There is no doubt that Valley of the Stars is the best cozy game. Since its release in early 2016, the pixel-art farming simulator has inspired countless imitations and a revival of the cozy indie gaming market. Unlike all other cozy games available right now, Valley of the Stars seems to have it all – a wide range of lovable characters, a robust romance system, well-balanced gameplay that equally encourages farming, animal husbandry, fishing and mining, and an overall iconic art style. The only feature that Valley of the Stars does not include cooking as much as possible.
Cooking is an important mechanic in any relaxing game. Of The Simsto minecraftto Disney Dreamlight Valley, and even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildCooking is a central part of the cozy gaming experience. Unfortunately for Valley of the Stars, cooking almost seems like an afterthought when compared to the robust leveling systems in effect for other skills like food gathering, fishing, farming, mining, and combat.
Cooking in Stardew Valley should have more rewards
New recipes, tools and kitchen accessories
To start cooking in Valley of the StarsPlayers simply need to upgrade their farmhouse once to unlock the kitchen. Once available, players can cook anything they already know the recipe. There are 80 recipes Valley of the Stars for players to learn, but mainly, players will learn recipes from the TV show Queen of Sauce, which is on twice a week with only one recipe per week.
Players can also unlock special recipes by earning more friendship points from various people in Pelican City and to increase the level of other skills. This cooking method is a little disappointing. With how much time and energy goes into growing good crops, raising loving animals for quality produce, and catching specialty fish, it would make sense that Valley of the Stars reward these efforts with a high-quality kitchen mechanic.
Leveling up a cooking skill should have the same types of rewards as other skills in Valley of the Stars. Just like fishing more in the game will unlock better crafting recipes like bobbers and baits for catching tougher fish, cooking should unlock higher tier recipes and supplies. Repeatedly cooking and expanding what players cook should increase cooking skill, much like fishing or mining. These can be more advanced recipes that require higher quality or rarer ingredients, or even recipes designed for kitchen appliances, such as mixers and fryers.
Other cozy games bring more life to cooking
These games have the sauce
Cooking in Valley of the Stars it doesn’t bring the joy that other cozy games bring to the activity. For example, playing any game on The Sims series encourages players (and their Sims) to learn how to cook for themselves and, along the way, organically learn new recipes as they improve your cooking skills. Cooking and eating are central parts of this series, especially if players delve into gardening and other adjacent skills that improve the quality of their Sims’ food.
Another feature of the diet The Sims and that good cooking skills will elevate the food preparedso particularly well-made recipes will give Sims a happy mood. There is no similar function in Valley of the Starssince all recipes are exactly the same and always offer the same benefits. It would be much more rewarding if players cooked better while playing, instead of always receiving the same static dish.
Valley of the Stars players should be able to go to the kitchen and try creating something new with whatever seasonal ingredients they just harvested. This would encourage players to plant a wider variety of crops for a reason other than completing community hub packs. It would also be a much better mechanic if cooking recipes with higher quality ingredients created a higher quality dish with better buffs. Another skill that cooking can imitate is fishing, as this skill has a special minigame that players must master. If cooking had a unique, similar minigame, it would be a lot more fun. to go to the kitchen and start creating new dishes.
Discovering recipes should be part of the gaming experience
Encouraging creativity and exploration in the valley
Another game, Breath of Naturegives a special joy to cooking, as players discover powerful recipes to make through their own experimentation as well as through tips for better recipes spread across the map. Players don’t receive recipes regularly, but they do find inspiration as they explore new parts of Hyrule. Additionally, higher quality ingredients provide better nourishment for Link to use in combat or in more hostile environments. Valley of the Stars It could be more fun if players had to explore the environment around them and interact with the world around them to learn new recipes or be inspired, rather than learning most recipes from a TV show.
Being able to cook in any game, but especially in a cozy game, adds a roundness to the gaming experience. Valley of the Stars is one of the most complete farming simulators players could hope for, but it still lacks satisfying cooking mechanics. If new players are eager to discover what they can do in the kitchen, they will be sorely disappointed to find that most of the recipes are locked into a weekly program rather than through experimentation or other more organic means.