While Stardew Valley does walk you through some of the basics (and if you’re not too sure still, check out our Starters Guide) there are plenty of things that are left for you to explore and discover – without much explanation.

It sounds like a waste of time but tuning in can give you heaps of valuable information for the days ahead. 

Checking the weather channel to see if it’s raining means that’s less time you have to spend on your crops and instead, you can head straight for fishing or the mines.

Additionally, if you check in the morning and it’s rain the next day, that’s a good opportunity to upgrade your watering can if you can afford it. Just make sure to water your plants first.

This gives you an idea of how lucky you’re going to be in the days ahead.

If it looks like you’re going to have a good day, ditch the farm as early as possible and head to the mines or fishing – you’re more likely to find rare items.

This channel provides you with new recipes to make tasty food after you’ve upgraded your house.

Meals are great for replenishing health and energy and some even work as excellent gifts for the residents of Pelican Town.

More of a handy tips section this channel will provide you with tips to survive and forage.

It’s worth checking out every now and then and only takes a few seconds.

There are several tools in Stardew Valley and most of which are straightforward to use. There are. however, some things the game doesn’t tell you or that aren’t immediately obvious.

The Watering Can, Pick Axe, and Axe are the most important tools to upgrade as they will make basic tasks more efficient or allow you access to new materials.

When upgrading, make sure you won’t need that tool for a few days as you won’t be able to use it while it’s being worked on.

There are little patches of wiggly grass around the valley. Using your hoe on one of these will bring up all sorts of items, including roots, artifacts, and library books which contain tutorials and hints for various things.

You can also use your hoe to reclaim items like sprinklers and place them somewhere else.

When you upgrade your watering can you can then hold down the ‘use tool’ button to water a greater area. This changes based on the quality of your watering can.

EditLoading Fishing Poles and Slingshots

Fishing Poles will work just fine without being loaded, but once you get lures and bait you may want to use them to increase your fishing game.

Slingshots, on the other hand, don’t work without being loaded. All the game tells you is that you need rocks, but simply having them in your inventory is not enough.

To load a tool, select the ammunition and move it to the tool in your inventory. This should equip the bait/rocks/lure to the item for use. 

Weapons like Swords don’t use energy and can be used to clear grass on your farm, and crystals and barrels in caves. This is useful if you’re looking to conserve energy but maybe save your grass if you’re going to raise animals.

Get familiar with the items needed to complete the various quests over at the Community Center. The things you unlock there will not only help you out in the long run but keep the game interesting.

Little things like getting access to fast travel around parts of the town or unlocking new areas make Stardew Valley a much more enjoyable experience.

Every time you get a new item it’s worth checking to see if it fits any of the bundles before selling it, you never know when you might get another chance.

Early in the game, you’ll be provided with a fishing pole and not really told how to use it.

When you do work it out fishing can seem difficult and it’s never really explained that this will become easier as you level the skill up. Levelling up will increase the size of the bar that has to be kept the same level as the fish, giving you a lot more leeway. 

Try catching one or two fish a day in the beginning and you’ll quickly find that it becomes a much easier task.

At some point, you will likely start to raise Animals on your farm and they eat hay, a lot.

You can purchase hay from Marnie, but if you have bought a silo from Robin you can use the scythe on rogue grass to turn it into hay which is automatically stored in the silo.

This saves you not only money but also time traveling down to see Marnie to buy supplies.