Stardew Valley is gearing up for its 1.6 update, and developer Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone got many fans excited with a tease of upcoming content. The indie farming sim has garnered a massive following, selling over 20 million copies by March 2022. Stardew Valley consistently has one of the highest concurrent player counts on Steam, which is a remarkable achievement, not least because it ranks above blockbuster titles like Skyrim and Elden Ring.
Previously, the Stardew Valley 1.5 update added a ton of new content, including new characters, new locations and enemies, and new craftable items. The game has come a long way since its launch in 2016, thanks to several major content updates and dozens of smaller ones. One thing that hasn’t changed is that Stardew Valley is considered one of the most relaxing games to play after a long, stressful day.
ConcernedApe poked fun at Stardew Valley fans with a tweet, simply saying, “The Iridium Scythe.” This got players excited because the Scythe is the only basic tool in the game that doesn’t have an Iridium form; there’s an Iridium Axe, Fishing Rod, Hoe , and even a trash can. There is a mod on NexusMods that changes the color of the golden sickle to match other devices, but at the time of writing this is the only way to get the iridium sickle. Unfortunately, little is known at this stage, other than that the 1.6 Stardew Valley update won’t be as widespread as 1.5.
While there’s no word on ConcernedApe’s plans, he likely plans to add an iridium sickle to the game. The Golden Scythe is a powerful Stardew Valley tool that has a larger harvesting radius than a normal Scythe and also represents a milestone in a Quarry Mine. It has been speculated that the iridium sickle may have a larger radius and may simply be an upgraded version of the golden sickle.
It’s worth noting that ConcernedApe has previously talked about Stardew Valley 1.6. In April, he tweeted that the update was primarily about making mods easier to implement and more powerful to boot. He also assured fans that there will be new content, but not as much as in 1.5. Additionally, ConcernedApe paused work on Haunted Chocolatier to release this update.
Stardew Valley is available now for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.