

You can kill spiders with a lot of different things, really, and Kill It With Fire showcases a whole gamut of spider extermination methods. At no point are players prodded to advance the storyline, they’re free to live as they please as they eke out a living selling turnips, raising goats, hatching dinosaur eggs, and bashing slimes.

But one of the best parts of Stardew is easily the relaxed sense of progression. Players grow crops, find romance, assist the locals with their various problems, dive into the mines to fight monsters and liberate riches, and more over the course of their stay in the Valley. With dashes of dating sim and retro action-RPG thrown into the mix and sealed up in a charming 16-bit aesthetic, SDV tasks players with moving out to the countryside to restore their grandfather’s farm after inheriting it - as one does in a farming sim. That’s quite a statement when discussing farming sims, but really, it’s so much more than that. Stardew Valley is easily one of the most zen experiences to be had in its genre.
