issue 16// vol 45

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‘Stardew Valley’ digs deeper than bedrock

> ‘Stardew Valley’
video game review

Sonam Kaloti
Arts Editor

 

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Saw Valley is an indie farming
simulator first released in 2016 that’s
now available to play on most major
platforms.

You play as a character who has just
inherited their late grandfather's farm in
Stardew Valley. You then start the game
once you move and begin your life as a
farmer in a quaint area called Pelican Town.
You manage your energy, health, and time
as you handle your farm, livestock, mining,
crafting, and socializing with the various
villagers.

The town used to be vibrant and
bustling, alongside the now-dilapidated
community centre, but the ways have
changed now that Joja Corporation has
arrived. Joja Corp poses a threat to the
community centre with its plans to convert
the remnants of the community centre into
a warehouse for their store, JojaMart. The
market itself represents a divide amongst
the villagers, since some villagers purchase
their groceries at JojaMart, but in turn their
patronage takes away from local businesses
such as Pierre’s General Store.

There are a vast variety of characters
in game, with 12 characters available to
romance and eventually marry. Once wed,
they move in with your character and help
out around the farm. There is also a chance
to have children, but they cannot mature
past the toddler stage at this time.

Seemingly shallow at first look,
Stardew Valley catches you off guard with
the NPC (non-player character) backstories

and dialogue. Pam, an alcoholic, offers her
two cents on the world, with quips such as,
“I was reading the newspaper this morning
but then I got depressed. It's a rotten world,
kid. Keep your head screwed on right

and you'll make it through in one piece.”
Talking to villagers daily and giving them
gifts increases your relationship levels,
leading to enhanced dialogue and unique
cutscenes.

Take Alex, for example; he is an
athletic character who is initially superficial
and arrogant. At a lower relationship level,
he'll propose dialogue to your character
such as, “If you weren't a girl, I'd ask you to
play catch.” (To which you can, of course,
give him a piece of your mind.) However, as
your relationship develops, he tells you his
tragic backstory (spoiler ahead!) involving

  

his abusive alcoholic father who left and
his mother who passed away shortly
thereafter, which is why he now lives with
his grandparents in the valley. All the
characters are amazingly developed with
real world characteristics that make them
both lovable and relatable.

Same-sex couples, as well as dating
multiple villagers at the same time—
representing healthy polyamorous
relationships—are yet another charming
aspect of the game. The characters may
mention their sexual orientation as your
relationship with them progresses, such as
Abigail saying, “I didn’t know I felt this way
about other girls... until I met you.”

Stardew Valley also has a four-player
cooperative multiplayer mode. This allows
you and your friends to live on the same

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Screenshot from 'Stardew Valley'

farm, with the ability to date and marry
amongst each other.

Oftentimes, the villagers will ask
you to do quests that will either further
your progress in the game or increase
your relationship with them. Unlockable
milestones exist in the game, but there is
no definite end to each save file.

I was skeptical at first about how
much I could possibly enjoy a farming
simulator (my gaming roots are in Halo
and other first-person shooters). However,
I now have 96 hours logged and I’m
nowhere near tired of playing. Stardew
Valley is a lot more than I bargained for
and I would recommend anyone to play it
for a casual good time.

If nuclear doomsday becomes our reality

> ‘The 100’ TV show review

Sonam Kaloti
Arts Editor

 

T* 100 is a post-apocalyptic television
series set 97 years after a nuclear

catastrophe wipes out almost all life on
planet Earth.

On a space station called the Ark,
about 4,000 survivors remain on board.
However, as the Ark’s resources begin to
dwindle, harsh laws are put in place by
the leaders of the station. Most crimes
committed by adults on the station
result in the criminal being “floated,” a
euphemism for releasing said criminal
to their death in open space. Juvenile
delinquents are detained, most of them
sentenced for life.

With resources dwindling at too rapid
a pace, leaders of the Ark come up witha
plan to send 100 of the juvenile detainees
to the Earth to determine if it is habitable.
The series then closely follows a group of
these adolescents—mainly, Clarke Griffin
(Eliza Taylor), Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley),
Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos), Jasper
Jordan (Devon Bostick), Monty Green
(Christopher Larkin), Raven Reyes (Lindsey
Morgan), Finn Collins (Thomas McDonell),

John Murphy (Richard Harmon), and Wells
Jaha (Eli Goree).

Many of these characters have parents
on the Ark’s council, so being sent to the
ground feels like a form of betrayal. Most
of the people sent to the planet survive and
are met with a radioactive Earth, home
to glowing trees and mutant animals.
Unaware of Earth’s current conditions,
the teens must work together to learn
how to live on this new territory, whilst
encountering completely new situations.

Unsurprisingly, the group is met by
other civilizations who had survived the
nuclear disasters and remained on Earth.
These tribes, called “Grounders,” have
vicious ways of life and brutal forms of
leadership determined by who triumphs
in hand-to-hand combat. The young
adults sent down from space are named
“Skaikru,” derived from “Sky People,’ by
the Grounders. Struggles between clans for
control is quickly characterized by spilled
blood and revenge tactics, beginning a war
among the tribes.

Skaikru itself divides due to differing
leaders and beliefs. However, this is only
where the series begins as Skaikru finds
itself tackling much larger obstacles—such

as cannibals, genocide, Al that can control
humans, and further nuclear threats.

With many major governments
constructing colossal nuclear weapons, the
events of The 100 seem plausible for the
future of planet Earth. Large amounts of
radiation would devastate humanity as well
as all other life on the planet. Underground
bunkers already exist for such doomsday

 

cases, such as the command facility and
relocation site Mount Weather, which

also has a role in the show. If the world’s
governments are already preparing for
nuclear destruction, that in itself could be
an eerie foreshadowing. The 100 may just
be a television show for now, but it could be
our reality in the future.

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