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 solely manner at the time to describe a low-stakes farming simulator with a village of locals to meet and maybe marry. It’s tough to keep in mind that now, in an period the place “cozy gaming” has taken on a lifetime of its personal and “wholesome” video games have their very own showcases with tons of of 1000’s of viewers, however Stardew was launched into a unique world. After which it made this one. Its newest main content material launch, the 1.6 replace, is a testomony to the game’s longevity in the style that it formed.

Stardew Valley was an enormous success when it launched; it bought one million copies in two months, and as of 2024, that quantity is 30 million. Reviewers at the time loved the satisfaction of its duties, and the way they constructed towards one thing greater: permitting you to escape the every day grind of life by placing your palms in the gentle filth and making connections along with your group. Stardew was additionally considerably forward of its time when it got here to depicting same-gender relationships, permitting gamers to date and marry any of the romanceable NPCs no matter gender.

Every of those components has been critiqued over the years — the game’s anti-capitalist framework belies a grinding chase for profit that doesn’t raise up anybody else in Pelican City, and its playersexual NPCs solely spotlight a lack of diversity extra broadly. However it is, to put it merely, good to have the ability to really feel as if you’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, if you’re questioning), regardless of these imperfections.

This core to Stardew Valley has by no means modified, and neither has its enchantment. The truth is, its runaway success has solely accelerated. As the area of interest it as soon as crammed alone turned saturated with tons of of different indie farming video games and adjoining AAA titles like Harvestella, it started to loosely coalesce beneath the cozy gaming banner. Though the label is nebulous, and may cowl video games that don’t contain farming or different Stardew staples, they’re nonetheless included thanks to their recognition, and the typical overlap with an open-ended, low-stakes, outdoorsy vibe. And Stardew’s affect in the house by no means waned — it’s in all places, from the cozy games subreddit’s banner to the prime picture of a major newspaper explainer.

However changing into the tentpole of a microgenre isn’t the solely 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 game, protecting issues contemporary and resurfacing it to potential new farmers. In accordance to SteamCharts, the game bought an inflow of latest gamers in November 2019, coinciding with its 1.4 replace, and January 2021, with its 1.5 replace. Each instances the common concurrent participant counts jumped, after which stayed greater. And 1.6, too, has damaged Stardew’s earlier document for concurrent Steam customers.

This big patch was closely anticipated amongst the group, and but, they have been nonetheless pleasantly stunned by simply how a lot it added to the game: a brand new space, festivals, NPC dialogue, the capability to have a number of pets, dozens of latest objects, visible updates, and so forth. Barone invited gamers to begin 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 may help you tailor your particular expertise whereas taking part in the game. It’s here for the farmers who need to maintain animals greater than plant crops, and comes with its personal two starter chicks. It’s additionally coated in blue grass, which is apparently a favourite of livestock. The precise mechanical bonus here isn’t clear in-game, however that performs proper into Stardew’s power. At its core, it’s a enjoyable, vibesy addition, and you may be completely happy that your chickens are having fun with themselves. If you need to get into specifics, you can dive into the fan-kept wiki and discover out exactly what it does, and spend hours deliberating over how to construct the easiest doable farm. This has at all times been the case in Stardew, but it surely solely will increase with each replace because it accumulates extra options and a wider group. 1.6, with its laundry listing of additives and tweaks, exemplifies this.

Picture: ConcernedApe by way of Polygon

It’s been lengthy sufficient since I began a brand new farm in earnest that I used to be in a position to re-experience one among the earlier appeals of Stardew: There’s at all times one thing to shock you. This is maybe the factor that has made modding the game so well-liked. Mods like Stardew Valley Expanded explicitly strive to seize “the magical feeling they had when they first played Stardew Valley” and are extremely well-liked for doing so (Expanded lately handed 2 million downloads).

The identical goes for Stardew’s 1.6 replace, which has had the group buzzing with new discoveries, whether or not they’re from individuals who prevented studying patch notes and social media posts or individuals who discovered new Easter eggs. These moments are paradoxically simpler to spot on a later save — leaping again into my late yr 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 game richer for brand spanking new gamers in addition to maintain issues contemporary for the hundreds-of-hours membership.

However the core of the game is nonetheless simply Stardew — and it’s that that has stored the game 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 game loop is unbelievably good at protecting you hooked; there’s at all times only one thing more you need 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 game, and the indisputable fact that it completely didn’t want to be is perhaps the most attention-grabbing 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 spot, it instantly attracted an underserved viewers, stored them entertained for years with an irresistible loop, and repeatedly refreshed its inventory of surprises by way of main updates like 1.6. Nothing is possible to disrupt that dominance anytime quickly.

It’s unclear whether or not there’ll be a large 1.7 replace in the future. Barone has been growing a unique game, Haunted Chocolatier, since 2020, and whereas that’s currently on pause to get 1.6 bug-free and out there throughout platforms, absolutely in some unspecified time in the future Stardew Valley can be left to its personal units. However even when it doesn’t get any extra main updates, its unshakeable core, lengthy tail, and rooted group imply that it’s certain to stay at the heart of the ecosystem that grew up round it for an extended whereas to come.