Do you mean Stardew Valley or Haunted Chocolatier?

Stardew Valley is a combination of a creativity toy, a dating simulator, a soap opera and a security blanket. You're actually able to return to a humble artisanal life, make absolute bank doing it, and beat the giant megacorp should you choose do to so. A decreasing number of places offer that kind of hopeful feeling in reality.

Haunted Chocolatier? I don't know, didn't really see the appeal when it was explained to me.

Stardew allows people to achieve their dreams that are unrealistic in the real world, like -

Home ownership

Finding friends and community in a new place

Finding love

Evicting their local walmart and replacing it with a cinema

Escaping the fresh hell of late stage capitalism (or becoming the very worst proponent of it, sometimes somehow both)

Chiming in with why I love SV: While the game itself is a new thing (well 9 years old at this point), it really feels like a product of an earlier time. And not just the graphics, music, gameplay, and plot. It lacks all the dark pattern mechanics and monetization that's nearly inescapable in modern games. It just feels good to play, but always feels good to put down.

I just find the game endlessly charming. Every time I pick it up it reminds me of my childhood playing SNES.

The initial appeal for me was that I enjoyed harvest moon, except for how the old tech made the experience of playing it suck so bad, I couldn't replay it. It was annoying doing any of the basic tasks like switching tools iirc. so there was a huge opening in the market for a new harvest moon that wasn't annoying to play. And where you were allowed to be gay.

So the initial buzz came from that, imo. the people who wanted a new harvest moon game were like 'wow, finally!' and then word of mouth did its thing. these days, nostalgia for it specifically drives people back to play, along with extensive modding and occasional free updates keeping things fresh.

i think other people can explain better why the harvest moon formula itself is so appealing, but i just think it's interesting how an indie game can get so popular by just being like "what if i made this big corporation game people want a new entry from, but fixed the stuff in it that sucks?'

Love that energy! That's kind of how I feel about the Elder Scrolls. I can't get into it but I'm so glad there are people who do.