After completing the Community Center bundles, Willy will need to collect late game supplies before you can leave
Stardew Valley added a whole new island to explore with update 1.5 on PC, and it worked out surprisingly. There is a lot involved! If you’re looking for an instant starter guide, there’s nothing you need to do here.
To reach the island, you must complete the Community Center bundles (or the equivalent JojaMart questline), which means there are a lot of settings when you start a new 1.5 save file.
When you are done with your Community Center or Joja goal, Willy will send you a letter saying he did it unlocked the back room in the Fish Shop. Inside you will find a decades old boat in need of repair.
[Note: I’m not sure if there are any other requirements before Willy sends the letter, but I happened to have a safe file with an almost-finished Community Center. Preparing the final bundles did the trick. On this particular file, I didn’t catch every type of fish, so thankfully that’s not a prerequisite for the boat.]
To repair the boat you will need the following:
- Five iridium rods to fix the anchor.
- Five battery packs to fix the ticket machine.
- 200 pieces of hardwood to repair the hull.
It is a one-time expense, but if you are not full – It certainly wasn’t me! – then the boat is quite a resource. I had to take a number of trips to the Secret Woods, although luckily I had some battery reserves.
Once you fix Willy’s boat, you can enter the Fish Shop every day at 08:00 and you can pay 1000 g for a ticket to sail to the new zone like how to take a ride to the desert.
Before you leave with Willy, make sure to bring a watering can – you need it.
Your destination? Ginger Island. You see a cute little sailing movie.
Without revealing too much about the environment – you can check out the gallery below for more spoiler-y screenshots – there are several remarkable things to be found, including an NPC and a volcano dungeon. I have only scratched the surface, but I love that there is a new story here. The blocked paths are intriguing.
The first time I tried to explore the dungeon, I hadn’t brought a watering can, so I couldn’t get very far. When I returned I was almost immediately swept away by some of the new creatures. Damn it, Eric!
Click to open the photo gallery:
