Stardew Valley 1.6 update moves to polishing phase after longer-than-anticipated development period

Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has shared information on the 1.6 update coming to Stardew Valley.

According to the developer, the 1.6 update has taken so long to release, is due to it being a bit larger in scope than originally planned. Barone said all content has been added, and the update is now in the bug-fixing and polishing phase.

The update will likely come to PC first, but Barone doesn’t want a large delay between PC and the console and mobile versions.

Barone goes on to say that once applying the update, you can plan on an old safe, but the developer recommends starting a new save just to experience everything in context, otherwise, you'll “unlock a bunch of stuff right away when you load up your old save because.” This is due to the 1.5 update featuring a large, new area, whereas 1.6 is about adding more to older content in the game, along with “a lot of little things.”

Small bits of information on the 1.6 update have been shared over the last few months, but the majority of its contents remain under wraps.

We do know we’re getting a Big Chest, which can store twice as much as a regular chest, a major new festival, two mini-festivals, new items and crafting recipes, over 100 new lines of content, winter outfits for the villagers, a new type of reward for completing billboard requests, a new farm type, new secrets, PC support for up to eight players in multiplayer, new late-game content expanding on each skill area, and hats for our pets.

It has also been suggested we'll be able to upgrade the Scythe tool from gold to iridium.

Hopefully, a release window will be shared soon.