Stardew Valley and Religion
Stardew Valley is a farming simulation game, made with the inspiration of classic games in the genre like Harvest Moon, now known as Story of Seasons. Stardew Valley is a constantly evolving game, a labour of love from a singular game designer - Eric Barone. First released in 2016, the game has been given greater complexities and more content with each update, including some massive changes in the 1.6 update released in March of 2024.
The story starts with the player character leaving their corporate job in the city in order to maintain and tend to their grandfather’s farm, after his passing. The player helps to contribute to the revival of the town through the development of their farm, acts of assistance to the villagers, and also restoring the town’s old community centre.
The game, however, is not just farming, and mining, and fishing. Developing relationships with the townsfolk leads to discovering more about them and the world the player inhabits. The world-building is presented to the player through small pieces: item descriptions, quick bits of information from the villagers, and just walking around and seeing the world.
Religion, like most aspects of the extended world-building in Stardew Valley, is left largely up to player interpretation. We do learn about Yoba, a god figure for the game, who is mentioned several times in dialogue and item descriptions. But, what is this religion? What can an anthropologist of religion (hi, that’s me) learn from this religion?
So let’s chat about Yoba, first. Yoba is, by all accounts, the god for the figures in Stardew Valley. A lot of the dialogue uses similar types of language to Western Christianities, but with “God” or “Jesus” replaced with “Yoba.” Sometimes, Robin may say “My husband almost set the house on fire last night with his science experiment. One of his beakers exploded and sent a fireball into the rafters! Thank Yoba I used fire-resistant lacquer when I built the place." During Maru’s 10-heart event, Demetrius says “Sweet Yoba… It talks!”
Even without other references or views of the different religious elements, we can gather that Yoba is a god-like figure for the villagers. But there is, of course, more than the off-hand comment. There is a visual connection to Yoba - a symbol that looks almost like a Y. The symbol appears on gravestones, on shields, and even a protective ring.
This symbol is known as the “symbol of Yoba”, or sometimes “the sign of the vessel”. We often see this where Yoba is particularly referenced. There is a religious alter, like a little church, inside Pierre and Caroline’s house, and it has the symbol there, too.
This symbol is an Anglo-Saxon rune, “ear” - and yes, pronounced like “air” not like “ear”. This rune is a relatively later development to the language. The meaning is often ascribed as “grave” or “earth”. It can also mean something like “the end” depending on which scholar you’re talking to. Though, its reference to the end may be because there is an Anglo-Saxon rune poem, where each rune is given attention and description, where “ear” comes last.
The translation for this poem appears here:
“Grave is frightful to every warrior
When the flesh begins inexorably, the corpse, to cool,
To embrace the earth,
The dark as its companion, fruits fall away
Joys pass away, promises fall”
There is attention, here, then, to graves. When we talk about earth, we are more meaning it in this sense - the dirt that is dug and buried.
This isn’t exactly unrelated to its use in Stardew Valley. We only get a fragment of the textual religious background to Yoba - the Book of Yoba. A selection of it is found by the player for the library. The bit that we do get is, essentially, the creation myth for Stardew Valley. It reads:
“Before time there was only the endless golden light. The light called out to itself...’Yoba’. Yoba wanted more. Yoba swirled the golden light into a vortex. Yoba swirled and swirled until a hole formed in the eye of the vortex. From this hole sprung a seed. Yoba smoothed the golden light. Yoba smoothed and smoothed, and the light became soil. Into this soil, Yoba planted the seed. The seed sprouted, and behold! A vine sprung skyward, twisting and probing, casting a writhing shadow onto the golden void. After 11 days, the vine bore fruit. Yoba, with knowing wisdom, peeled the tough skin off the fruit and saw that the world was inside. And so that is how the world came to be.”
Alright, there’s a lot that can be said here. Let’s start with the light - as the text does. Before time there was only the endless golden light. The light called itself Yoba, and Yoba swirled the golden light into a seed. It also then smoothed the golden light to form soil. In essence, then, Yoba is bright golden light - this is something we see in a lot of the elements we see associated with it. The alter is bright gold, the ring of Yoba is bright gold. Not every use of the symbol is this way, but it is worth noting.
