Stardew Valley, for its simple 16-bit art style has quite an in-depth character creator. One of the more notable choices for the Stardew Valley character is the player's preference between cats and dogs.
Anyone that’s ever played a Harvest Moon game, which Stardew Valley was heavily inspired by, knows where this is going. Some ways into the game, whichever preference the player chose will just so happen to wander on to their farm, and they are given the option to take them in and name them. For some animal loving players this would have been a difficult choice, choosing between a cat or a dog. For others however, it was as simple as looking over at their own real-world pets.
A few Stardew Valley fans on Reddit have been sharing pictures of their own pets, noting the similarities between them and the in-game version. User u/dramaticandroid18 shared a picture of their dog, who bears a striking resemblance to the Stardew Valley farm dog. Similar in both size and color, both even wear an identical bright blue collar.
Given gaming's historic love of cats, it was only a matter of time until someone responded to this post with the other player preference. Reddit user u/Micat_s shared their own comparison photo, this time of the feline variety, showing off their own real world grey cat compared to the grey cat from Stardew Valley. They even managed to get a photo of both cats in the exact same pose.
In Stardew Valley pets will mostly be found wandering around the players farm or sleeping inside the players’ house. They can be petted, with a heart bubble appearing above their head, but they don’t do much beyond that in a gameplay sense. But they are a nice companion to have, especially early in Stardew Valley. At this point in the game many players are entirely focused on the farming aspect of the game, introducing yourself to everyone in town can take in-game weeks for players that don’t know where to find everyone. Even then, most NPCs will have hardly any interaction with the player until they can raise their heart level with gifts.
The pets of video game characters are always popular among fans. In Stardew Valley's case, it's nice to have a loyal companion in this early, rather isolating section of the game, as players get to grips with their new farm and neighbors, and it must be all the nicer when their companion resembles its real-world counterpart.
Stardew Valley is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and legacy platforms.