falling in love with stardew again
i used to play stardew valley super hardcore for several years, and then i kinda fell off the train in the past couple years. but recently i've fallen back in love with it via the save file i have with my partner :) we just got to year 1 summer! in my partner's solo world tho, she's at year 5 and my solo world is up to year 3.
playing it kinda slow with my partner has made me rethink what i love so much about stardew. there's so much to do! i just now picked back up my solo world that i haven't touched in over a year, and started using a perfectionist tracker spreadsheet and it's reminded me of everything there is. the world feels so big and roomy! also idk why i had hangups before about ginger island but knowing that my partner is farther ahead makes me feel better about making progress there.
i'm mostly just happy that i have a game to fill the void rn. minecraft hasn't been appealing to me recently, slime rancher feels like too much of an investment, house flipper is relaxing but also tiring, etc etc. i've been struggling a lot this semester so having something to turn to besides my background special interests is nice! it definitely helps that i didn't just start from scratch. i have a real problem with stardew (and minecraft) where i make a new save file, play on it for a week or so, and then abandon it completely until i'm in the mood to play again. i want to work my way up to having a forever world in both games
i have a real soft spot for stardew, despite not being obsessed with it anymore like i used to be. it was the first game i pirated and i got so invested that i eventually bought it on steam so i could get achievements and play with friends. my steam profile says i've logged 294.2 hours in stardew, but i definitely played my pirated copy for at least 100 hours before lol.
TL;DR i've started playing stardew with my partner and it makes me really happy to get back into playing it after so long :3