The massive new 1.5 update to the much-loved Stardew Valley surprise, a popular farming village simulation, launched this week. I already told you about it on Wednesday, but I’ve played it for some good hours now so I’m going to tell you more about it because it’s that good. The new beach farm is worth starting a new save file just like all the other cool new quality of life changes.
I’ve always found that Stardew Valley’s annual updates are pretty good at introducing changes that make the game better without shaking up everything you know about it. I never started Stardew after a major update and felt lost and confused. So it is with update 1.5. The beach farm map is fresh and new, but it won’t completely change the routine you know.
Here’s a look at the whole thing and, actually, hold on. I just saw that entrance to the cave in the lower left corner. I don’t know if it leads anywhere, but I’m adding to my list of things to research.
The beach is a nice change, but be warned that sprinklers cannot be placed in sand. That means once you want to automate your farm operations, you’ll have to rush to unlock the greenhouse or clean up that one piece of debris covered in big logs. Otherwise, you and your best friend will be the watering can forever.
like you To do If you want to shake up your usual Stardew formula a little more, don’t miss the advanced game options under the wrench button when starting a new save file. Remixing the ingredients needed to complete the Community Center bundles is a worthwhile change. I’m sure I cannot be the only person who can recite the items required for the Spring Foraging Bundle and the Spring Crop Bundle.
There are all kinds of nice little changes to be found if you go looking for them. Tucked away in the options menu, for example, is the option to change the sound alert when a fish is caught on your hook. I’ve been so conditioned to the default sound that I couldn’t stick with any of the new picks, but hey, they’re cute.
The biggest and best part of the new update is one that ConcernedApe chose not to spoil in Wednesday’s 1.5 update announcement, which I certainly won’t. If you want to quickly find your way to the coolest (and most exciting) part of Update 1.5, make sure to load one of your saves with a few years in it and enter that new door in Willy’s store that was teased earlier this year .
Also in the update announcement, ConcernedApe closed with “Next year there will be more Stardew Valley related announcements (and possibly even more …) to look forward to.” He has also said before that a Stardew Valley 2 is not out of the question, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up doing multiple updates of Stardew himself. Whatever next year brings, there’s a lot more Stardew to chew now.