alike, and every gameplay approach is valid. You can take your farm and turn every tile into a crop space, prioritize aesthetics over profit, or ditch farming entirely and keep your property wild. As long as you have created a goal to achieve, every approach to gameplay is a recipe for success and doesn't require you to make a ton of money or unlock end-game content. Stardew Valley lets you thrive as long as you're happy with your farm.

9 Multiple Farm Maps

Make Farming as Easy or Difficult as You Want

Stardew Valley comes with several farm maps, and you pick one during character creation. The farm maps are:

• Standard Farm
• Riverland Farm
• Forest Farm
• Hilltop Farm
• Wilderness Farm
• Four Corners Farm
• Beach Farm
• Meadowlands Farm

Each farm type has advantages and disadvantages, and vary from specialized to more general. For example, the Riverlands farm type supports a character who solely fishes, and fishing is lucrative enough to thrive on alone. Picking a map is an early decision that defines your playthrough, but the challenge can make esoteric maps more interesting. You can customize your farm no matter the map, with some restrictions such as water sprinklers on the Beach Farm, but some maps are harder to customize than others and lend themselves to a certain kind of playstyle. Overcoming these restrictions could also be viewed as a sign of success.

8 Romance System

Define Your Ideal Relationship

Romance in Stardew Valley is incredible, with a ton of features and options. You can take as long as you like to progress relationships, can get married, and have up to two children with your spouse. All the marriage candidates are available to male and female player characters, allowing you to define what marriage looks like in your game.

If you're looking for a platonic relationship that has all the benefits of a marriage, Krobus can move in as your roommate. You can't have children with him like the marriage candidates, but the relationship he offers is just as complex and heartwarming as the others. He also offers gifts of the same value as the marriage candidates, so bringing him in as a roommate is just as valuable when it comes to mechanics. It's rare that a game allows a platonic relationship to be on the same level as a romance, and is a much-appreciated option.

7 Decoration Options

Create Your Ideal Space

Decorations can be bought during special festivals, from vendors, or crafted with the right materials. There's a huge variety in decoration options for all kinds of aesthetics and tastes. There are both indoor and outdoor decorating objects.

Aside from decorative objects, you can design your farm however you like. Placement features play a big role in this, and you can make your farm as neat and organized or close to its natural state as you want. One of my favorite things to do in Stardew Valley is split my farm into sections and see each space be gradually filled as the season goes by.

6 Area Expansions

Aim for that Sweet Late Game Content

Getting to late-game content can result in a plateau of progression as most basic goals will be achieved. Stardew Valley solves this by including end-game content. You can access this by unlocking the bus and repairing the boat, both of which require resources, and give you access to Calico Desert and Ginger Island. These areas make late-game Stardew Valley more interesting and add something new to the mix.

Calico Desert and Ginger Island introduce a bunch of new NPCs, recipes, and ingredients. Just unlocking these regions could be a personal indicator of success in your game, as doing so requires money and building relationships with certain NPCs.

5 Choose Between Crops or Animals

Both Options are Valid

When it comes to making money, Stardew Valley has you set with options, but the two main paths are farming animals or growing crops. These serve as the base for other avenues of revenue, and will be your bread and butter.

You can do both, but splitting your time between both can be a lot. I like to invest in both options just because of the range of artisan goods you can make with crops and cheese, but my favorite way is to stick to crops first until I have a good amount of money, then adding animals once I have my routine down.

4 Mining is as Valid as Farming or Crafting

Specialize in One or Invest in Everything

So you've grown a bounty of crops and have several barns worth of animals. Now what? Stardew Valley gives you several ways to process your produce into artisanal products or cooked dishes. Specializing in one of these and becoming a major producer of, say, fine-quality wine is a great way to define your farm's success.

You also don't need to farm at all. Investing everything in the mines, foraging, or fishing can absolutely be a way to thrive. These different mechanics offer goods of varying quality, so setting your own goals within these industries is a great way to define your playthrough.

3 Perfection Tracker

You Can Do Everything

Steam achievements are there for you to track your progress as you accomplish certain milestones. Hitting platinum on a game means getting 100% of the achievements and basically doing everything significant the game has to offer.

This can be a high bar to meet, but the feeling of accomplishment is real. Stardew Valley has a Perfection score that's tracked in-game. Reaching Perfection unlocks extra content, and can become the end goal in lieu of an ending. The content that unlocks once Perfection is reached is more emotional than functional, which is great for those who don't want to grind, but is also great for those who want to feel they have achieved something significant in Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley's Main "Story"

Joja Mart is an alternative to restoring the community center for those who don't want to delve into every mechanic in Stardew Valley. Thematically, restoring the community center is the "correct" way as it encourages community and means working with the forest spirits, but there isn't really a tangible difference between the two.

The biggest difference is going about how the Pelican Town restorations happen. With Joja Mart, the restoration projects are done by simply paying for them. Working with the forest spirits requires providing them with resources from the area, such as crops, fish, and animal products. Either way is a legitimate path, with different kinds of "success" shown.

1 Zero Endgame and No Failstate

You Can Play Stardew Valley Forever

Not having an end game state for Stardew Valley affects it in several ways and is, ultimately, is the biggest influence in defining your success. You can take as long as you want to create your ideal farm, build relationships, and achieve the main features of the game.

You can achieve one thing and be done, rush through everything, or do each thing slowly over the course of in-game years. With no time limit or restrictions, Stardew Valley gives you everything you need to accomplish the tasks that you care about. With all the time in the world, there's nothing to stop you from accomplishing your goals in Pelican Town.