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Stardew Valley vs Tomb Raider Game of the Year

Stardew Valley is an open-world RPG game from ConcernedApe LLC (2016) while Tomb Raider Game of the Year is an action-adventure platformer game from Crystal Dynamics (2013).

Stardew Valley

2016 · ConcernedApe LLC

8.8GamingPickz Score

$14.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Tomb Raider Game of the Year

2013 · Crystal Dynamics

8.7GamingPickz Score

$2.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

What each one is

Steam files Stardew Valley under Open-World and RPG. In contrast, it files Tomb Raider Game of the Year under Action-Adventure and Platformer.

Stardew Valley

You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life. Can you learn to live off the land and turn these overgrown fields into a thriving home?

Description from its Steam store page

Tomb Raider Game of the Year

Tomb Raider explores the intense origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a young woman to a hardened survivor.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Stardew ValleyTomb Raider Game of the Year
GamingPickz Score8.8/108.7/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (98%, 1,035,189)Overwhelmingly Positive (96%, 269,396)
Critic aggregate89/10086/100
Price$14.99$2.99
Install size0.49 GB
Steam Deckverifiedverified
Released20162013
DeveloperConcernedApe LLCCrystal Dynamics

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Stardew Valley vs Tomb Raider Game of the Year, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Stardew ValleyOpen-world RPG game
    Tomb Raider Game of the YearAction-adventure platformer game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Stardew ValleyFarming Sim, Pixel Graphics, Life Sim
    Tomb Raider Game of the YearAdventure, Action, Female Protagonist

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Stardew ValleyScore 8.8 · 98% on Steam · 89 critic
    Tomb Raider Game of the YearScore 8.7 · 96% on Steam · 86 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Stardew Valley1,035,189 reviews · 1 add-on · 0.49 GB
    Tomb Raider Game of the Year269,396 reviews

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Stardew Valley$14.99
    Tomb Raider Game of the Year$2.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Stardew ValleyVerified
    Tomb Raider Game of the YearVerified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Stardew Valley and Tomb Raider Game of the Year on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Mobile
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Stardew Valley (GamingPickz Score 8.8)
  • The cheaper right now: Tomb Raider Game of the Year ($2.99)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Stardew Valley (1,035,189 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

MultiplayerRPGSingleplayer

Where they differ

Stardew Valley is also

Farming SimPixel GraphicsLife SimRelaxingAgricultureSimulation

Tomb Raider Game of the Year is also

AdventureActionFemale ProtagonistThird PersonStory RichThird-Person Shooter

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Stardew Valley is relaxed, easy to pick up. Tomb Raider Game of the Year is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Stardew ValleyTomb Raider Game of the Year
Minimum GPU256 mb videoDirectX 9 graphics card with 512Mb Video RAM: AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT
Minimum CPU2 GhzDual core CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 2.1 Ghz (4050+), Intel Core2 Duo 1.86 Ghz (E6300)
Minimum RAM2 GB1 GB
Install size0.49 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Stardew Valley · Tomb Raider Game of the Year.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Stardew Valley and 1 for Tomb Raider Game of the Year. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Stardew Valley and Tomb Raider Game of the Year in scope?

Stardew Valley has drawn 1,035,189 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 0.49 GB. Tomb Raider Game of the Year has drawn 269,396 Steam reviews.

Is Stardew Valley or Tomb Raider Game of the Year better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Stardew Valley rates higher (8.8 to 8.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Stardew Valley or Tomb Raider Game of the Year?

Tomb Raider Game of the Year is cheaper right now at $2.99, against $14.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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