Stardew Valley dev clarifies 1.6 update’s impact on save files

Stardew Valley’s developer clears up the impact of the upcoming 1.6 update on players’ save files.

Stardew Valley is an indie farming simulation developed by ConcernedApe. It was released in February 2016, but its developer constantly updates it despite its age. The game allows players to play as farmers and has been loved by the community ever since.

Players could do many things in the game, such as focusing on growing their crops, foraging for items while visiting the town or the countryside, or even caring for their animals.

It had been more than five years since Stardew Valley’s initial release, and it had been on various platforms, such as PC, Nintendo Switch, and even an old PS Vita. Many players had already spent a lot of time on their farms, leading to many concerns about the upcoming 1.6 update.

it’ll be fine to play on an old save, but I’d probably recommend a new save justt to experience everything in context, otherwise you’ll unlock a bunch of stuff right away when you load up your old save

An X user asked whether it was best to start a new save when the 1.6 update is released this March 2024 or if old save files would also benefit. In response, ConcernedApe stated that playing on an old save would be fine but recommended players start fresh on a new save file to experience everything in context. They continued that players may unlock and encounter many new features when loading their old save files.

Another player from X didn’t want to restart their farm because they had a project that they wanted to keep expanding. They worried that they wouldn’t be able to enjoy all the new content by doing so. They shared that they would be upset if they needed to start again from the beginning.

ConcernedApe reassured that they didn’t need to restart as everything would be accessible to an existing farm. However, there is a new farm type that players would need to begin with.