Tragedy strikes as a Stardew Valley player accidentally blow up many of the machines they've set up for their farm. Simulation games, like the popular Stardew Valley, provide experiences that allow players to build up such a magnificent empire of machines and tools that it becomes nearly self-sufficient, making thousands off of a process that is built to be easy to manage. However, what may become a common routine can turn into disaster from one little mistake.
In Stardew Valley, the player starts off with a regular farm where they need to plant seeds and grow crops in order to earn money and experience. Eventually, the player can create or pay for ways to make managing their farm more profitable and more efficient, like developing machines that turn crops into wine or milk into cheese. As the game goes on, there are more of these to make, and more places to put them in order to make it a more efficient process, like when one player used the submarine to grow winter crops.
In a TikTok video posted by user sweetdreamsluce, there is a showcase of how a single misclick can save someone in Stardew Valley or ruin their success. In the video, the player is in the shed, which they've turned into a space to put all of their machines, with lines of cheese presses and furnaces across the room. What looks to be a routine of them putting items in each machine turns horrifying as they run out of items in one bar and switch to another one to keep the process going, accidentally pressing on the bombs they had in that bar and placing five of them in the midst of the machines. The player only has a second or two to process before the bombs explode, blowing up a chunk of the machines in the shed.
Luckily for the player, Stardew Valley, which just received its latest update on mobile, is a merciful game. The game only saves at the end of every day, when the player goes to bed. In the comments of the video, they mentioned that they restarted the day, and thus made it as if the explosion never happened.
It can take hours upon hours for players to set up their farm exactly the way they want to, whether it's a full machine-operated process or a cellar full of ancient fruit wine. For all of that to be taken away by a player making a small mistake can be devastating, but Stardew Valley doesn't punish the player, always giving them ways to undo mistakes or try again easily. However, that moment of devastation can still feel like a lifetime.