Stardew Valley’s appeal is undeniable. A farming, fishing, and dating simulator mashed together with a procedurally generated action-RPG dungeon-crawler, all thrown together with beautifully designed pixel graphics by an independent development team of just one person, it’s found phenomenal success even among AAA juggernauts. And with the constant (and might I add free) content updates, it seems weird to me that it’s only been around since 2016, because it feels like something that’s just always been there and always will be.
Eric Barone (AKAConcernedApe), the developer behind the game, seems like one of the hardest-working people in gaming, as well as oneof the most generous. Even with all that’s been added to Stardew Valley since its initial launch, with digital PC downloads priced at $15 across multiple platforms and the mobile version going for just a third of that price. And even with Barone working on what should be his next great hit,Haunted Chocolatier, we’re still seeing major updates to the game that made him famous.
Stardew Valley’s 1.6 Update Will Fix Its Biggest Problem
We need to have a little chat, ConcernedApe…
The most recently announced one, The 1.6 Update, looks like it’ll bring a slew of new content to the game, including adding three new annual festivals to the game’s 112-day calander (seriously, where is he going to fit them in?), a new farm type, a double-up on the size of multiplayer, a bunch of new dialogue and quest branches, new villager attire that won’t have them walking around the snow-covered fields in t-shirts and sundresses, and more that hasn’t even been announced.
But it’s not just the major updates from ConcernedApe that have people flocking to his Twitter. Nah, this guy’s so good he’s got us eating out of the palm of his hand, and I’m happy to do so. Why, just a few days back, he hit us with this …
… and the crowd went wild! Animals! With hats! I knew horses, sea urchins, toddlers, and some scrarecrows could wear them, but cats and dogs? Incredible! It feels like that ancient South Park episode with the kids tying to run a school news program that can beat Animals Close-Up With A Wide Angle Lens in the ratings, only to be upstaged by Animals Close-Up With A Wide Angle Lens Wearing Hats.
And I know I’m not the only one who gets excited about these tiny tidbits he drops on us from time to time. A few months back, over on the news side of DualShockers, I was one of the first to share a Tweet that ConcerrnedApe made. It had no image andjust two words, “iridium scythe”, and yet my story about that two-word tweet is the second-most-popular thing I’ve ever written. I’m not even mad; I’m excited for it too.
If it sounds like I’m being facetious, I give you my word that I am being 100% sincere—this is really exciting stuff. And that’s weird, and maybe even a little bit stupid, because if literally anyone else in the gaming world had told me “hey, you may put a hat on your cat now,” I would have asked them why they were wasting time and resources even considering that. Not ConcernedApe, though—he’sthe undisputed kind of cozy gaming, and whatever silly perk he wants to add into his world, I’m here for it. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Stardew Valley
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