Stardew Valley vs Sun Haven: Which is better?

The cozy farming RPG genre has increased in popularity with the release of games like Stardew Valley and Sun Haven. The latter is a farming-focused RPG that mixes fantasy elements with the coziness of the former in a package that is engaging and fun. However, despite the noticeable inspiration, calling Sun Haven a knockoff would be quite disrespectful.

However, due to their similarities, you may wonder what makes Sun Haven unique and how it compares to Stardew Valley. This article compares these to help you decide which game deserves your time.

Note: This article is subjective and solely based on the author's opinion.

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World design and exploration mechanics

Stardew Valley features a deep yet simple world design (Image via ConcernedApe)

Stardew Valley is set in a mostly realistic world with some fantasy elements sprinkled around in quests, dungeons, monsters, and weapons. You have a farm where you’ve to put in manual labor to plow, plant, and water your crops, get around on a horse, and explore dungeons with traditional weapons.

On the other hand, Sun Haven lets you go creative with its magic system. These spells are not just limited to combat or particular quests, you can use them for tending your farm.

You can use the earthquake spell to plow multiple times at once, summon rain to water your crops, and use an energy beam spell to instantly harvest multiple crops. The game takes full advantage of its magical world in exploration too. You can ride mythical creatures like unicorns, dragons, and even a flying broom.

Another quality-of-life change for exploration in Sun Haven is the lack of a stamina bar. It means you can farm and explore for as long as you want without worrying about your character fainting from exhaustion.

This makes exploration and farming more fun compared to Stardew Valley, where stamina management is always a hassle, especially for new players with limited health items and stamina upgrades.

Also check: Is Stardew Valley difficult for beginners?

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Combat and level-up experience

There are multiple spells to customize your playstyle (Image via Pixel Sprout Studios)

Combat and leveling up are probably the most similar aspects of both games. In Stardew Valley, combat is easy to understand yet deep enough that there is enough room for experimentation and multiple builds. The game offers various weapons enchantments or foraging upgrades to make them more powerful.

Sun Haven features a more diverse and arguably more fun experience compared to Stardew Valley. You have access to a wide variety of spells with multiple effects, where some are designed for fighting multiple targets while others focus on single encounters.

Leveling up in both games follows the same ideology. Stardew Valley has an easy-to-understand skill tree that is simple and solid, while Sun Haven brings in a more complex skill tree that gives more control to the players over the skills they learn.

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Differences in farming mechanics

Sun Haven provides a similar farming experience with some useful additional features (Image via Pixel Sprout Studios)

Farming is central to both games, and the basic mechanics of farms work very similarly where you need to prepare the land, plant, and wait a few days for crops to grow. You gain experience by tilling, watering and harvesting crops, and rearing animals. You can use items like fertilizers and scarecrows to get better produce.

However, some quality-of-life game mechanics in Sun Haven truly elevate the farming experience. The ability to set the length of the day takes away the wait time by making time move faster. You can set the day to as short as 15 minutes for quick crop growth, leading to much faster progress.

Additionally, as you progress through the main plot, you will be introduced to new areas and earn two new houses each with its unique aesthetics.

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Stardew Valley vs Sun Haven: Conclusion

Stardew Valley is undoubtedly one of the best implementations of the farming RPG genre with its unique theme and characters. However, Sun Haven comes in strong with its unique fantasy elements and is recommended to anyone looking for a Stardew Valley alternative. The game feels familiar to play but adds enough new mechanics and changes that make it a solid title.

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