Stardew Valley is a relaxing farming and dating simulator that has rocketed to the best-selling game on Steam. Despite its simple pixelated style, it manages to be a vibrant, fantastic world to explore, fight, grow, and love in. Stardew Valley is an amazing game full of quests, Easter eggs, and awesome characters, some of which can't be unblocked until late in the game. With the Stardew Valley 1.6 update, there are even more late-game adventures players can embark on.

The issue is the fact that the entirety of the game can take place within two years. If settings are set up in such a way during creation, the entire plot can be completed in the first year. Once the calendar flips over to Spring 1 of Year 3, the player can go to Grandpa's shrine and receive an evaluation. After that, everything stops. There are no more new seeds. Everyone's lines start cycling to things that have already been read. At this point, it becomes easy to set the game down, or even restart. Thankfully, there is still more than enough to do in Stardew Valley late in the game.

Updated on March 25, 2024, by Andrea Sandoval: Stardew Valley is one of those games that never gets old, especially since ConcernedApe makes an effort to keep adding fun things to do in the game. We updated this article to include more interesting things to do late in the game in Stardew Valley after the 1.6 update.

12 The Desert Festival Is A New Three-Day Event In Spring

  • The Desert Festival includes many activities, like challenges, mining, outfit changes, betting on races, a chef, and different shops.

The Stardew Valley 1.6 update added a new outstanding festival. However, this is the first festival in the game that asks players to complete missions before being able to attend it. Players who have already fixed the broken bus in the area beside their farm can now access Calico Desert.

Some players may go around this mission earlier or later in the game, but they will still have to wait until the Spring to be able to attend the festival for the first time since it occurs precisely in Calico Desert. Once players complete this task, they can go to the Desert Festival on the 15, 16, and 17 of Spring. The festival offers many fun activities and collectible items. What's more, the festival has enough things to do that players might want to visit for more than one year.

11 The Mastery Cave Gives Prizes For Everyday Activities

The farmer standing on the Mastery Cave in Stardew Valley 1.6
  • The Mastery Cave gives prizes for farming, mining, foraging, fishing, and combat. However, to accumulate Mastery Points, players may do any of these activities.
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With its addictive gameplay loop and loveable characters, Stardew Valley is the game that keeps farming sim fans coming back for more.

With the Stardew Valley 1.6 update, Grandpa leaves the farmer another incredible surprise. Players might have noticed there's a new door in the southeast of Cindersap Forest — close to the sewer entrance. When players max out all their skills, they will be granted access to this small room.

The room contains five shrines that the farmer can unlock by collecting Mastery Points. The effort will be rewarded with exclusive late-game items that make life on the farm a little easier. However, players must beware: the amount of Mastery Points is tremendously high, so this task will take a lot of time to complete. Since claiming prizes becomes more expensive each time, players should prioritize their favorite ones.

10 Ginger Island Was One Of Stardew's Biggest Content Updates To Date

  • Ginger Island can only be accessed after completing the Community Center or buying every upgrade from JojaMart.

Ginger Island is really meant to be a late-game experience, though it can be accessed sooner. On this extra map, there is an entirely different system in play that makes for Golden Walnuts to be handed off in exchange for opening new areas, shops, and interactions with the villagers of Pelican Town.

There is also the Island Farm, which is just an additional space to grow things. It acts just like the greenhouse where things can be planted year-round. Sleeping here can be unlocked with Golden Walnuts. As if that wasn't enough, there are new trees and a brand-new animal that players can bring back to the base farm.

9 Completing Mr. Qi's Mysterious Quests Is A Fun Challenge

Mr. Qi standing in front of a computer screen in Stardew Valley
  • The Walnut Room is a secret room on Ginger Island that can't be accessed after acquiring 100 golden walnuts.

Mr. Qi just keeps coming throughout the game. He leaves notes, hints, and quests to follow all throughout the place. Twice throughout the game, there are Mr. Qi invited questlines, one of which results in 100% completing the game and granting some new items for the farm.

The first round will encourage the player to explore the world, following tips and quests to unlock the casino in the desert. The second round of quests will have Mr. Qi challenges the player to complete the game entirely. He also shows up to encourage the player to make it to level 100 of the Skull Cavern, which is never easy. At least he always makes his shenanigans worth it.

8 Players Can Show Their Love By Maxing Out Everyone's Hearts

The eight bachelors and bachelorettes in Stardew Valley game.
  • Players can date all the romanceable characters without it being a problem.
  • The only exception is a cut scene that could happen in Emily's house and The Stardrop Saloon, where all the characters could get angry.
  • However, players can carry a Rabbit's Foot to avoid the characters getting upset.

