“Stardew Valley” is, in large part, about time management. With a day/night cycle from 6am to 2am that lasts 14 minutes of real time, the player must schedule their day out in advance in order to get as much done as possible. When I first began playing, I would meander from destination to destination, only to realize that some of the shops I wanted to visit closed early, meaning I’d have to wait another day of in-game time to get my chores done. This was in stark contrast to other games with a similar gameplay style, such as “Animal Crossing: New Leaf”. Games in the “Animal Crossing” franchise work on day/night cycles equivalent to that of real life; if your system clock is set to 4pm, for example, the game time will reflect that. This means that only a set amount of tasks (mostly involving villagers and shopping, but also for certain activities like fishing and bug catching) can be completed in a single day of real time, after which you have to wait until the following morning to be as productive, effectively capping the amount of productive gameplay one can accomplish in a single day of real time. As such, the responsibility is taken off the player to manage their own gameplay and instead designated to this daily cycle. “Stardew Valley,” on the other hand, requires the player to limit their own gameplay through their own self control, as an unlimited number of days can feasibly be cycled through in a sitting.
Located in the bottom right hand corner are two of the greatest time-wasters within “Stardew Valley.”
While nearly every task takes up in-game time, there is a single exception to this rule. Within the Stardrop Saloon are two arcade cabinets: “Journey of the Prairie King” and “Junimo Kart.” While these games are being played, no in-game time is taken up, lending to a sense of escapism within the inner world of “Stardew Valley.” The stopping of time during these games presents the player with an idealized version of escapism, as, unlike what we all wish to be true in real life, time really does stop when playing them. At the same time, they serve to shed a light on the player’s motivations when it comes to completing tasks both in “Stardew Valley” and within their real lives.
Journey of the Prairie King: Level 1
The overall game of “Stardew Valley ” intends to take the player out of their lives, escaping into a new world with a set of achievable tasks, new people, and plenty of places to explore. It allows them to take control of their own avatar’s lives in a way that just isn’t possible in reality. They can freely customize their farm and relationships, explore different areas, go mining, and so on. Much of the game’s appeal comes in the form of this simplified version of life, where the only completely independent resource is time. However, even managing time can be difficult. It’s quite frustrating to be walking for a mere 7 seconds and see the clock tick another 10 minutes forward. It’s disheartening to be locked out of the museum due to an underestimation of how long it would take to walk across the bridge. Playing one of the arcade cabinets allows the player to take a breather, not having to worry about time, yet still achieving something in the game. Beating all stages of “Journey of the Prairie King” and “Junimo Kart” rewards the player with their own arcade cabinet of each game, respectively, making the time spent playing the games feel worth it in its own regard.
Junimo Kart: Not available until later in the game (no spoilers)
Having a means of escapism within a game that is meant to provide the player with a sense of escapism draws even more attention to how the player must manage their own time in order to succeed within the world of “Stardew Valley.” With no time ticking down while playing these games, the player must again utilize their own self control in order to not get sucked into the game within the game. I’ve noticed myself falling for the fallacy of “just one more day” while playing “Stardew Valley,” knowing full well that day will turn into a week. This same phenomenon occurs while playing the arcade cabinets. Although they are fun in the short term, I never fail to look back at my time spent playing the games and think to myself how much more I could have accomplished if I had gone through my day more efficiently. Zooming out from the games within the game to real life, I have felt this same feeling after spending 3 hours longer than intended playing, disappointed in myself for not accomplishing all I had to get done for school or work. These arcade cabinets located within the Stardrop Saloon make the player reconsider their motivations for playing the game, both within the universe of “Stardew Valley” and in their real lives.