Much like with websites and mobile apps, a comfortable and stylish user interface is key to the success of a video game.
Stardew Valley does a reasonably good job with its UI. The unobtrusive HUD offers all the essential information you need to keep an eye on, and the menus are easy to navigate for the most part.
That said, there’s always room for improvement.
This game was developed by a single guy, but the modding community has shown up en masse to help improve the game with mods and add-ons.
Some UI-oriented mods will make playing Stardew Valley even more enjoyable.
Considering the lack of progress bars for produce, crops, or even your abilities in vanilla Stardew Valley, it’s not surprising that enemy HP bars are also absent.
Of course, you can see how much HP you have left easily enough – but, in combat, that’s only half the story.
Knowing how many more hits your enemies can take is vital – especially when dealing with crowds. The Mini Bars mod by Ophaneom will give you that vital info.
What’s really amazing about this mod is that almost every monster gets a custom HP bar matching their colors. The attention to detail is astounding.
If you’re an industrious farmer, there’s a lot of stuff to keep track of.
There are silos to fill, artisan equipment to keep running, and many social responsibilities you barely manage in real life, like remembering birthdays.
Creator Monopandora lends everyone a hand with the Stardew Notifications mod.
As its name suggests, this add-on introduces pop-up notifications that’ll let you know if you need to give birthday presents, watch a new Queen of Sauce episode, or prepare for a festival.
Some of my favorite features have to do with stuff the game doesn’t otherwise tell you.
Examples include when items have spawned in the farm cave or when the spirits are happy and grant you a lucky day.
I recently started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020). It’s a pleasant and relaxing experience, but it has a slow start – especially before you get the tool wheel.
You never get a tool wheel in Stardew Valley, as it isn’t nearly as necessary – but it could save you a few clicks if you had one.
The Toolbelt mod by Yuri0r is basically a custom tool wheel. It makes accessing tools more comfortable and, most importantly, faster. It’s less than a second, but it adds up quickly.
In addition, you’ll free up space in your toolbar for stuff like food items or gifts you want to deliver.
If you want to water all your crops, keep up with your social obligations every day, and still have some time left to hit the mines, you need to do things efficiently.
One of the biggest time sinks in the game is finding every character you need to speak to. You can memorize their schedules, but that’s a lot of work.
This makes a mod like Bouhm’s NPC Map Locations a must-have quality of life improvement.
With it, you’ll always know where every character is at any given moment. The map is also re-drawn more accurately to support real-time tracking.
For many life simulator enthusiasts, there is never enough information.
The more precise info they can get on any given item or process, the better! It’s all valuable to increase efficiency.
Usually, you need to rely on websites like the SV Wiki to get detailed info about crops and characters. It’s functional, but leaving the game to check an external site every time can get tiring.
Look Up Anything by Pathoschild solves this issue by letting you pull up an in-game information sheet for almost anything, including items and villagers.
Since you spend so much time staring at menus and your HUD in Stardew Valley, changing its appearance can completely transform the tone of your game.
The Overgrown Flowery Interface by Maraluna will give your Stardew Valley a dreamy aesthetic with light-colored wooden textures and pixelated flowers on every screen.
Once installed, even your cursors will be transformed into beautiful flowery icons.
Some of my favorite details include the achievement icons – now adorable bunnies – and the stylish new paper designs for letters.
For something a bit more colorful but just as aesthetically pleasing, check out the Starry Night Interface by SpringTHZ.
As its name suggests, this theme was inspired by the night sky. Its primary colors are lavender and dark purple, and tiny star-shaped decorations can be found everywhere.
Your cursors are also replaced by celestial bodies; overall, you couldn’t ask for a more magical interface.
The user interface’s primary role is helping the player interact with the game world by providing the information you couldn’t get from graphics alone.
That’s why the UI Info Suite by Cdaragorn is the most essential UI improvement for Stardew Valley.
It’s a visually-appealing collection of overlays, text boxes, and icons that provide the player with tons of previously-hidden information like how lucky your day is or the range of your sprinklers.
With this, you’ll never forget to watch the Queen of Sauce or sell an item you need for a bundle.
I simply don’t play without this mod – and neither should you!
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
