I agree

People say it’s relaxing

Excuse me what’s so relaxing about the clock running down on you every day, your character moving at the speed of an ant

People not being accessible at certain hours

Nothing is obvious without using the wiki

I could go on and on

Stardew captured a niche but it certainly is overrated

I’ve heard some of these critiques of the game before. It surprises me how many people are bothered by the clock ticking down when there’s no consequences to going at your own pace. That’s what I find relaxing. I can just sit down, and explore, play, figure things out, etc. The fact that things aren’t obvious and not spoon fed to you is enjoyable to me. There’s not other people running around frantically. Didn’t catch an NPC today? I’ll catch them tomorrow. It’s relaxing in its simplicity.

I think people don’t find the game relaxing when they put their own restrictions and goals in place (Got to get this person to X number of hearts by such and such a date, etc).

There are a few areas where the clock mechanic is really, really bad:

• If you go into the desert and try the dungeon there, you will run into the issue time running out. The bus is starting quite late and it takes time to go down the dungeon
• That also applies the first times you go to the island
• The community center also has this problem: You need to catch certain fish that might only be available in some seasons in some areas in certain times and you are really lost without the wiki there. And if you miss the time slot where those fish are available (or where you can grow certain crops) you need to wait another year before being able to progress.