That title perfectly describe this game. You really need to play this masterpiece. It soothes your nerves, it settles your stomach, it puts you in a warm, comfy place where everything is okay for a few minutes.
Your real-life job keeps getting undone by incompetents who expect you to fix their mistakes. Your friends on social media are at each other's throats. You're part way-through a grim sepia first-person shooter and an adventure game whose creators think making you choose between three different bad options, all of which have predictable tragic consequences, constitutes good writing.
Come to Stardew valley. Learn how to fish. Mull the benefits of planting a mess o' corn versus a patch of amaranth. Settle down and marry a nice girl or fella. Throw your baby into the air and watch them speech bubble hearts at you. Bring the town's old misanthrope fried mushrooms and watch him slowly unclench around you. Pet your cat, or dog.
What could go wrong? Well, you might overextend yourself in one of the (entirely optional) dungeons and wake up in the clinic with some stuff missing. You could catch a busted pair of glasses in the river instead of a salmon. You might accidentally swing your axe and destroy the fruit tree you'd been saving for all week. You might discover that the person you'd been buttering up to be your sweetheart really doesn't like poppies.
It's okay. You'll pick yourself up and try again. You'll figure it out. It's going to be all right. Your work will pay off, you'll expand your house, and soon enough, everyone is going to wonder how the town ever got by without you.
...And then you'll look up and discover that you just spent an hour cracking geodes and aging your latest batch of mead.
It's all just so... nice. I've spent way too much time in Stardew Valley, exploring all the things you can do.
Put down the plasma rifle, and grab a hoe. A gentler life is calling...
