Does Stardew end after 3 years?

Stardew Valleyis an indie game in which the player controls a character that recently inherited a farm from their late grandfather. The farm is run down and located just outside of a small town called Pelican Town. Throughout the course of the game, the player gets to know the people in Pelican Town as they run the farm and bring it back to its former glory.

The game runs in a seasonal format. Just like in the real world, each year has spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each season is 28 days long and has its own special events, crops that only grow during that season, and other perks and challenges. There's a lot to do in this indie game and the first year is definitely the most important one to nail so that you can have a good time in the subsequent years.

Updated June 6th, 2022 by Russ Boswell:Stardew Valley has grown quite a bit over the years, and although the developer is now hard at work on their next big epic, Haunted Chocolatier, there is still so much content to sift through in Stardew Valley. Add this to a rather dedicated modding community and it's easy to see why players could spend hours upon hours lost in the farming wonderland. But, conversely, Stardew Valley can be a bit intimidating to first-time players. With so much content to explore, and an ever-creeping calendar, how do players know what they need to do during their first year? To better answer that question, the following guide has been updated with more entries. Here's an expanded look at what players should do in their First Year in Stardew Valley.

15/15 Go To Every Festival

Festivals in Stardew Valley happen around two to three times a month. They're excellent opportunities to get to know the locals, as well participate in special competitions and buy unique goods. The Egg Festival in Spring, for example, is the only source of Strawberry seeds. Meanwhile, deep-sea fish can only be caught at the Night Market.

It might seem like going to a festival is a waste of time that could be spent fixing up the farm or collecting more resources out in the world. It's quite the opposite, really, as long as players make sure to water their crops and feed their animals before leaving for the festivities.

The Stardew Valley first year is all about getting prepared for a huge year 2. The best way to prepare for more crops is to upgrade the tools to be bigger and better. To upgrade tools to Steel quality, players will need to first upgrade each of them to Copper.

The watering can and hoe gain the ability to charge up their action, increasing effectiveness for a wide area. The rest of the upgraded tools simply make the farmer more efficient at their job, using less energy to do more work.

13/15 Keep An Eye On The Calendar

There are a number of NPCs that live in Pelican Town. Some of them are eligible for the player to marry while others are just there to befriend. Reaching different relationship milestones with them gives the player special cutscenes with these characters that help the player get to know them. Each character has special items they like, feel neutral about, or dislike. Players should either research your favorite characters or get a mod that will list them in-game.

Outside of Pierre's store, there's a calendar that shows all the special events of the season and the birthdays. You get extra relationship points for giving NPCs a good gift on their birthday, so start your relationship with the townspeople off right by giving them good gifts on their special days.

12/15 Don't Be Afraid To Hoard Items And Materials

Stardew Valley is an incredibly in-depth game. Although some players may head into the Indie adventure thinking it's a simple farming simulator, there is actually so much more that the title has to offer. Players will find themselves adventuring to multiple islands, conquering a variety of "dungeons" and defeating enemies with their crafted weapons. All of this is underlined by a robust relationship system in which players can get closer to their favorite NPCs.

Because of this, it's important to hold on to a lot of the items and materials that players find during their first year. It's difficult to know what will and won't be useful without seeing all that Stardew Valley has to offer. Thankfully, chests are pretty simple and cheap to make, allowing players to store tons of items.

11/15 Plan The Farm

In later years, players will likely end up building a stable to get a horse, helping them get around the farm and Pelican Town faster. When first starting to construct different buildings and structures around the farm, do a little planning first to ensure that the layout works and that a horse will be able to get through all the gaps between the buildings.

Really motivated players can even find a screencap of the full layout of the farm style they like, and map out where to put everything. Find a place for coops and barns, silos, and ponds, and just make sure that everything is spaced well.

10/15 Don't Neglect The Merchant

If the player chooses to comple the Community Center instead of joining the big corporation, there are a lot of items needed for the bundles that can be hard to get. Some of them likely won't turn up during first year because they're either not introduced until later in the game, or are just plain hard to get so fast.

But, every Friday and Sunday, a traveling merchant parks her storefront in the forest to the south of the farm. She sells a variety of different things, some of which (like the rare Red Cabbage) are needed for the bundles in the community center.

9/15 Make Tappers

Tappers can be placed on trees and will provide oak resin, maple syrup, and pine tar. These can be sold, but they're also used to craft a variety of different items and machines in the game. Tappers are craftable after reaching Foraging level 3 and they each require 40 pieces of wood and 2 copper bars.

