I finally got my wife hooked on Stardew Valley.

For years I’ve been trying to get her to game with me, never pushing too hard because I didn’t want to put her off the entire thing.

Recently she got laid off and picked up a part time job, so she’s had more free time. I asked her to consider playing Stardew Valley, and she said she would, but kept putting it off.

Finally one Saturday we had some free time and she agreed to give it a shot. I made popcorn, set her up with a Switch on our TV, gave her an hour or so to get started (I was willing to answer questions about controls, but wanted her to learn the game herself because I genuinely believe that’s part of the charm), then joined her with my Steam Deck (not multiplayer, just both of us playing single player).

She enjoyed it, but after that day she didn’t touch it for a while. Then I reminded her the Switch doesn’t need to be on the TV, and suddenly she was playing it every day. She’s fallen deeply into the Stardew Valley rabbit hole and I am so happy. 😁

She broke her foot recently, and when we were at the urgent care center she had the Switch and I had my Steam Deck as we were waiting. The doctor who finally saw us said we were geniuses for being so well prepared for the packed waiting room. 🤣