Stardew Valley: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Check Your Journal

Stardew Valley Tips and Tricks For Beginners

Stardew Valley will often give you quests to do. These can be found within your journal along with a description of how you can complete them. To start, the game will give you some, but random ones may pop up to help the townspeople that you could accept if you’d like. These might be timed, and you might end up with a lot of them, so it’s good to check your journal to keep track. Not only that, but once you complete one of your quests, you’ll receive a reward and the only way to claim it is through this very journal window. So, yeah, make sure to keep checking back to it.

Zero In

Stardew Valley Tips and Tricks For Beginners

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all that there is to do in Pelican Town within Stardew Valley, but it’s important not to be or else you won’t accomplish your tasks in timely fashion. The things you’re going to want to focus on at first every morning is check in on your pet, water their bowl, tend to any crops, and then tend to your livestock. This shouldn’t take too much of your morning up and you’ll be free then to do whatever else. Pick a mission for yourself and accomplish it. Want to get 300 wood saved up to build something? Get to chopping. Want to catch a bunch of fish? Start fishing. Need to flirt up a storm with someone to work up your relationship? Start macking. Try to focus in each day on something because your energy isn’t infinite.

Sell All the Things

Stardew Valley Tips and Tricks For Beginners

In Stardew Valley, obviously, you’ll be selling crops you’ll be growing as a farmer. But to start, you should definitely consider selling everything else, too. If you find some forages around or you manage to mine up some ore, sell them. If you have an excess of wood, sap, stones, sell them all. Sell even the tree seeds you find. You’re going to want to work your gold up to getting livestock, and it won’t come cheap to build coops and silos and barns. So sell everything you can get your hands on. Of course, leave some things for the Community Center or Museum & Library if you haven’t already donated them. But everything else? Sold.

Go Digging

There is digging in Stardew Valley although it may not be apparent at first. You can dig using your hoe. So, technically, it’s tilling. Little plots of land will have what appears to be three worms wiggling about. They’re a little bit hard to spot if you’re not looking for them, so train your eyes to always be on the lookout for these. They’re a good source of clay as well as lost books that you can bring back to the town’s Museum & Library for rewards.

Gifting Is Nice

Keep in mind that in Stardew Valley there is a marriage system. When you’re married, your spouse helps out around your farm by watering crops, fixing fences, cooking you breakfast, and more. So not only is it a sweet little thing, it’s a genuine gameplay mechanic. The best way to make friends around town as well as work up to getting married is by giving gifts to the people you like and talking to them more and more. It’s just plain nice to do and you’ll flesh out some stories for the Pelican townspeople.

For more information on how to get married and who you can marry, as well as what gifts are best to use, check out our guide!

Wreck the Mess Around Your Farm

When you first get a hold of the farm in Stardew Valley, it is a hot mess. There’s overgrown grass, weeds, tree stumps, and stones everywhere. Wreck this mess right up. Chop down the trees, scythe the weeds and grass, and pummel the stones. You’re going to need a lot of these resources for the buildings and items you’re going to want to build around your farm. Trust that the most efficient way to get all these items is right from your front yard rather than searching around the map for them. Plus, to make everything pretty around your farm, you’re going to need the space.

Watering Can Technique

This is highly dependent on the design of your crops’ land, but use your watering can efficiently. Watering your crops every morning yourself before you can craft sprinklers and/or get a spouse to help can be a pain, so make the best choice in how to do it. For example, I have patches of three by three crops planted. How I water them when I use my watering can is by standing in the direct middle and easily clicking all around. This way I won’t have to move to reach any of the crops, they’re all covered in one go with my mouse clicks.

You Can Give Your Dog Water

Shut up its panting and be a good dog owner. Do it. Use your watering can on the dog bowl and live with a clear conscience. If you have a cat I don’t want to speak to you, of course. Because we all know the animal preference at the beginning of Stardew Valley is the most important question of all time that divides us as gamers.

There you have it! You should be all set to start up Stardew Valley. Get out there and earn that gold.