Beach farm! Beach farm! Beach farm! I might just be excited because I play a lot of Stardew Valley right now, but developer ConcernedApe has revealed that the game’s next update will come with a brand new farm – the beach! It may sound like a fun seaside getaway, but this farm seems hard to start with – especially since sprinklers don’t work on that pesky sand.
If you fancy even more of a challenge, ConcernedApe says update 1.5 also brings some “advanced game options”, making community center bundles and mining rewards a little more interesting.
“Good foraging and fishing, and plenty of open space” is the description of the beach farm. “Sometimes stock crates wash ashore. Sprinklers do not work in the sandy soil, however. “
I think this might be the start of another Stardew playthrough for me, although I’m a little concerned about the lack of nozzles. Who will look after my crops while I am in mine? I’m lazy too. Fortunately, this update also adds split screen so I could just drag and drop some friends over to do it.
With Stardew’s upcoming “Advanced Game Options” you can choose how Community Center bundles (the packs you fill with crops and produce to restore the Community Center) appear before starting your farm. Selecting “remixed” from the drop-down menu will randomize new bundles and create variations of old ones, prompting you for slightly different things to complete them. There is also an option that guarantees that you can fill all bundles in your first year if you don’t want it to take ages.
Additionally, mining rewards will also be changeable (although it’s not entirely clear what all the options for that are), and you can enable or disable monster spawns for your farm.
Last month, ConcernedApe said the Stardew Valley 1.5 update is “in the home stretch,” so hopefully it won’t be long now before we can start our new life as hermits on the beach. The developer previously said 1.5 will also add “a significant new piece of endgame content,” and banana trees are also on the way.
Stardew Valley is truly the gift that keeps on giving. It is one of the best management games and best RPGs on PC we think.