I really appreciate that I can keep coming back to that game

ConcernedApe is a national treasure.

International treasure, too

Terraria, too!

I never got into terraria, I’ve tried a couple of times but couldn’t grasp the game loop.
I really liked minecraft when it came out though.
- It's all about building a base, digging a Hellevator and attracting NPCs/summoning bosses, for the most part.
- I'd say Terraria has a lot more.... structure in how you upgrade things. Minecraft is a lot more loose and free with how it lets you play, while Terraria expects you explore, collect, create and use the things you discover and create to move the story forward.
- Terarria is for people who like letting the progression tell them how to play. If you're not into that, it's a very shallow experience.
- Terraria is less survival sandbox and more metroidvania. It garnered a lot of surface level comparisons to Minecraft (randomly generated world, building a base, caving required to find ores to smelt into bars to get better tools/armor), but Terraria has all of that as ways to progress and grow stronger instead of just being things you can do in the sandbox for fun/survival. It’s less about survival and more about finding ways to increase your DPS/Mobility/Defense to fight bosses. Although you can still flex your creativity to make visually appealing bases (and you want to have multiple, one in each non-evil biome and one underground, trust me).

Ok, no seriously: Final update!

Haha, just kidding!

Them and Terraria. Love those folks.
- And Don't Starve/Don't Starve Together by Klei.

There’s been a lot of content added.
Patch 1.5 was massive and basically completed the game.
I thought that was going to be the last patch but now there’s a 1.6 coming and there will probably be more but I have no expectations.
It’s just a nice surprise when I see new content being developed.

I've been meaning to start it for years now, but I'm actually kind of intimidated by it at this point.

It's among the least intimidating games I ever played. You statt super simple and progress at your own pace. At any time you have different things you can do but you're free to focus on what you enjoy most.
Now you can optinize and rush certain rewards etc. But for the first playthrough just do whatever looks cool. It's such a fun game.
Guess I talked myself into another playthrough.
I played it with my kids in coop mode.
What's great is the progression system. You start very poor, having to cut wood, with nowhere to go that far. The areas and what you can do unfold themselves step by step.
- I also played with my kids on lan, and they love it. Had to discipline them a bit to water the plants 😀
- Can only play 2 players at once though right?
It starts off slow but by the second year you need the wiki open on a second screen, mainly to know when and where certain fish show up.

Well, not for long. 1.6 is the very last update ever (unless it breaks something and needs a hot fix) and then he's working on Haunted Chocolatier full time.

Oh well, I thought 1.5 was the last lol.
Who knows with CA, I wouldn’t be surprised if they make another content update for SDV in a decade.
- Concerned Ape tweeting from beyond the grave in 2087:
  Updated compatibility with PS14
  Minor bug fixes
  Haunted Chocolatier beta coming soon!
Yeah, 1.6 is mostly just to help modders so nothing that special will be added. Excited for Haunted Chocolatier though.
- Initially, yes. Recently CA tweeted this:
  https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/87db47db-c901-4812-b37e-fca4d8f07f46.webp
- There’s always some little QoL change CA puts in.
  I’m hoping for a reliable way to get an auto-petter without going down the JoJa mart route.

For those curious about the upcoming update

Ginger Island was phenomenal. They took everything that made the game suck and fixed it without disrespecting players who liked doing things the old way, plus they added in some cool content which added a lot to the end game. Fairy dust is single handedly the best feature ever added since once you get a room full of Statues of Fortune you can just pump out any item you want at breakneck speed. Fairy Rose goes from being a niche flower you use for bees to a genuine powerhouse of a crop during a season which is normally a massive lull in production. The only thing that sucks about them is that they stack really badly. I really hope next update fixes that because that is unacceptable game design.

I'm gonna be that guy and say I don't like Ginger Island, mainly because of the golden walnut hunt.
- Yeah that didn't have to be there. It's easy enough to bypass with wikipedia which is what I ended up doing.