Stardew Valley: Which farm to start the game with

When you first start up Stardew Valley, you’re presented with eight different farm layouts to choose from. These dictate the layout of your farm, its special bonus, and the space you have for crops, decoration, and animal barns.

They’re important, so it’s good to understand what each farm offers before selecting one. I’ve compiled a guide, explaining what each farm offers and what they are best for, with a few screenshots from my game so you can see what each farm looks like.

Standard Farm (Best for beginners and farm decorating)

The Standard Farm is best for new players since it offers the largest space available for crops and buildings, like barns. It has few obstacles, so you’re also able to decorate and expand your farm to your liking without restriction, but it comes with no special bonuses like the other farms here.

Riverland Farm (Best for fishing)

The Riverland Farm is great for anyone who wants to specialise in fishing. Around 75% of the farm map is water, making fishing much more accessible, and it has an increased fish spawn rate, so you’re more likely to encounter more. This can be a great money maker for anyone who enjoys the fishing mini-game and doesn’t want to focus too much on crops.

The only drawback is the limited farm space due to all of the water, so don’t expect to have as much freedom to decorate or plan out your farm when compared to the Standard layout.

Forest Farm (Best for foraging and wood)

For anyone who enjoys farming and foraging, the Forest Farm is best for you. The farm features regenerating stumps that act as a steady supply of Hardwood, and there are free seasonal forage items located across the map. Its unique weeds drop Mixed Seeds that offer free crops for planting.

Unfortunately, all of the above comes at a cost as you have a smaller farming space due to the trees and grass scattered across the map, although they can be easily cut down if needed.

Hill-Top Farm (Best for mining)

Next up is Hill-Top Farm, a layout that specialises in mining. It comes with a small mining quarry that spawns different ore, as well as coal, geodes, and more – all helpful for upgrading tools. However, the quarry and the cliffs within the farm map can make it extremely difficult for you to plan and customise your farm, the spawns within the quarry can be completely random, so don’t always expect the best ore.

Wilderness Farm (Best for combat)

The Wilderness Farm focuses on combat and is the most unique of all farms. At night, monsters spawn on the farm, allowing you to destroy them for unique monster loot like meat. The downside for this is that monsters can disrupt your peaceful farming chores when they spawn, and for new players, the combat can be very overwhelming if they don’t know what they’re doing.

Four-Corners Farm (Best for multiplayer)

Stardew Valley supports multiplayer, and the Four-Corners Farm is the best farm layout for co-op. It offers four different sections, each catered to different aspects of the game; crops, fishing, mining, and animals. Players can opt to look after certain sections of the map and customise it as they see fit. It can also be used by solo players who want to organise their farm in a certain way and split it.

Beach Farm (Best for advanced players)

The Beach Farm is best suited for advanced players or those who want a challenge. The sand limits the crops you can plant, but the Beach Farm does offer a gorgeous aesthetic with ocean views and supply crates that offer bonuses when they wash up on shore. However, you cannot use sprinklers, so you’re going to have to manually water everything you plant on your farm.

Meadow Farm (Best for animals)

The Meadow Farm was added with the most recent 1.6 Update. Designed specifically for animal husbandry, the farm offers lots of space and grass for grazing, as well as a small barn with surrounding fencing. It also has blue grass, which offers more hay when harvested.

Let me know which of the eight different farms you selected in Stardew Valley. Good luck farming!