But the language of the creation myth also shows us how Yoba is in everything. Yoba is the light, the seed, the world which comes from the seed, and the soil which gave its birth. Its a nice poetic way to say this. It also recalls a lot of the elements of the game.
The game is about farming, but it goes beyond the simple elements of gameplay mechanics in this regard. The creator ensured that Stardew Valley focused the player on how relationships with nature and other humans should be holistic, nature forward, and aside from the gruelling cog machine of capitalism. Despite being a game about creating things to make money - and despite how many players like to mid-max to ultimate profit margins - the game is more about rebuilding community and finding connections to the landscape.
A creation myth, therefore, that brings attention to tending to nature, the growth of plants and vegetation, fits well with the deeper meaning of the game.
But there’s another interesting part of this story. “A vine sprung skyward, twisting and probing, casting a writhing shadow onto the golden void.” Where there is light, there is shadow. But this shadow is not seen as a wholly negative in the story, just something that is bound to happen when something grows in the way of the light.
And we do have something that relates to this shadow. Its in the form of my favourite little villager - Krobus. Krobus is a shadow person, a race of peoples who are said to come from “the void”.
The void, like Yoba, is often said in dialogue to refer to something opposing the golden light of Yoba. Like the dialogue inherently replacing God with Yoba, other dialogue inherently replaces “hell” with “the void”. Pam, for example, at one point says “What in the void is wrong with you?”
If the void is a shadow, one cast through the actions of Yoba, that it may make sense that the people from the void, the Shadow People, would also be believers in Yoba. However, this isn’t made explicitly clear in the game. There is only one Shadow person we can directly chat with for an extended period of time, and that is Krobus. But Krobus is only one person, and so we don’t know if he’s view is shared by other Shadow People, or if it’s unique to him.
But we can talk about Krobus. We know that Krobus does believe and worship Yoba. In fact, Krobus has a particular form of worship that is important to him - he remains silent on Fridays in devotion to Yoba. Whenever the player tries to talk to Krobus on Fridays, we only get quiet ellipsis. He still sells things to the player, though, because Krobus runs a little shop in the sewers, hidden away from the eyes of humans. But he’s interested in humans, and studies them. He says he thinks humans like to shop, and so has opened a shop.
Krobus’s vow of silence is not something we see replicated in other believers. He seems to be the only one. This could be because of one of two reasons: the first is that this is Krobus’s own personal take. If Krobus is one of his only people who believe in Yoba, than maybe he has created his own rules and rituals, which would be why he has his own unique takes on the religion. The second reason, could be that this form of devotion to Yoba is something in the culture of the Shadow People.
While we don’t get a lot of information about the running of the Shadow People’s society, but we get some glimpses through what Krobus tells us and what we can gather from the world. Krobus notes that he’s different from the other Shadow People, and that he doesn’t really get along with them. It could be assumed that he either was removed from the society or removed himself, though the specifics are still not exactly laid out for the player.
We do run into other Shadow People, they are hostiles in the mines. Which seems really cruel, especially if you’re friends with Krobus. Like, you’re going to be chill friends with Krobus but then go into the mines and kill his potential friends or family? Seems weird. But either way, we run into them. There are two types of Shadow People enemy: Shadow Brute, which is just a shadow person who attacks you, or Shadow Shaman, who wears a mask and sends magic your way.
Now, let’s talk very very briefly about Shamanism. The fact that these people are shamans does not point to any particular religious background. Shamanism is a loaded term, especially in the anthropology of religion, with many arguing over both its definition and its applications. Siberian Shamans were the first to become widely known to Western academics, so the Tungus word of the practice became attached to similar practices, regardless of where they originated.
In many practices, Shamans can fulfil many roles, including being a psychopomp, a priest, a healer, therapist, or even a spiritual-warrior, spirit-controller, a medium or even a powerful communal leader.
