While many were happily surprised by the announcement of the Stardew Valley 1.6 update, hardcore fans have known what’s coming in the next big patch for some time now.
Stardew Valley is over seven years old now and is more than two years separated from its last major update, version 1.5. Despite that, developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone is still not done with the game and plans to ship another significant update. The developer is pausing his work on the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier in order to focus on Stardew Valley 1.6.
Though the official announcement of the update came fairly recently, it’s already generally known what will be added. Changes will range from minor bug fixes to significant updates to how the game runs, with the patch impacting PC and console players alike.
What will be in the Stardew Valley 1.6 update?
The Stardew Valley 1.6 update will make significant changes to the game’s engine and will add new dialog and a new festival. Alongside this will be several changes to the gameplay that will impact console and PC players alike.
The changes to modding will be unnoticeable for players who are on the vanilla version of the game, but will be enormous for those who use mods. Things that previously weren’t moddable like the museum’s accepted donations and rewards catalog will be opened up to changes. Options will also be expanded for other facets of the game like how fruit trees work.
Those who can’t mod the game will still be impacted by the 1.6 update in a number of different ways. A number of bug fixes will also be implemented, some of which will carry some major gameplay implications.
The most impactful will be a change to the farm’s mushroom cave. The cave yielding a new batch of mushrooms every day is actually a bug, as it is meant to yield a new batch every other day. This will make the mushroom cave much less financially lucrative for players, and make the fruit cave more viable as a result.
For players who like to decorate their farmland, the farmhouse and pet bowl will be movable in the Stardew Valley 1.6 update. This will be particularly beneficial for a variety of different players, with both speedrunners and landscapers benefitting from this.
Big improvements coming to Stardew Valley multiplayer in next patch
Stardew Valley multiplayer will also be improved in a number of different ways with the 1.6 patch.
Alongside improved stability, Stardew Valley’s sound system will be improved to have volume based on proximity during multiplayer sessions. When there are two players in the same part of the map, tool sounds are played at the same volume regardless of how far away they are. This has made four-player farms a very loud experience, as every swing of an axe or scythe can be heard across the map.
That will change in 1.6. The sound of someone chopping down a tree will be louder or quieter based on how close players are to one another, which is particularly nice for those who don’t use voice chat
A number of improvements will be made to interactions with NPCs. New dialogue will be added and bugs that prevented certain dialog lines from popping up during regular conversation and heart events will be fixed.
Alongside this will be a number of other gameplay changes and bug fixes. Some items and enchantments will receive new uses, localization will be improved, and more.
ConcernedApe confirms new festival and dialog options in next Stardew Valley update
ConcernedApe confirmed that Stardew Valley 1.6 will add a significant amount of new content including a new festival. It is unclear what that entails on either side, but it’s exciting news for fans.
Stardew Valley has a robust cast of characters but with many playing the game for hundreds of hours, it’s easy to see the same dialog lines uttered many times over. Mods have been created to fix this for PC players but console players will be able to share the wealth too, thanks to this patch.
A new festival is also coming. It’s unclear what it will celebrate or if it will be something in the vein of the Night Market, but anything to keep things fresh throughout the year will surely delight longtime players.
Will there be new romance options in Stardew Valley 1.6?
ConcernedApe has not confirmed whether there will be new romance options in the 1.6 update.
There are a number of NPCs that are seemingly single but cannot be romanced, as well as named characters who cannot be befriended. Making Clint or Sandy romanceable, or allowing players to befriend Gunther or Marlon would give players cause to revisit Stardew Valley no matter how thoroughly they’ve played through the game.
That said, fans shouldn’t expect too much when it comes to the 1.6 update. This new version is ultimately something of a side project for ConcernedApe as he works on Haunted Chocolatier, and ConcernedApe has previously discussed that adding new romance options is more difficult to implement than fans expect. Thankfully for PC and Android players, there are mods that make everyone in the game romanceable.
