The long-awaited Stardew Valley 1.1 update is almost upon us according to the game’s solo developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. But before it releases, Barone wants to iron out a few bugs, and so the developer also announced a beta for the update is now available.
The update is a substantial one: adding new marriage options (Shane and Emily), divorce, five different farm maps, new buildings, magical construction, evil shrines, new areas, and much more.
Here’s the full update notes:
New Features
- Shane and Emily are now available to marry. They each have new events, music, and more!
- Spouses now have a unique outdoor area and behavior on the farm.
- You can now choose from 5 different farm maps at character creation. Each map is focused on a different skill area.Standard Farm – The original Stardew Valley farm.Riverland Farm – Lots of water, good for fishing.Forest Farm – Foraging opportunities and a unique weed that always drops mixed seeds.Hill-top Farm – Has a small mineral deposit from which ores spawn, including a unique geode-bearing ore. Wilderness Farm – Bats and Golems spawn at night.
- “Shed” building… An empty room that can be decorated, filled with kegs, etc.
- “Mill” building… Can be used to turn wheat into flour and beets into sugar overnight.
- A new quest that can be started after the Community Center or JojaMart quest arc is complete. The new quest results in a new “magical construction” feature available from the Wizard’s Tower. The new quest is triggered when you enter the Railroad area.
- Added several new locations that are related to the above quest. “Junimo Hut” building (Magical Construction). Junimos will harvest crops within a certain distance of the hut, instantly transporting the harvest back to the hut for you to gather at your convenience.
- “Earth Obelisk” building (Magical Construction). A permanent warp totem to the mountains.
- “Water Obelisk” building (Magical Construction). A permanent warp totem to the beach.
- “Gold Clock” building (Magical Construction). Prevents weeds from spawning and fences from decaying on your farm.
- You can now move your buildings via Robin’s construction menu.
- New house upgrade from Robin that adds a cellar to your house and teaches you the “cask” crafting recipe. In the cellar, you can use Casks to age cheese and alcohol, increasing their quality.
- “Iridium-star” level quality is now attainable for aged goods and fruit. (2x value)
- NPC’s now appreciate quality level in gifts, but it only has an effect on gifts they “like” or “love”.
- Added Coffee, a spring/summer crop, and Coffee Bean. The bean acts as the produce and the seed, similar to sunflowers.
- 5 Coffee beans can be added to a Keg to make coffee.
- Honey can be placed in a keg to make mead.
- Void eggs can be placed in mayonnaise machines to make void mayonnaise.
- 2 new fish, “Void Salmon” and “Slimejack”
- You can now choose to color your chests with one of 20 color options.
- Evil Shrines, where you can make offerings in exchange for dark magic.
- Divorce. You can file from a little book in mayor’s house.
- You can now wallpaper the little hallways in your upgraded house.
- When you beat Journey Of The Prairie King, you can now start over in a harder mode, keeping your upgrades and coins.
- 2 new “Lost Books”
- Krobus now sells a “Return Scepter”… a tool which acts as a permanent warp totem to the farm.
- Giving someone a gift on their birthday will never make your spouse jealous.
- Pierre now sells a “Catalogue” furniture item that can be used for unlimited free access to all wallpapers and floors.
- Robin now sells a “Furniture Catalogue” furniture item that can be used for unlimited free access to nearly all furnitures.
Bug Fixes
- Wild plums are now labeled as fruit.
- Grandpa’s Shrine should now always properly give the reward for reaching 4 candles.
- Fixed issue where gathering an item with the “botanist” profession would fail if the inventory was full, even though the gold-level item was present in the inventory.
- Slime charmer ring should now protect against giant slimes
- You can no longer tap a stump
- Fixed Joja Warehouse graphic issue in winter
- “Check action”-mapped keys should now work to attach bait to a rod.
- Rain ambient sound should no longer play in Sandy’s Oasis under any conditions.
- Your baby should now be properly born, even if you pass out in the mines on the eve of the birth.
- Moonlight Jellies engagement crash
- Galaxy sword should now be truly unloseable
- You can no longer lose hay to a hopper because you have no silo.
- You can no longer plant fruit trees off the farm.
To access the current beta version of Stardew Valley (on Steam) follow the following steps:
- Right click on Stardew Valley in your games library and select “Properties”
- Click the “Betas” tab
- Click the drop down menu and select “beta” (no password is necessary)
- Steam will download the beta version. Stardew Valley should now have a [beta] tag in your library.
My Opinion:
After a few months of playing Stardew Valley I eventually forced myself to take a break in order to save some enthusiasm for the game when it releases on consoles. That being said, this update seems to add a lot, and squash some of the peskier bugs. Alas, I’m finding it difficult to restrain myself from jumping back in.
Tyler Fischer is a Senior Writer for MONG who plays video games when he’s not busy researching alien conspiracy theories at 2AM. You can find him on Twitter.