It’s no question thatStardew Valleyis the ultimate cozy game. Ever since its release in early 2016, the pixel-art farming simulator has inspired countless imitations and a revival of the indie cozy game market. Unlike every other cozy game available right now,Stardew Valleyseems to have it all – a wide range of lovable characters, a robust romance system, well-balanced gameplay that equally encourages farming, raising animals, fishing, and mining, and an overall iconic art style. The one feature thatStardew Valleydoes not include to its fullest is cooking.
Cooking is an important mechanic in any relaxing game. FromThe Sims, toMinecraft, toDisney Dreamlight Valley,and evenThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, cooking is a central part of the cozy game experience. Unfortunately forStardew Valley,cooking almost feels like an afterthought when compared to the robust leveling systemsin place for other skills like foraging, fishing, farming, mining, and combat.
Cooking In Stardew Valley Should Have More Rewards
New Recipes, Tools, And Kitchen Accessories
To begin cooking inStardew Valley, players need to simply upgrade their farmhouse one time to unlock the kitchen. After it’s available,players can cook anything they already know the recipe for. There are80 recipes inStardew Valleyfor players to learn, but primarily, players will be taught recipes from the Queen of Sauce TV show that plays twice a week with only one recipe per week.
Players can also unlock special recipes by earning more friendship points from various peoplein Pelican Townand from leveling up other skills. This method of cooking is slightly disappointing. With how much time and energy is spent on growing good crops, raising loving animals for quality products, and fishing for special fish, it would make sense forStardew Valleyto reward those efforts with a high-quality cooking mechanic.
The seven recipes that can be unlocked through skills are Farmer’s Lunch, Survival Burger, Dish O' The Sea, Seafoam Pudding, Miner’s Treat, Roots Platter, and Squid Ink Ravioli.
Leveling up a cooking skill should have the same types of rewards as other skillsinStardew Valley. Just like how fishing more in the game will unlock better crafting recipes, like bobbers and bait forcatching more difficult fish, cooking should unlock higher-tiered recipes and supplies. Repeatedly cooking and expanding what players cook with should increase a cooking skill like it does for fishing or mining. These can be more advanced recipes that require higher quality or rarer ingredients, or even crafting recipes for cooking appliances like stand mixers and fryers.
Other Cozy Games Bring More Life To Cooking
These Games Have The Sauce
Cooking inStardew Valleydoesn’t bring the joy that other cozy games give the activity. For example, playing any game inThe Simsseries encourages players (and their Sims) to learn how to cook for themselves and, along the way,organically learn new recipes as they level up their cooking skills. Cooking and eating are central parts of that series, especially if players delve into gardening and other adjacent skills that improve the quality of their Sim’s food.
Another feature of food inThe Simsis thatgood cooking skills will elevate the food made, so particularly well-made recipes will give Sims a happy moodlet. There is no similar function inStardew Valley, as all recipes turn out exactly the same and give the same benefits every time. It would be much more rewarding if players got better at cooking as they played, rather than getting the same static dish every time.
Stardew Valleyplayers should be able to go into the kitchen and experiment to create something new with whatever seasonal ingredients they have just harvested. This would encourage players to plant a wider variety of crops for a reason besides completing community center bundles. It would also be a much better mechanic if cooking recipes with high quality ingredients created a high quality dish with better buffs. Another skill that cooking could mimic is fishing, as that skill has a special minigame that players must master.If cooking was given a similar unique minigame, it would be a lot more funto head into the kitchen and start creating new dishes.
Discovering Recipes Should Be Part Of The Gameplay Experience
Encouraging Creativity And Exploration In The Valley
One other game,Breath of the Wild, gives cooking a special joy, asplayers discoverpowerful recipes to makethrough their own experimentationas well as through hints to better recipes scattered throughout the map. Players aren’t handed recipes on a regular basis, but come across inspiration as they explore new parts of Hyrule. Additionally, higher quality ingredients give better food for Link to use in combat or more hostile environments.Stardew Valleymight be more enjoyable if players had to explore their surroundings and engage with the world around them to learn new recipes or become inspired rather than learning most recipes from a TV show.
Being able to cook in any game, but especially a cozy game, gives a well-roundness to the gameplay experience.Stardew Valleyis one of the most well-rounded farming simulators players could hope for, but it still lacks a satisfying cooking mechanic. If new players are looking forward to discovering what they can do in the kitchen, they’ll be sorely disappointed to find that most recipes are locked behind a weekly show instead of through experimentation or other more organic means.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is a charming indie farming scene that took the world by storm. After inheriting a run-down farm from their grandfather, the player moves to Stardew Valley to start a new life away from the city. Grow crops, raise animals, befriend the villagers, and discover the secrets the valley has to offer.
