There are two games that are hailed far and wide for their relaxing and chill nature: Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing (especially the new entry in the series, New Horizons). If you’re looking to take a break from the hustle and bustle of real life, or even other games, kick back and chillax to the peaceful, calming atmosphere of these two classics.
But, which one is more relaxing? Some people find one more relaxing (or more stressful) than the other, so it comes down to personality and taste. With that said, here are some arguments for why Stardew Valley is more relaxing than Animal Crossing and why it’s the opposite, to help you choose which world to escape to.
10 ANIMAL CROSSING: The Museum
In almost every Animal Crossing game, there’s a large museum. The player is tasked with collecting fish, insects, paintings, fossils, and more in order to fill this building. New Horizons has this museum as well, coming to the island after meeting the required goals.
The interior of this museum is so relaxing that it could put you right to sleep in a matter of minutes. The fish wing especially stands out, given its aquatic themes and peaceful music as the fish swim around. It’s a gorgeous addition to the game, and easily one of the best areas of this cutesy world.
9 STARDEW VALLEY: Marriage
Stardew Valley is home to a museum as well, specifically the artifacts and minerals section of the local library. It’s a nice spot, but it’s not as beautiful or relaxing as ACNH’s museum. However, Stardew Valley does have a feature ACNH lacks — marriage.
By courting one of the half-dozen marriage candidates, the player can wed them and they’ll move onto the farm. Kicking back, relaxing, and hanging with your spouse is unmatched in New Horizons. It’s comforting to have a familiar face at home at the end of the day.
8 ANIMAL CROSSING: There’s Less Financial Pressure
Both of these games have their own economies and money-making systems, but it’s slightly less required of you to participate in New Horizons. Sure, you have loans to pay off, and it’ll cost you some pretty Bells to finish community developments, but there’s a ton you can do without spending a fortune.
Stardew Valley, on the other hand, is much more heavily tied to making money and building a profitable farm. You can also do quite a bit without spending anything, but the main goal of the game is to make money. The world of Animal Crossing will carry on if you’re poor. Stardew Valley will, as well, but you’ll mostly be wandering around broke and worried.
7 STARDEW VALLEY: The Controls
Both games have customization options, allowing you to place furniture, machinery, and other pieces of decor around your respective properties. But, the controls are a bit finicky for some in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Meanwhile, it’s much easier to place and customize in Stardew Valley.
Switching between tools is also a tiny bit easier in Stardew Valley, although the Tool Ring can help in New Horizons. But, overall, it’s much easier to do many different things in Stardew Valley thanks to the more intuitive controls, like moving items around, exploring the land, and more. The latest Animal Crossing isn’t difficult, per se, but it can be frustrating at times.
6 ANIMAL CROSSING: No Enemies
One of the beautiful things about the world of Animal Crossing is the lack of combat. Take a break from fighting people in Call of Duty and the hack ’n slash nature of games like Bayonetta. Just sit back and relax in the beaches of Animal Crossing, with basically nothing and nobody there to make an attack on your life. At worst, you just have to pay back Tom Nook at some point but even that can wait.
There are wasps, scorpions, and tarantulas that can harm you, but there’s no health points, no “death,” no respawn, and no punishment to speak of. . Just get back up and continue on with your day!
5 STARDEW VALLEY: Lots of Enemies
If you’re the type of person that likes to kill to relax and vent your anger or stress through combat, then you’ll definitely prefer Stardew Valley. To be fair, Stardew Valley isn’t a combat game either, but it does have a ton of monsters to slay and enemies to defeat plus a variety of weapons for getting the job done.
Just want to smash something (or someone)? Grab your Galaxy Sword, head to the Skull Cavern, and get to work! Sometimes, there’s no better therapy than slicing monsters and smashing rocks.
4 ANIMAL CROSSING: Easier Gift-Giving
Both Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing allow you to gift items to NPCs. In the former, everyone has a list of preferred loved, liked, disliked, hated, and “neutral” gift choices. Trying to remember all of them for every NPC is next to impossible, and many people have created diagrams and lists to try and help themselves keep track.
In contrast, Animal Crossing is much more forgiving in this regard, allowing you to just chill and hand over whatever you have to your villagers in return for their love.
3 STARDEW VALLEY: Social Skills Are Optional
Sure, it’s hard to win the favor of the locals in Stardew Valley, but you don’t have to. You can live your entire life as a hermit on your farm, interacting with them only when necessary - rare outside interactions include getting Robin to build something for you or ignoring everyone in Pelican Town.
In Animal Crossing, ignoring your villagers isn’t good. You can (technically) do it, but it’s much more of a social-based game. Doing so would lead the villagers to move out, react with hostility to you, and there’ll be no real point to the game beyond just placing furniture everywhere. If you are relaxed by solitary living, Stardew Valley is more for you.
2 ANIMAL CROSSING: No Bedtime
Many people agree that the most stressful part of Stardew Valley, especially in the early game, is the time limit on every day. The player will pass out and sometimes be charged a fee if the clock reaches 2 a.m. and they are not in their home. This is very frustrating when trying to finish something or make it down to the lower levels of the mines.
Animal Crossing basically has none of this problem, allowing you play whenever you want for as long as you like. Days reset at 5 a.m., but you’re otherwise free to just go for it all hours of the night.
1 STARDEW VALLEY: There’s Only One Version
Leaving the world of the games for a moment and examining their real-life impact on your wallet, Stardew Valley will go much further for the power of your Dollar. This game costs very little, frequently goes on sale, and is updated with huge new gameplay mechanics rather often by its dedicated developer, ConcernedApe.
Animal Crossing, on the other hand, costs a lot more and has to be constantly replaced as new editions come out. You can, of course, play the older games for as long as you want, but the new features and improvements are in entirely new games. Meanwhile, the original Stardew Valley - with features both old and new - doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
NEXT: Stardew Valley: 10 Tips for Getting to Level 100 Of Skull Cavern
