Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update boosts your slash game with a big sword swing fix

The upcoming 1.6 update for Stardew Valley will improve your slashing with the big sword swing fix.

Stardew Valley is a cozy pixelated farming simulation developed by ConcernedApe and released for PC in 2016. In the following years, other platforms, such as mobile, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, followed.

While players would spend a lot of time on their farm tending their crops and spending time with the cows and chickens, they could still want to experience adventure. They could visit the town to meet new people or explore the mines and caverns.

It is important to bring the right tools when exploring the mines, such as a pickaxe and a weapon like a sword. However, facing to the left or right would give a bigger advantage than facing downward. ConcernedApe shared that they made it that way so that the area of effect would match the visual.

Ever notice that swinging the sword downward put you at a big disadvantage? It’s always bugged me, but I had tuned it that way so that the area of effect would match the visual. For 1.6, I decided that game feel is way more important than precise visual accuracy pic.twitter.com/w0EmkhZPB3

One of the patch notes for the upcoming 1.6 update, which will be released on March 19, detailed that there’ll now be an extended area of effect for downward-facing melee attacks. The Stardew Valley dev shared that this would apply to all weapons, including clubs and daggers, but not to tools such as pickaxes.

A fan asked whether the dev had the same issue in Haunted Chocolatier, another game being developed by ConcernedApe, which prompted him to apply the change in Stardew Valley. The dev replied that they always had this in mind for Haunted Chocolatier and drew player animations in a way that matches with hitboxes better. This made them rethink the combat animations for Stardew Valley, as they were being more deliberate to ensure that each direction was viable in combat.

To testify that it is indeed harder to hit when facing downwards, I dived into the 110th floor of the Mines with my trusty Bone Sword.