As soon as the recipe is available, make some tappers and start placing them on the different types of trees. The player can either put them on the trees around the farm or on the trees in the forest.

8/15 Build A Silo

As soon as the resources are there, it's vital to create a silo. All kinds of stray grass grow around the farm and although it may be tempting to whip your scythe out and chop it down, resist the urge until you've built one of these. Using the scythe on that grass will deposit hay into the silo, which is used to feed animals.

Even if players don't think they'll be ready to get a barn or coop during the first year, it's still important to place a Silo somewhere on your farm in order collect hay. Otherwise, plan to make a lot of trips to Marnie to purchase it, especially in Winter.

7/15 Get Animals

This is likely something that players be doing later in your first year, but it's something they'll want to do as soon as possible for a variety of reasons. Many recipes use animal products, they can be sold, and they make great gifts for the NPCs in Pelican Town.

As soon as the player's got enough gold and resources, pay a visit to Robin. Talk to her about building a coop or barn and put one on the farm. Even if animals are still too expensive, having them there will make the farm prepared for new residents later on, when they'll start producing animal products.

6/15 Don't Make Things Too Crowded

As players progress through year one, they're likely to start thinking about the inevitability of the farm growing in size as they enter the later years. Although it's good practice to keep a "plan" in mind for what types of things will go where in the future, players also need to be aware of how crowded their current farm is becoming. As players progress through Year 1, they'll eventually unlock a horse, which can help them travel around the area faster.

Unfortunately, the horse requires a bit more room to move around than the player does, and those that have crafted only enough space for themselves to walk will find it difficult to navigate their farm on horseback (or even get their horse out from the farm to explore the surrounding area). It's important to think about where the horse may go and what type of room it should need.

5/15 Donate Artifacts

If the player sees wiggly things growing out of the ground, get the hoe out and dig them up. Players will often find interesting artifacts (and sometimes simple clay). These can also be found in geodes. Items that the player can donate will have the description text, "Gunther can tell you more if you donate this to the museum".

Whenever they turn up, go to the library and donate them to Pelican Town's museum. They're not worth that much money to sell, so don't worry about the monetary loss. Plus, as the museum receives more and more donations, Gunther starts giving out rewards.

4/15 Save For Strawberries

All the crops in Stardew Valley only grow during certain seasons – until the player has a greenhouse. Some of them are more valuable than others, and Strawberries are definitely on the valuable side. This crop is available for sale at the Egg Festival on the 13th day of spring.

Make sure to save some money from selling other crops to be able to buy some strawberry seeds at the Egg Festival. Consider taking a mining trip or two before the festival just to have even more cash on hand. They're worth a lot of money, but worth even more if the farmer waits to plant them for another year, as they keep growing continuously throughout the season. Strawberries can then be put in the seed maker to create even more strawberry seeds.

3/15 Mine When It Rains

When it rains on the farm, players are basically free to do anything. During the first year, they probably won't find that you have a lot of free time otherwise. They'll always be watering plants, talking to NPCs, or chopping wood.

But when it rains, crops don't need to be watered. This means that players have a big chunk of free time that they can use to do anything they want. After the mine is available, head up there and start making progress to get to the bottom and gather resources from its depths. On rainy days, it's also a good idea to plan, clear out the farm, fish, and talk to townsfolk.

2/15 Chop All Those Trees

Thankfully, there is no penalty for players chopping down the hordes of trees that will usually line the outer edge of their farm. As players begin to plant more and more crops, these trees will be in the way, making it difficult to expand the farm in an organized manner. Because of this, players may want to spend a considerable amount of time (when they aren't busy with other commitments) clearing the trees in their area and planning for expansion.

Not only will this help make things much easier in the future, but it will also give players an abundance of wood, which can be rather helpful in the early parts of the game.

1/15 Check The Fish

Fishing is another big part of Stardew Valley. Fish can be used in recipes or sold and some of them are even used in bundles in the community center. Like crops, certain fish are only available during certain types of weather, certain times of the day, specific bodies of water, or even during specific seasons. It's a lot more complex than first meets the eye.

Make sure to check the bundles (especially the Tank and Community Board) and see where and when each fish is available. Donate as many of them in the first year as possible.

NEXT: 10 Stardew Valley Mods Every Player Needs