Stardew Valley 1.5 update gets a surprise release on PC

By Eric Abent/

Stardew Valley fans got a very nice surprise today, as developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone released the game's version 1.5 update on Steam. The release is here with a look at the new beach farm and a bunch of new endgame content, complete with spoiler-free patch notes for those who want to go into the update as unspoiled as possible. With everything all added up, Barone says that this is the biggest content update he's ever shipped for Stardew Valley.

That's saying a lot when one of the previous updates added multiplayer to the game, but we'll just have to take him at his word since this round of patch notes doesn't list all of the new additions individually. Instead, the patch notes only give us a vague idea of what to expect, telling us that there are "new people to meet," and "new goals" to achieve, among other things.

Previously, Barone shared details about two major additions: the beach farm and advanced game options that returning players can switch on to shake things up a bit. While before we only had a tooltip describing the beach farm, now Barone has shared a full image of it, which you can see below.

What else is there to look forward to? Split-screen co-op is one of this update's major additions, which works almost exactly the same as online multiplayer only it allows up to four people to play on the same machine locally. Barone's patch notes say that there's also "many new items" included in this update; home renovations, which are available after you've fully upgraded your house; and new character events. There are even nine new music tracks, and if you're already acquainted with Stardew Valley's excellent soundtrack, you know those are very exciting additions.

Barone even says in the patch notes that there's "so much more" that he "can't bear to spoil," so it sounds like Stardew Valley fans will have to dive in and find out what's new for themselves. The 1.5 update is available today on PC and will be launching sometime early next year on consoles with no current timeline for mobile. We'll let you know when more is revealed, but for now, dive in and see what's new in the Valley.

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