Lord Acton wrote in 1870, "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." These words carry as much weight today as they did 150 years ago. And perhaps no example of the truth of his warning is more on target than Stardew Valley creator Eric Baron. He is clearly frantic for the power that can only be attained as a successful indie game developer: the tyrant king of Stardew Valley is currently taunting his long-suffering followers by slowly releasing patch notes for the upcoming 1.6 update.

The March 19 release of the "Stardew Valley" 1.6 update was announced in February, but without even a summary of the highlights, let alone patch notes, players have been clamoring for more information. Last week, Barone further tantalized fans with the promise that "many things will be added to various aspects of the game," but still refused to say more.

Eric, what stuff? Which aspects?

Today, capitalizing on the fervor of his fans (or so we like to imagine), he took the teasing a step further. Barone tweeted, "I'll post a random non-spoiler patch note every day until the 19th."

Like an epidemic, the madness spread quickly: was it the madman or those who chose to follow him?

Color-coded ingredient-based jellies, pickles, wines, and juices. We didn't realize we were living in Plato's cave until Eric Baron finally opened our eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.

But does drinking forbidden milk debuff us?

The animals will like it, and so might you.

There are only a few more days of such cryptic language before the 1.6 update and full patch notes finally arrive. And we can only hope that when that day comes, Baron will return to the noble and fair man he used to be and let bygones be bygones once and for all on this matter, at least until the inevitable Stardew Valley 1.7 update comes out.

(Let's be clear: power corrupts, but in this case Barone is just having fun in preparation for the launch of 1.6, and so are we.)