Stardew Valley officially took the crown and holds the highest-rated game on Steam sales rankings, ending with 14 years of dethroning Portal 2 from the highest-rated position. Developed single-handedly by Eric Barone (a.k.a. ConcernedApe), this farming sim RPG hit home with players across the world, recognized for highly addictive gameplay, calming ambience, and the never-ending stream of free updates.
The announcement lit social media ablaze, with some gamers celebrating Stardew’s victory and others standing for Portal 2’s legacy. “Common Stardew W.” says an ardent fan. On the contrary, “portal 2 is a billion times better” says another. Such a divide says much about each game’s very distinct genres: one being a soul-warping puzzle masterpiece and the other a cozy life simulation.
Unbelievably, starting from such a poor position could never stop Stardew Valley; however, the game’s development story was uniquely inspiring one. Created fully by one person over four years, Stardew has sold over 20 million copies across all platforms. Without a single marketing buck spent to uplift the highest marketing campaign for AAA titles, Stardew was the shining example of marketing via word of mouth and recognition of the absolute highest quality. “Viewers congratulate the dev for his massive accomplishment,” one player comments.
The discussion about the change in rating gave way to some fascinating perspectives. Karen from Twitter confessed she found Stardew Valley boring, tweeting, “Game was fun to watch other people play, I tried it and I was bored.” Others passionately advocated for the game’s appeal: “It has something calming no other game ever achieved for me.” The contrast brings to light how subjective game preferences can be, even for ever so popular titles.
One hilarious sarcastic comment suggested writing down all the bad reviews “about all the gay characters.” It was a reference to the game’s progressive relationship systems, where players can romance any character regardless of gender. These features certainly accounted for much of its lore among diverse player demographics.
There are also long-term fans offering their personal insights into the game, saying they have “sunk hundreds of hours into it because it’s significantly more fleshed out than Harvest Moon.” They went onto talk about the thriving modding community that still adds content years after release. Some confessed to crashing after blatant hours of playing, comparing it to an intense Minecraft stint followed by a break.
Questions about the technical nature of the ratings were raised, with one baffled user asking, “What the fuck is an 8.87 score on steam?” That points out the incredibly complicated rating algorithm Steam uses, that factors in way more variables than mere user-score. Whatever ratings algorithm that is, the number-one position of Stardew Valley is an almost impossible feat for an indie game.
Now, one thing that’s staying clear through the nitpicking against both games, is that Stardew Valley’s success story is a win for passionate dedication in game development. From being a humble entity to becoming the highest-rated game on Steam, Stardew Valley shows that new ideas and genuine passion can rival-the-biggest-and-even-top-the-biggest-systems-in-the-industry-i. With the long-awaited 1.6 update on the horizon, it’ll be staying on top for a long while, too.
