Back in July, Eric “Concerned Ape” Barone tweeted that Stardew Valley’s 1.5 update would add a “significant new piece of end-game content and much more.” While we still don’t know what that end-game content is, we know now a bit about that “much more” that he mentioned.
Barone again took to Twitter to announce that the 1.5 update would bring split-screen co-op play, commonly referred to as “couch co-op.” This is a feature that players have been asking about for a long time, but the news comes as a surprise. Soon you’ll be able to work side-by-side with your fellow farmhands, both literally and virtually.
In Stardew Valley 1.5, there will be splitscreen co-op! pic.twitter.com/n7XhPWSuSi
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 16, 2020
And what’s better than working alongside a buddy? Working alongside three of them! The PC version of Stardew Valley will support up to four players, while certain platforms will only support two, though which platforms has yet to be confirmed.
Being the sly fox that he is, the screenshot that Barone posted in his tweet seems to show off a host of new content. Eagle-eyed users have spotted new plants, new storage chests, new monsters, what looks like ginger root, and more, including possible insects that can interact with your crops.
While the rest of this content hasn’t been confirmed in the traditional sense, readers can see the screenshots for themselves and decide what to make of them. Some of the content seems pretty clear, while some of it is definitely open to interpretation.
The developer’s intention is clearly to drive the fanbase nuts. He loves to tease new content on Twitter, ranging from vague hints to outright announcements, as is the case this time. When it comes to what we know for certain will be in this update, there’s actually very little. We’ve seen trees growing out of water, wild ducks, and even people sitting. Sitting!
We do know that there will be banana trees, thanks to a Twitter poll that Barone posted back in April. Over 100,000 voted in the poll, and bananas just beat out mangoes by less than 2%. Avocados weren’t far behind, but passionfruit didn’t get a lot of love, sadly.
Obviously, the big mystery remains the end-game content that was mentioned. Will local co-op be a part of said end-game? It’s impossible to say if couch co-op was added just because of the demand or if it was part of the plan all along.
One thing we definitely know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that 1.5 can’t get here soon enough.