Stardew valley the board game review

 Stardew valley the board game solitaire review

This is a solitaire review for the Stardew Valley board game.

What I will cover in the review 

• A brief gameplay overview.
• Replay ability.
• Theme.
• Is Stardew Valley the board game good?
• Should I buy Stardew Valley the board game?
• Stardew Valley the board game final rating.

A brief gameplay overview 

This game is meant to be a recreation of the cult classic video game stardew valley. The goal of the game is to finish the year having completed all of your grandpas goals. You can complete all these goals by doing things and taking actions in game. The first thing you would do in a round is flip over the season card this will have multiple effects on the game like watering your crops, changing the player order or allowing you to sell your items. On your turn you will choose which location to start at and then you can do 2 actions at your location or 1 action at your location move and then 1 action at the other location after your turn is done the next player will go. Some examples of actions you can take are befriending villagers, descending down the mines, donating to the museum and completing community centre bundles. 

Replay ability

This game is a euro board game and has a lot of different mechanics and mini games which have their own depth and complexity so you can’t experience all of them in one game. During setup you will pick one of 4 professions,  which are supposed to add variety to the game. You get even more variety from the events and item decks.

These decks can make the game feel very swingy since the events can boost you and the items are also super helpful and can drastically affect what you choose to do on your turn. A lot of the other things that are used to add variety and replay ability feel completely obsolete . The only thing that they have added that actually made a difference to me has been the events and items.

Theme

The games theme is based off the Stardew Valley video game, so you have a lot of the really interesting features but because of the limitations of it being aboard game they have had to cut down on a lot of the story elements. But they haven’t cut down on them completely, they have sprinkled little pieces of lore throughout the game for example you can get the ring of Yoba as an upgrade for the mining profession . 

(Yoba is the god of the main religion in Stardew Valley) There is no desert in the board game so you miss out on a lot of story elements from the video game but some of the events add in reference's to the desert. Over all there isn’t much theming in the game it really relies on mechanics.

Is stardew valley the board game good?

This game has a lot of things going for it since it is part of the Stardew Valley world so already a lot of people are going to want the game. All of what I have just said doesn’t make the game good. I personally feel that a lot of the feature in the game are really pointless or way too random and really detract from the gaming experience. A lot of the decisions in this game come down to a die roll. They are a couple of more interesting ideas and mechanics in the game for example I really enjoyed collecting everything to complete the community centre bundles and I also enjoyed the crop system. What I have found is that the bad systems are kind of bearable because completing the community centre bundles is really fun.

Should you buy Stardew Valley the board game? 

The answer to this question really depends on what you want from the game. If you want the novelty of owning a Stardew Valley board game and you want it for the IP not the gameplay then yes definitely buy it. The other situation where I would suggest you buy this game is if you are not a massive tabletop gamer because then the gameplay will be super engaging and unique, the gameplay will probably be the most interesting and engaging gameplay you have ever seen in a board game. Another thing to note is just how much table space this game takes up, I had to use 2 tables to play the game.

 I would maybe buy the game if you don’t mind randomness or really swingy gameplay. For most people I would say that the game is not worth it and don’t get it.

Final rating

5 /10 

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