For many, Stardew Valley is a cozy escape from the hell many have endured over the last year. It turns out that even the creator of Stardew Valley uses Stardew Valley as a way to connect with friends and unwind... Perhaps they are developing Stardew Valley.

ConcernedApe (aka Eric Baron) shared a cute tweet yesterday to commemorate finally reaching 100% completion five years after first releasing his game. 'Exactly one year of playing Stardew online co-op with friends. 'It's been a great way to stay in touch during a weird year. I'm finally at 100%. I tweeted to commemorate the occasion."

Barone also posted a screenshot of his farmer (pictured far left) with six of his farmer friends. Some may have seen the photo and wondered if Barone had installed a mod on his game, but it turns out that raising the player limit for co-op is as simple as tweaking a single line of code. However, it was great of Baron to share how to do that without installing a mod.

It turns out that Barone's own playthroughs also influenced many of the latest 1.5 updates. When asked how often he thought about what to add during his playthrough, Barone replied, "All the time." We actually started when 1.5 was still in development, so a lot of the ideas from the playthrough made it into 1.5."

It's great to see Barone using his game as a way to chill out. You wouldn't want to go near a game that you've spent over half a century pouring your talent into, but it just goes to show what a great game Stardew Valley is.

Last year, Barone said he wouldn't commit to a 1.6 update just yet, but he still expects future updates and possibly a sequel.