Stardew Valley 1.6 is here to remind you why the game is here to stay

When Stardew Valley first got here out in 2016, it was positioned as a Harvest Moon-like. The comparability was the one means on the time to explain a low-stakes farming simulator with a village of locals to fulfill and maybe marry. It’s troublesome to do not forget that now, in an period the place “cozy gaming” has taken on a lifetime of its personal and “healthful” video games have their very own showcases with tons of of hundreds of viewers, however Stardew was launched into a distinct world. After which it made this one. Its newest main content material launch, the 1.6 replace, is a testomony to the sport’s longevity within the style that it formed.

Stardew Valley was an enormous success when it launched; it bought 1,000,000 copies in two months, and as of 2024, that quantity is 30 million. Reviewers on the time loved the satisfaction of its duties, and the way they constructed towards one thing larger: permitting you to flee the day by day grind of life by placing your arms within the tender filth and making connections along with your neighborhood. Stardew was additionally considerably forward of its time when it got here to depicting same-gender relationships, permitting gamers thus far and marry any of the romanceable NPCs no matter gender.

Every of those parts has been critiqued through the years — the sport’s anti-capitalist framework belies a grinding chase for revenue that doesn’t elevate up anybody else in Pelican City, and its playersexual NPCs solely spotlight a scarcity of variety extra broadly. However it’s, to place it merely, good to have the ability to really feel as for those who’re sticking it to Joja Corp. and its real-life equivalents by making a satisfyingly clear and environment friendly wine manufacturing line and kissing your homosexual girlfriend (Leah, for those who’re questioning), regardless of these imperfections.

Picture: ConcernedApe by way of gamerjive

This core to Stardew Valley has by no means modified, and neither has its attraction. Actually, its runaway success has solely accelerated. Because the area of interest it as soon as stuffed alone grew to become saturated with tons of of different indie farming video games and adjoining AAA titles like Harvestella, it started to loosely coalesce underneath the comfortable gaming banner. Though the label is nebulous, and might cowl video games that don’t contain farming or different Stardew staples, they’re nonetheless included due to their reputation, and the everyday overlap with an open-ended, low-stakes, outdoorsy vibe. And Stardew’s affect within the area by no means waned — it’s in all places, from the comfortable video games subreddit’s banner to the highest picture of a serious newspaper explainer.

However changing into the tentpole of a microgenre isn’t the one factor bringing new and returning gamers to Stardew Valley. Over the previous eight years, developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has been including main updates to the sport, retaining issues contemporary and resurfacing it to potential new farmers. In accordance with SteamCharts, the sport bought an inflow of latest gamers in November 2019, coinciding with its 1.4 replace, and January 2021, with its 1.5 replace. Each occasions the typical concurrent participant counts jumped, after which stayed greater. And 1.6, too, has damaged Stardew’s earlier file for concurrent Steam customers.

This enormous patch was closely anticipated among the many neighborhood, and but, they had been nonetheless pleasantly stunned by simply how a lot it added to the sport: a brand new space, festivals, NPC dialogue, the flexibility to have a number of pets, dozens of latest gadgets, visible updates, and so forth. Barone invited gamers to start out a brand new farm to see all of it, maybe on the newly added, livestock-focused Meadowlands Farm, in order that’s simply what I did.

Meadowlands is the eighth farm kind, which will help you tailor your particular expertise whereas taking part in the sport. It’s right here for the farmers who wish to maintain animals greater than plant crops, and comes with its personal two starter chicks. It’s additionally coated in blue grass, which is outwardly a favourite of livestock. The precise mechanical bonus right here isn’t clear in-game, however that performs proper into Stardew’s energy. At its core, it’s a enjoyable, vibesy addition, and you’ll be completely satisfied that your chickens are having fun with themselves. If you wish to get into specifics, you’ll be able to dive into the fan-kept wiki and discover out precisely what it does, and spend hours deliberating over construct the perfect attainable farm. This has all the time been the case in Stardew, but it surely solely will increase with each replace because it accumulates extra options and a wider neighborhood. 1.6, with its laundry listing of additives and tweaks, exemplifies this.

Picture: ConcernedApe by way of gamerjive

It’s been lengthy sufficient since I began a brand new farm in earnest that I used to be capable of re-experience one of many earlier appeals of Stardew: There’s all the time one thing to shock you. That is maybe the factor that has made modding the sport so common. Mods like Stardew Valley Expanded explicitly attempt to seize “the magical feeling that they had after they first performed Stardew Valley” and are extremely common for doing so (Expanded lately handed 2 million downloads).

The identical goes for Stardew’s 1.6 replace, which has had the neighborhood buzzing with new discoveries, whether or not they’re from individuals who averted studying patch notes and social media posts or individuals who discovered new Easter eggs. These moments are paradoxically simpler to identify on a later save — leaping again into my late 12 months 3 farm, I had a deluge of letters, guests, and cutscenes telling me about new issues I may do. The replace is certain to make the sport richer for brand new gamers in addition to maintain issues contemporary for the hundreds-of-hours membership.

However the core of the sport remains to be simply Stardew — and it’s that that has stored the sport going for eight years. I already had about 100 hours — rookie numbers by many accounts — and leaping again into it, it’s instantly apparent why. That core sport loop is unbelievably good at retaining you hooked; there’s all the time only one other thing you wish to do, cascading into one other and one other till you’ve been sitting and clicking away at crops, animals, and ores for a complete afternoon.

1.6 doesn’t flip Stardew Valley into a brand new sport, and the truth that it completely didn’t must be is possibly essentially the most fascinating factor about it. Stardew got here out eight years in the past and nonetheless dominates the style that all of it however created.

Launching into a niche, it instantly attracted an underserved viewers, stored them entertained for years with an irresistible loop, and usually refreshed its inventory of surprises by way of main updates like 1.6. Nothing is prone to disrupt that dominance anytime quickly.

It’s unclear whether or not there’ll be an enormous 1.7 replace sooner or later. Barone has been creating a distinct sport, Haunted Chocolatier, since 2020, and whereas that’s at present on pause to get 1.6 bug-free and out there throughout platforms, certainly sooner or later Stardew Valley shall be left to its personal units. However even when it doesn’t get any extra main updates, its unshakeable core, lengthy tail, and rooted neighborhood imply that it’s certain to remain on the middle of the ecosystem that grew up round it for a protracted whereas to come back.