ConcernedApe teases what's coming in Stardew Valley's 1.6 update
A new festival, more dialogue, and "???"?
How many Stardew Valley farms is too much for one person? Well, developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone is daring me to start yet another one as he recently teased some of the new additions coming in the game's 1.6 update. Barone tweeted today that a new festival, new items, more dialogue, more secrets, and an even more nebulous “???” are coming with Stardew Valley’s next major update. Yep, that’ll do it - my new farm is already watered and I'm ready to fight/fish/romance whatever "???" is.
Barone had previously said the update focused on “changes for modders (which will make it easier and more powerful to mod).” But he added that there would be “new game content, albeit much less than 1.5,” and we now have a taste of what that new stuff entails. Fresh festivals are always a welcome sight to shake up the annual rotation of community meetups, though I’m not sure where the game could go next. Maybe a party in the underused community centre, or something to do with stargazing only because I’m curious about that one UFO sighting in the game.
When announcing the upcoming update, Barone also added that he was “taking a break” from developing his next comfy game, Haunted Chocolatier, and would return to it after the 1.6 update was released. Haunted Chocolatier is about running a chocolate shop with friendly ghosts and will apparently have a greater emphasis on combat compared to Stardew Valley, although the warm vibes seem to be unbroken.
"The bottom line is that I won't rest, or release this game, until I am personally satisfied that it's very fun and compelling, in every aspect," said Barone about Haunted Chocolatier's release date. We can expect a similar perfectionist timeframe for Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update.
In the meantime, the developer recently shared what Stardew looked like in its earliest stages via very fun notebook doodles. Or you can check out RPS’ list of the best Stardew mods if you want to play something new in the farm-life sim right now.