Stardew Valley 1.6 ‘absolutely’ releasing in 2024

Stardew Valley developer ConcernedApe has confirmed the fans’ suspicions: content update 1.6 is due to launch in 2024 after all! Though update 1.6 won’t be the biggest the game’s received yet, it has ended up being bigger than the developer expected, which is good news for the players.

As per some of ConcernedApe’s previous announcements, Stardew Valley update 1.6 will be adding new tidbits and goodies to virtually every aspect of the game, and it is now officially in the “bug-fixing and polishing phase until it’s ready for release,” ConcernedApe has recently confirmed on Twitter.

Stardew Valley 1.6 is coming soon(ish)

Those who haven’t kept up with the news will be thrilled to hear that Stardew Valley update 1.6 adds all of the following to the mix:

• An all-new “major” festival
• Two all-new mini-festivals
• Bonus late-game content
• New items and crafting recipes
• Joja alternatives to endgame quest lines
• 100+ new lines of dialogue
• Cold weather outfits for villagers
• 6-player multiplayer on PC
• New farm type
• New secrets
• A wealth of small additions and adjustments

This list, note, isn’t what you’d call “exhaustive.” ConcernedApe himself said that the list featured above is merely a “sneak peek” to the full list of additions, suggesting a fairly massive bump-up in content. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that Stardew Valley will be even better and more interesting after update 1.6 hits. It may even be enough to tide you over until Haunted Chocolatier comes out!

Curiously, Stardew Valley isn’t the only hugely successful indie game that’s getting a humongous content update in 2024. Project Zomboid‘s Build 42, for one, has been in active production since early 2021, and the developer has finally come out to announce it, too, would be released sometime this year. The overlap between Stardew and Zomboid isn’t necessarily overwhelmingly massive, granted, but this does suggest that 2024 might end up being the Year of Awesome Indie Updates, as it were. Fun to think about, if nothing else!