Stardew Valley News

Stardew Valley Expanded update adds new maps, new events, and lets you marry the wizard

Stardew Valley Expanded has quickly shot up our list of the best Stardew Valley mods, and with good reason - it's basically a massive expansion for the game that adds piles of new content to help recapture that original feeling of discovery. Now, Expanded is getting its own major updates, with even more new features to enjoy.

The 1.13 update for Stardew Valley Expanded adds five new maps, 21 new character events, a new character, new potions and forageables, and new fish to catch over at Ginger Island. It also adds a new "late game magical questline", and makes the wizard a marriage candidate with loads of new portraits, sprites, and dialogue options.

You can get the full list of changes for 1.13 over on Reddit, or download the mod directly on Nexus Mods. If you're already playing with Stardew Valley Expanded, you should be able to use your same save file with the new update, but if you're jumping in for the first time, you'll need to start up a new farm.

Read the rest of the story...

This Stardew Valley mod lets you bang the Mandalorian

Are you bored of Pelican Town's dull rabble of beige bachelors, hoping for someone who is from pastures further afield, handsome, and an intergalactic bounty hunter at the heart of a popular Star Wars show? As ever, there's a Stardew Valley mod for that.

A modder has brought The Mandalorian and his wee pal Baby Yoda to Stardew Valley. BexTX's Mandalorian and Baby Yoda NPCs mod introduces the duo as NPCs and adds two new locations, a spouse room, new heart and repeatable marriage events, and other Mando items as a surprise. One of those locations is, of course, the Razer Crest. You can find it parked over at the bus stop.

You're also getting marriage events that the modder describes as "a li'l spicy". Once you tie the knot with Mando, you'll get a chance of triggering a "go to bed event" when you enter the Farm House after 9pm. The events repeat, so you can, uh, pass up on it if you'd rather tend to your crops instead. Each event comes with two possible versions each season, with one of the spring events only occurring during the night of the Flower Dance.

Read the rest of the story...

How to start playing videogames on PC: a beginner's guide

If you're new to the world of videogames on PC then it can seem like a very daunting place to start out. CD-ROMS are no longer, replaced by game codes and digital downloads, and there are now several different digital storefronts to download them from. But all of this change has also opened up gaming to more people than ever before. The past decade has seen huge improvements to accessibility and the sheer range of experiences on offer, ensuring that there's a game for you, no matter what your budget or skill level is. There's really no better time to get into playing videogames.

So, that's what we're going to do - make it as easy as possible. If you're worried that your PC or laptop isn't up to scratch, then we've included games on this list that can run on almost any contemporary work laptop or computer. We're not going to overwhelm you with choice, either, especially if you're not sure what type of game you'd like to play, but hopefully you'll find a way into games through our recommendations.

Here's a step by step guide on where to start when approaching videogames on PC for the first time and everything you'll need to get set up with your first game. We've also collated some tips to help you get started and how to pick a game that'll make your first adventure into videogames something special.

Read the rest of the story...

This Stardew Valley mod totally overhauls the farming game's professions

As a roleplaying simulation game, Stardew Valley has a bunch of different professions to pick from to let you live the (virtual) life of your dreams - whether that's as a miner, fisher, fighter, or even just a tiller tending your pixel-art crops in the sunshine. Now, though, you can experience a whole other take on the farming game's professions, thanks to a new mod that has "rebalanced and reworked [almost] every profession to be an equally unique and attractive choice".

Modder VonLoewe's 'Walk of Life - A Professions Overhaul' mod transforms nearly every Stardew profession to make them target "a specific style of gameplay" and build on what the base game laid out. Like the original professions, the mod's versions unlock choices about paths to follow and subsequent bonuses for these at levels five and ten.

However, while the level five unlocks "provide simple early-game buffs that benefit most styles of general gameplay", the level ten versions add much greater specialisation, giving you two bonuses and in some cases, a secret third bonus, which will "completely change the way you play", the modder says. There's also a greater range of roles within profession areas, with choices like getting into "bomberman mining", "assassin and sniper combat", and commanding a slime army added.

Read the rest of the story...

Save anywhere in Stardew Valley using this mod

Sometimes, saving a game in Stardew Valley can be awkward, having to finish the day before you can safely turn it off. A new mod fixes all that, and it's optimised for the latest version.

The aptly named 'Save Anywhere' mod was made by Aredjay, Omegasis, and CMiSSioN. To use it, you'll need SMAPI, the Stardew Valley mod loader. Once you have that, download 'Save Anywhere', put its contents into wherever Stardew Valley/Mods exists on your harddrive, then load the farming game through SMAPI, and voila. You can press K to save quite literally anywhere, day or night, and if you open the config.json file that's generated after you first use the mod, you can change the command to whatever you want.

Some players have reported bugs, like strange NPC behaviour, or some not loading at all. One player says their time and place was recorded, but progress not, and one comment talks about conflicts with another mod. It's worth having a read through the posts tab on Nexus, where the modders welcome feedback, to be aware of the known issues, and what fixes are available.

Read the rest of the story...