While we see the Shadow Shamans in Stardew Valley as fitting more the “spiritual-warrior” role, this is all we really see of them - in a hostile position against us. We don’t really see the Shadow community and other roles that they may fulfil for their society. Having a Shaman present does not necessarily mean they either are or are not part of the Yoba tradition - context of different societies and communities is important. While Neo-Shamanism may look different to other practices, that’s because the context is different - things are not ever exactly the same across time and geography because those elements are important to the context of a belief. And this would be the same for the Shadow People.
So, let’s swap tracks just a bit here. I’ve been talking a lot about “believers” in Yoba as somehow something that is inherently not a given - and that’s because it’s not. In Stardew Valley, not everyone is a believer. Despite having the chapel in their house, Caroline and Pierre are described as “not very religious” - the chapel was already there. This is not to say that Caroline and Pierre are outright atheists, they’re just not very religious - there is a difference. Their child, Abigail, asks the player at one point about what you think happens when you die, so maybe she could be described as agnostic? Hard to say for certain.
Shane is a confirmed atheist. He says exactly as much in one of his heart event scenes. You get a choice to help him with his suicidal thoughts, and one option is to tell him it’s a sin - which is interesting Christian-centric phrasing, though maybe that’s something to take on for a different time. But if you say that, he responds with “ugh, don’t you know I’m an atheist?”
Other villagers are less confirmed, though may dabble in one way or the other. Emily has a habit of holding up the symbol in specific circumstances, but is also our crystal girlie. George says he doesn’t believe, but still attends Sunday services because, in his words, he’s old. The carpenter Robyn and her husband Demetrius are unconfirmed, but they both use Yoba’s name in dialogue. This could be just a cultural hangover, or it’s a sign of where they fit.
One of the interesting elements of the religion in terms of discussing the game is how it fits into other aspects of the supernatural world of the game. As players engage more with the world and explore elements, we see a lot of different elements of spirituality and magic which are definitely present and real in the game world. However, Yoba as a figure is never really a part of this.
The best example of this is Junimos. Junimos are little nature spirits, cute little brightly coloured figures who are deeply connected to the world around them. When the player first encounters them, they are in the old community centre, using the run down building to live in. But they are also providing ways for the player to fix up the centre and improve the community of Pelican Town.
When we first encounter them, they are using symbols to communicate that the player cannot decipher. However, after visiting the wizard - because, yes, there is a wizard - he gives you the ability to read these symbols through a potion that connects you to nature.
Junimos are considered to be folklore or fable in the world of Stardew Valley. When the player enters the community centre with Mayor Lewis, Lewis cannot see the creatures. We can assume then, that there is some kind of supernatural element present.
Despite their relegation to folklore, Junimos are definitely present for the player and the world of Stardew Valley. So this folkloric creature is brought as inherently true. And magic is definitely true to life, as well. I mean, its common knowledge for the villagers that there’s a wizard who lives in the forest. He’s the one who builds the mazes for the Spirit’s Eve festival. The player also uses this magic, not just the nature potion but also various totems that magically transport the player around the world.
Basically, some elements that we, in the physical world, think of as supernatural or spiritual is presented as active and true. So it wouldn't be a large leap for the same to be said of Yoba. Despite this, we don’t really get any definitive answer one way or the other, though the objects we do get that are inscribed with his symbol are also effective. They do the think it says it will - obviously this is important for games because you can’t have an item that says it’ll do something but then it doesn’t. That would be bad game design. But if we’re looking at it from the angle of a scholar like this, then its something that’s interesting.
There’s a lot of questions, there’s a lot of uncertainty, around the worldbuilding of the religion in Stardew Valley, but there’s something really interesting about the way the religion is presented. We get to see how religion can function in reality - through a diverse way of interactions, interpretations, and explorations of the same functions. I think discovery in this way is fascinating, and a fun experience for players, which helps to hide some really thoughtful ways to approach devotion, community, social difference, and individual needs for spirituality.