Stardew Valley as an Anti-Anxiety Tool

Some time ago I was diagnosed with anxiety when I began to go into walk-in clinics frequently complaining about chest pains. Nothing was wrong with my heart, but plenty was wrong with my head. It didn’t occur to me that it was anxiety, as during a stressful situation I tend to keep a cool head and just push through whatever is happening. Hours or sometimes days later, however, the anxiety would catch up to me and I would be a wreck.

I’ve got medication to help keep me level, but my doctor also recommended I look for healthy ways of keeping my anxiety low. For plenty of people this would mean a gym membership, but the idea of sweating in front of people does not appeal to me (and paying for the privilege to do so just feels…ugh).

My husband bought me a few video games to try, and I wasn’t optimistic. I generally get too involved in the stories to the point that while I enjoy watching someone else play, trying to fight my way out of a zombie apocalypse while I’m too invested in the character means I will freeze up in my seat (much as I would in a real life horror scenario). My husband assured me this game was nothing like that, though, and was instead a cozy farming sim.

Now, as I’ve said, I hate to sweat. I love the idea of gardening and farming, love animals and plants and the soft whisper of wind through trees and grass…but I also hate the sun and the way it blinds me and, again, makes me sweat. Gardening at night would probably work much better for me, but that’s not the point. The point is that here was an opportunity to potentially relax, avoid real manual labor, and stay cool, crisp, and refreshed in my own home.

In this, the Year of Luigi 2025, I doubt I need to tell you what Stardew Valley is about. You know how the creator, Concerned Ape, single-handedly built one of the coziest games we’ve ever seen, not only coding the game but also doing all the art and music himself. You know about all the amazing spots you can travel to in the game, the fantastic expansions, and the beautiful relationships you can build with everyone in Pelican Town (and beyond). And it was this last thing, the relationships with the characters, that probably cemented the game as one of my top favorites.

The game did amazing things for my anxiety levels, mellowing me out when I was stressed and bringing me joy when depression (another thing I deal with) crept up on me. But it was the interactions with the NPCs, some of which started out as semi-hostile before growing to appreciate me, that really hooked me. Everyone in this game has flaws and problems, but they’re also capable of tremendous good and warmth. That’s important to keep in mind in the real world, where a handful of truly vile people that cannot be reasoned with can lead you to believe most, if not all, people are truly terrible. Stardew Valley shows us that, instead, everyone is likely dealing with a struggle that is weighing on them just as heavily as my anxiety and depression does me.

There’s plenty of escapism in Stardew Valley. We’ve been over the lack of sweat, but of course there’s overt displays of magic, relatively fast growing trees, and tons of treasure hidden in abandoned mines that hardly anyone else (with the exception of my darling wife, Abigail) appears to venture into. Not to mention a whole property bequeathed to you by a dead relative. But there’s heaps of realism, too. There’s alcoholism, mentions of child abuse, disability from accidents, and toxic relationships (Marnie. Deserves. BETTER.). Some of these problems you can help with, but not all. You can’t fix everyone and everything, after all. And yet, for all these problems, I never turn off Stardew depressed at what I couldn’t do, but rather, I’m excited by the things I accomplished and the friends I made.

I have never achieved Perfection in the game, that rare state in which you’ve gathered all the trophies, amassed a small fortune, and then sat back and focused entirely on decorating your property. For the longest time, I was afraid of the game ending. Since I started playing, though, there have been so, so many updates, and I haven’t even dipped my toe into the world of mods. As I’m approaching forty, though, I’m working towards accomplishing everything in the game. Not so much for Mr. Qi’s validation, but for the sense of accomplishment. I know that like my anxiety and depression, even when I’ve “won” it’s never really over. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The sun keeps rising, I’ll find new goals to work towards, and Stardew Valley will be waiting for me whenever I need it.