Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, creator of the hit farm builder/RPG "Stardew Valley," announced via Twitter (opens in new tab) that the game will receive a 1.6 update. Barone described the update as "mostly modeller changes" and much smaller than the 2020 1.5 addition, but it will add new content and will allow Barone to interrupt his work on the upcoming "Haunted Chocolatier" (opens in new tab) to The project is large enough to interrupt and deliver this update.

To add some background, all 1.1-5 updates feature new content for Stardew Valley, with 1.5 being essentially a complete expansion (opens in new tab), including quality of life changes, a new farm, and a huge additional endgame area.Stardew Valley's last update was 1.5.6 at the end of 2021, with some supplemental hotfixes in early 2022.

Barone's planned changes for modders are also interesting. Especially since Stardew already has a robust mod scene (opens in new tab). Ease of use is one thing, but I'm curious to see what experienced modders can accomplish with "more powerful" tools. Perhaps we will witness the powerful new psychic frontier of messing up grandpa's deathbed (opens in new tab).

I don't think much of the developer's halting work on Haunted Chocolatier. As for when we might see Stardew Valley 1.6, I can't imagine the wait is too long. As for Baron's Stardew Valley sequel, you can check out the hub for everything we know about Haunted Chocolatier (opens in a new tab).