Stardew Valley has been going strong for over a decade, and it’s nowhere near done. As the title enters its eleventh year post-release, there are exciting things in store for the beloved cozy farming and lifestyle sim.
Stardew Valley started out as a passion project for Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe. He had played Harvest Moon and enjoyed it, but had found that he wanted more from it. So, he decided to make the game that he wanted all by himself. In a Reddit post from 14 years ago, ConcernedApe wrote that his whole reason for starting development on Stardew Valley was “to eventually add all the things that I wished Harvest Moon did.“
Now, 10 years after the release of the hit solo-dev project, Stardew Valley is still going strong. It’s become a true indie darling, and remains a beloved game played and replayed by a dedicated community. Not only that, but it’s also about to turn yet another new leaf, and evolve into its next stage.
Stardew Valley Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving
For the uninitiated, Stardew Valley is a pixel-art farming simulator with a lot of heart and even more to do, explore, and discover. It starts, unsurprisingly, similarly to Harvest Moon. You play a character from the city who has just been willed a farm in the countryside by their grandfather. The character leaves behind the hustle, bustle, and (presumably) high rent prices of the city and becomes Pelican Town’s newest farmer.
The farming aspect of the game is just the beginning. How you play Stardew Valley is entirely up to you, and every player will get something different from the experience. Players can befriend and even romance some of Pelican Town’s residents, expand their farms to host cute farm animals, and go fishing.
If that’s too mundane for you, there’s also a mine full of monsters, a super secret island, and Junimos—apple-shaped little fairy creatures who could really use your help restoring their beloved town.
The most incredible thing about Stardew Valley isn’t its strong community, or the incredible library of fan-made mods that add tons of content. It’s ConcernedApe himself, who’s regularly continued to add large updates to the game for its entire 10-year lifespan.
Stardew Valley 1.7 Is Coming
In February 2026, ConcernedApe confirmed that he’s working on yet another update to Stardew Valley. In a post on the Stardew Valley website, ConcernedApe wrote that Update 1.7 would “give everyone who hasn’t played in a while a reason to come back again.” The new update will revitalize the game once more, and bring in a new era for fans of the long-lasting title.
The upcoming update will add new content, and finally allow fans to do something they’ve been wanting to do for 10 years: romance Clint and Sandy.
More than that, the Stardew Valley team has grown from a solo dev project into a small team. While this has been true since Update 1.3, Update 1.7 is truly a new chapter for ConcernedApe. The developer has been fully involved with every one of the game’s updates. In a dev blog for his upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, ConcernedApe announced that for the upcoming update, he has “been trying to take more of a ‘creative director’ role in the team.”
There’s currently no release date for Update 1.7 of Stardew Valley. According to ConcernedApe, it might even arrive after the Haunted Chocolatier is released—though he makes no promises on that point. Fans will just have to wait patiently until the game finally launches into its new era of peak coziness.
- Released
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February 26, 2016
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Engine
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Proprietary
- Multiplayer
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Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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Stardew Valley does not currently support crossplay between different consoles and PC
- Cross Save
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cross-progression is only available between the PC and mobile versions of the game
- Number of Players
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1-4 players (console) / 1-8 players (PC)