Indie games have seen unprecedented success over the past few years thanks to the easy distribution avenues available to developers. However, few indie titles can claim the level of success enjoyed by Stardew Valley. The farming simulator is available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and has been ported to all three major consoles of this generation (PS4, XBox One, Switch). As of January this year, the title had sold over 3.5 million copies. The sales are sure to continue into the rest of this year as well; Stardew Valley will come to iOS this month and will see an Android release in the near future.
For those that haven’t yet played Stardew Valley, it can be thought of as a spiritual successor to Nintendo’s storied Harvest Moon series. Players take control of a corporate drone who has just inherited a farm from his recently deceased grandfather. It’s up to the player to clean up the disheveled farm, plant crops, and turn a profit in order to make Grandfather proud.
At first glance, the game seems to be focused on farming, but the bulk of the player’s time will likely be spent interacting with the inhabitants of the nearby village of Pelican Town. There’s plenty of other distractions, quests, and tasks to keep players busy. There’s a mine to be explored, fish to be caught, town features to be repaired, friends to be made, and (over time) a spouse to be courted and married.
The iOS port will drop in the Apple App Store October 24, thought the title is currently available for pre-order for US$7.99 (£7.99, €8.99). That price will get the full title; there are no in-app purchases or ads. The UI has been rearranged to better suit touch controls, but the game is otherwise untouched. All features up to and including the 1.3 update will be included. As a nice touch, players that already have a farming empire can transfer their existing save files to the iOS port. Sadly, the new multiplayer functionality will not be available on mobile, and mods will not be supported.
According to publisher Chucklefish, an Android port should be coming soon.