Why Stardew Valley's Latest Update Is the Best Reason to Dive Back In

Stardew Valley’s latest update adds new features and gameplay tweaks that make it worth picking up again. Here’s what makes it stand out!

Screenshot of a Stardew Valley game update. A sign reads "Meadowlands Farm." There's a log cabin, trees, pond, and a chicken, with text about the farm's grass in the foreground.

Stardew Valley has stolen the hearts of many cozy gamers. However, after pouring hundreds of hours into it, the gameplay can turn quite stale. After you’ve fixed the community center and driven Joja out of Pelican Town, after you’ve reached the very end of the mines and have introduced yourself to every monster in the Skull Cavern, after racking millions of gold and finding every single coconut on Ginger Island, there’s really not much else to do. If marriage, a kid, and a billion installed mods weren’t enough to keep the game interesting, then you might be excited to know about Stardew Valley’s new 1.6 update!

This update has long been released on PC but this is the first time it’s making its way to mobile and consoles. Here are just some of the few awesome things to expect with the 1.6 update:

New Festivals

Pixel art of a desert scene with a bus on a road, palm trees, a camel, and decorative lights hanging across the area.

One of the things that make Stardew Valley so iconic is its many festivals. For one in-game day, the whole town is in themed decorations and all the NPCs are out to celebrate! In the new 1.6 update, new events and festivals have been added. One if them takes place in the Calico Desert and lasts for three whole days. A mystifying environmental event also occurs which elicits unique reactions from the NPCs.

More NPC Dialogues

Screenshot from a video game depicting a dialogue box with a character named Pam saying, "You can raise just about anything in one of those... But some of the fancier fish are real fussy!.

Once you’ve exhausted all the dialogue from the NPCs, talking to them can be quite boring. Thankfully, Concerned Ape wrote a couple more pages of lines to make sure we stay in love with the NPCs of Stardew Valley. This includes custom gift dialogue and specific reactions to things that are happening.

Mayonnaise

A character stands on a path in a farm setting, surrounded by fall foliage. A chest and some farm tools are nearby. The game interface displays a clock and currency.

This is a silly little addition to the game where you can drink mayonnaise (as one does) in front of an NPC and evoke a reaction from them.

It doesn’t affect the gameplay. However, it is fun to see how each NPC responds to the farmer gulping down a jar of mayonnaise as if it were water. Thankfully, this doesn’t affect your friendship with them.

New Crops

Pixel art of a woodland scene with a house, river, and plants. Overlaid are icons of a banana, carrot, broccoli, and a white-blue turnip.

At its very core, Stardew Valley is a farming simulator. So it would make sense to bring in a bunch of new crops for the 1.6 update. One very important addition is the carrot which you can feed to your horse for a temporary speed boost.

Even if you’re not chasing after the extra speed, it’s cute to watch an animation of your horse munching on some carrots (plus they deserve it!) The other new crops are summer squash, broccoli, and powdermelon. None of these can be purchased at Pierre’s general store.

New Items to Craft

A selection of decorative items and materials from a game inventory, featuring totems, statues, bricks, a pumpkin, plants, and various tools.

Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update brings in a lot of new items to craft. The most important one, at least to me, is the Big Chest. It holds up to 70 items and is twice the storage of a regular chest! As someone who likes to hoard every crop, treasure, and trash I can find, this is a well-needed addition.

Another exciting new item to craft is the Dehydrator which dries fruits and mushrooms. While this may not sound all that interesting, it ups their value, making it another fun way to earn gold fast in Stardew Valley!