Released in 2016, Stardew Valley has to be one of my favourite games ever. It can be many things from a relaxing farm simulator to a classic dungeon crawler and it does them all with a certain grace and charm that keeps me returning over and over again.
Be warned, there are spoilers ahead so stop reading now if you want to discover these for yourself.
What’s even more impressive is that the game has been developed by just one person, the genius that is Eric Barone. Update 1.5 adds an enormous amount of new content and Barone describes it as the biggest update yet to the game. Oh, and did I mention the update is free!?
The update includes lots of little details that I could swear were there all along as they appear to blend seamlessly with the existing game world. Others are much more obvious such as the new beach farm and the introduction of Ginger Island.
Beach Farm
The new beach farm layout gives farmers yet another farm set up to choose from. The beach farm doesn’t just look different, it also comes with its own set of challenges and rewards. The main challenge here is the soil. As you would expect, the beach farm is full of sandy soil and this means sprinklers won’t work here. On the plus side, it’s a great place to forage for seafood plus rarer items will get washed up on the shore.
New Game Options
There are lots of new game options available when starting a new game. The highlight being the remixed mode and split-screen co-op. The new remixed game mode will randomise the items needed to upgrade the community centre as well as rewards from the chests in the mines. This simple change can make starting a new farm much more of a challenge as you won’t know what to expect.
Local split-screen co-op is just that. To play in split-screen you’ll need to get Robin the carpenter to build new cabins to accommodate all of the players, or if you’re starting a new game you can choose to add these cabins via the advanced game options.
Ginger Island
The introduction of Ginger Island gives players a whole new area to explore plus a whole new dungeon to get to grips with. There is a quest to complete which allows you to make the journey (we’ll let you find this for yourselves as it’s not too difficult to find) which requires a fair few high-end resources to complete. Once you’ve managed to round up the required bits you’ll be able to set sail to a whole new island.
Other additions
- New people to meet
- New goals
- Many new items
- A new type of quest
- A new farm layout
- New character events
- A new Community Upgrade
- Home renovations (after you’ve fully upgraded your house)
- Ducks can now swim
- You can now sit in chairs
- You can now move your bed
- Fish Tanks
- A bunch of new furniture items as well as new furniture types like wall sconces
- New secrets
- 9 new music tracks
- And so much more
For the entire list of changes check out the official Stardew Valley changelog.
