The most popular cozy game in the world is celebrating its tenth anniversary today. Stardew Valley was launched on Feb. 26, 2016, and to celebrate, developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has taken a look at the past, present, and future of the game by going over the development of the game in its earliest days, celebrating the community, and revealing some of what players can expect in Update 1.7 (which includes two new marriage candidates!).
Here’s everything ConcernedApe revealed in the tenth anniversary celebration of Stardew Valley, along with some special merchandise that fans can buy to rep their favorite farm right now.
Two new marraige candidates for Stardew Valley
First and foremost, the biggest news in ConcernedApe’s livestream was the announcement of the two newest marriage-eligable characters. Romance is an important part of Stardew Valley, and as of Update 1.6, there are only 12 characters up for matrimony (and also Krobus, who can move in with the player as a friendly roommate). The two new characters that players can woo are Clint and Sandy.
It makes sense that these are the two characters players can marry in the next update, given their popularity amongst fans for years, though Clint will prove to be a controversial figure given what fans perceive as weird behavior towards fan-favorite character, Emily. If anything, his addition to the marriage candidates will provide some spicy debate for the fandom to enjoy with the next update.
What else was revealed in Stardew Valley’s 10th anniversary celebration?
The first twenty minutes of the celebration livestream covered the history of Stardew Valley’s development, starting with 2013 when the game looked far more like Harvest Moon and was named “Sprout Valley”. In the years that followed, more and more of what players are familiar with trickled into the game, like additions of JojaMart and the Hat Mouse. ConcernedApe reflected on how the last six months before launch really pushed him to improve the game, as he stated, “I did a ton of work in the last six months”.
ConcernedApe thanked his original beta testers, and showed one of the first ever farms made in the game. After covering the history of every major update post launch, ConcernedApe went into what players can expect for Update 1.7 and thanked the community that has supported his project over the last decade, stating “It’s given me a lot of purpose in life”.
10th anniversary merch
Alongside the announcements of in-game changes for Stardew Valley have been plenty of new merchandise reveals. Fangamer, a site well-known for its huge range of gaming-centric products, has revealed a whole line for the anniversary, which includes a desk mat featuring the map of Pelican Town, a plush of Krobus in disguise, a new vinyl boxset, and a long sleeve t-shirt covered in junimos carrying crops.
The YeeTee, another site full of gaming merch, has launched a junimo sweatshirt, a cassette tape of the soundtrack, and an art print of the raccoons living in the large tree stump just south of the farm.
After ten years of Stardew Valley, the future is bright. With more updates to look forward to (and more romance), players can rest assured their favorite farming sim will be supported for years and years to come. This news, and the knowledge that ConcernedApe is cooking up another sweet game for players to enjoy, will surely sate the playerbase in the coming years.
