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Why it issues: As a foundational title within the “cozy recreation” subgenre, Stardew Valley has remained one of the vital profitable indie video games for a lot of the previous decade. With Steam participant counts increased than ever over the previous 12 months, Eric Barone’s pixel artwork farming simulator now additionally holds the very best person ranking on the platform.
Steam250.com, which makes use of information from SteamDB to calculate cumulative assessment scores, currently ranks Stardew Valley as essentially the most positively reviewed recreation on Steam. The location offers the sport a rating of 8.87, primarily based on a 98 p.c constructive ranking from 901,000 critiques.
The rankings reveal an fascinating pattern amongst top-reviewed titles. Two predominant classes dominate the listing. One contains fashionable indie video games comparable to Stardew Valley, Terraria, Vampire Survivors, Hades, Balatro, and Schedule I. The opposite options largely Valve titles, together with Left 4 Useless 2, Garry’s Mod, and Half-Life 2. Notable outliers embody Euro Truck Simulator 2, Black Fantasy: Wukong, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Indie video games like Deltarune, ENA: Dream BB, and Bongo Cat are additionally among the many top-rated releases of 2025. Nevertheless, big-budget titles comparable to Cut up Fiction, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II additionally stand out.
Steam250 updates its rankings periodically, so Stardew Valley might not maintain the highest spot without end. Nonetheless, its recognition exhibits no indicators of fading. Though it has lengthy been a staple within the life simulation style, the sport’s latest main replace has taken its success to a brand new degree.
Model 1.6, which added new occasions and a brand new kind of farm final March, introduced Steam participant counts to an all-time excessive, eclipsing the numbers from Stardew Valley’s preliminary launch. Moreover, participant counts over the previous 12 months have remained constantly above any interval earlier than model 1.6’s launch. The sport additionally sits comfortably amongst Steam’s prime sellers and is essentially the most performed title on the Steam Deck.
Nevertheless, players should not anticipate one other main replace within the close to future. Creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone lately shifted his consideration towards his subsequent recreation, the long-in-development Haunted Chocolatier.
Though Barone introduced the chocolate store administration simulator in 2021, progress stalled because of his work on Stardew Valley 1.6, which incorporates latest hotfixes for the console variations.
Haunted Chocolatier nonetheless doesn’t have a launch date, and it’s unclear when new particulars will emerge. Barone has beforehand acknowledged that the sport will middle on a single city, much like Stardew Valley, however will function extra action-oriented gameplay.
