Stardew Valley News

Travellers Rest is Stardew Valley for innkeepers, and it could get multiplayer

If you're into chill games, you might have heard of Travellers Rest. Launched on Steam Early Access last year, it's all about restoring a dilapidated inn into a thriving tavern, tending a farm, exploring a pixel art world, and making pals. So, like Stardew Valley, but with a cool, inn-keeping spin. The game's now been handed over to a new developer to look after, and the studio's plans for Travellers Rest's future include multiplayer.

Barcelona-based indie studio Isolated Games has announced that Travellers Rest's original - and only - developer and artist, Louqou, has decided to pass development of the game into its hands. The reason for this is the dev has "realised that being a solo developer will not allow him to develop the game at a pace and quality you all deserve". This change, the studio explains, has allowed it to "redefine the scope of the game, such as including plans for new animations, art style, [and] character models".

Plus, as the post adds, this might even mean a frequently asked-for element could hit the game at some point: "even maybe the highly requested feature - multiplayer in the future!" Further down the post, the dev lists this as a planned feature under a "what will come" section, musing: "It would be great to work in your tavern with friends, wouldn't it?" So, while it's not quite a solid confirmation at this point, Travellers Rest multiplayer is definitely on the cards.

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This Stardew Valley mod lets you romance a skeleton full of "humerus" puns

Stardew Valley is chock-full of friendly folk to meet, befriend, and date, but there's always room for more - especially when they add something new and a tad zany into the mix. Take LegendaryMrBob's new Stardew Valley mod, for example, which brings an all-new face to Ginger Island - well, sort of.

"A new, romanceable character on Ginger Island!" announces Mr_Bob on the mod's page. "Perhaps you feel there [aren't] enough non-humans to befriend? Or maybe you just want Ginger Island to be a little more lively? Regardless, Soli is your... uh... skeleton." Indeed, Soli - as said skeleton is called - is a new NPC for the island, which was introduced as part of the farming game's big 1.5 update late last year. He's very shy, the modder says, though he opens up to friendship once you've proved you're "not planning on stabbing/smashing/slicing him to death". Well, aren't we all?

Soli's also dateable, coming with "several" heart events as well as a new ("if small") living area. Oh, and a "hopefully manageable number of bone puns", which Mr-Bob promises are pretty "humerus". Nice.

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This Stardew Valley mod lets you have platonic relationships

Have you ever wanted a way to max out your relationships with Pelican Town's citizens and see all their heart events without, you know, having to date all of them? There's a Stardew Valley mod for that.

Amaranthacyan's platonic partners and friendships mod gives you a configuration option to choose marriage candidates you want to have a non-romantic, non-dating relationship with. Once you pick one, their romantic eight and above heart dialogue and events will feel more like a close friendship. As an alternative to marriage, the mod also features a customisable platonic partnership option.

This mod alters heaps of dialogue, text, events, mail, and even item descriptions on a more granular level. You'll also notice that NPC's portraits will no longer blush, either. Amaranthacyan explains that this has been done so the portraits "can be used to communicate affection and emotional vulnerability without romantic implications''. All in all, the mod makes all 12 vanilla marriage candidates platonic by default. While the mod has been playtested, though, some inconsistencies may be left, but any of them should be ironed out as they appear.

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Stardew Valley's board game adaptation looks as cosy as the farming simulator

Surprise! Stardew Valley has now got its own board game spin. Creator Eric 'Concerned Ape' Barone took to his website to reveal that he has been plugging away at this one for more than two and a half years with board game designer Cole Medeiros. Oh, and it's available to purchase right now.

Barone explains that the board game is designed to capture the essence of the tranquil farming simulator. You can expect villagers, crops, animals, fishing, foraging, mining, and more. The way it works is pretty simple. You play through a full year in the game with up to four players, and each game works out to be around 45 minutes per player - though you can adjust that for a shorter game.

Your goal here is to protect the Valley. The sign of success is the Valley coming back to life as Joja Corporation gets booted from town. You accomplish this by completing Grandpa's Goals and, in turn, restoring the Community Centre. Those goals are randomised for each game, though, so don't expect the same thing twice in a row.

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