10 Biggest Video Game Time Sinks

Combine the mining, crafting and monster slaying of Minecraft, the farming and socialing of Harvest Moon, and the life-building and skill development of The Sims, and you are left with Stardew Valley, the insanely lovable farming sim from Chucklefish and ConcernedApe.

The story begins when your grandfather dies, leaving you his farm in the country. You arrive to find it empty, dilapidated and weed-ridden. What you do from there is entirely up to you. As with many of the games in this list, there are many, many choices. You can focus your attention on the farm, tidying and expanding, growing crops or raising livestock. You can dedicate your time to Pelican Town, making friends and restoring the community centre to its former glory. You can venture into the mines below the town, battling monsters and extracting ores. You can fish, you can cook, you can marry. You can live an entire life in this charmingly retro little town.

Each aspect of Stardew Valley's gameplay will hook you in its own right. You can spend hours buying and sowing seeds, harvesting your crops and turning them into wines or pickles for more money. You can lose yourself in the various layers of the mines, or spend a whole day fishing in the sea, lakes and rivers of the game. It's a heartwarming farming simulator that has taken the best elements from many addictive games and combined them into the biggest time sink of all. And you'll love every pixellated minute.