Make everyone in town friends of the farmer. Give everyone presents twice a week, talk to them as much as possible, and party with them on Fridays in the saloon. While at it, stand on the other side of the counter from Gunther and scream at him to move his books, so he can be included. Go into the Adventurer's Guild and demand to make friends with Marlon and Gus. Marlon even appears at festivals, the fact he refuses to be friends is unacceptable.

Then turn around and be upset that all the Stardew Valley marriage candidates will stop at eight hearts if they are given a bouquet and dated which could make for some awkward scenes if the only point was to make everyone friends. Carry around a rabbit's foot to combat this and make everyone have full hearts.

7 Building Individual Artisan Sheds Can Make For Some Serious Profit

  • Sheds cost 15,000g and 300 Wood and Big Sheds cost 20,000g, 550 Wood, and 300 Stone.
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While Stardew Valley has other priorities beyond profit, players will want to ensure they have a steady cash flow to fund all their other endeavors.

Build a shed and then go to Robin to upgrade it. Once she is finished, taking a million years, decorate the thing and fill it entirely with one artisan maker. Have one for kegs, preserve jars, looms, everything. Each one can be filled with 137 makers when set to an optimal layout, so put a sign out front and keep the ingredients flowing into them for constant cash generation.

While other buildings are cheaper, such as a coop or a cabin, the sheds can keep up the overall aesthetic of the farm while also giving a ton of customizable space. Besides, with all the money coming in, players might as well use it frivolously. This will be especially beneficial for players who want to acquire the new items in the Stardew Valley 1.6 update.

6 Ransacking Skull Cavern Is A Risk That Pays Handsomely

Stardew Valley Skull Cavern stocked with iridium ore
  • The Skull Cavern is located in Calico Desert, and can only be accessed after fixing the town bus.

At the very bottom of the mines in town, there is a key. This key allows for the Junimo Kart arcade game in the Saloon to be played while also granting access to the desert's Skull Cavern. This set of mines is insanely difficult, but lower levels grant massive rewards. Mr. Qi makes an appearance on level 100 and will even make a quip based on how the player made it down. Get far enough down and roll in the gems and iridium ore that litter the place.

To make things even more difficult, Mr. Qi has a special task for people who access the Walnut Room on Ginger Island. Players can take a special request, called "Qi's Hungry Challenge," where players must go through a much more dangerous version of the Skull Cavern.

5 Players Can Show Off Their Finds By Completing The Museum Collection

An image of the Museum and its trinkets in Stardew Valley
  • Museum items can be found by fishing, mining, and digging around the island.

Completing the museum collection is part of the completionist quest that Mr. Qi gives out, but so is just about everything possible. That doesn't make it any less satisfying to crack open geodes like crazy, dig up worms, or fight monsters until Harvey starts worrying about the farmer's mental health.

What isn't part of Mr. Qi's evil plans is to make it aesthetically pleasing. Clicking on the papers on Gunther's desk allows the museum to be reorganized. Make it go by rainbow order, collect artifacts in one area, rare gems in another, and mundane gems in a different space.

4 Sell Off Slews Of Artisan Goods By Becoming The Berries Overlord

A huge field of berries on Stardew Valley
  • While Berries don't cost too much, the crops give a lot of them. Players can then use them to make juice or preserved jars.
  • Some players prefer making fields of Ancient Fruit, one of the most expensive crops.

Very little is more satisfying than having a massive field of a crop that produces multiples (like berries) and running through the fields on harvest day. All the berries go flying like someone just hit the jackpot on a penny machine, bringing to mind the farmer bolting through the fields and throwing them all about in a picking frenzy.

Then, all the berries can be taken to a massive collection of kegs, casks, and preserved jars to be made into even more valuable goods. Just sell anything gold or iridium starred outright and imagine Lewis's face after the fifth time that hundreds of berries are sitting in the shipping bin waiting for him.

3 Max Out On Energy By Finding All Of The Stardrops

Stardew Valley Stardrops over top a still of the fair in Stardew Valley
  • The Stardrop fruit augments the player's maximum energy by 34 points. This is pretty helpful to complete activities throughout the day.
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For players who want to put their skills and strategic thinking to the test, Stardew Valley offers many satisfying challenges to conquer.

Stardrops are fantastic little collectibles that give the player even more energy every time one is found. Players can find most of them while completing other tasks, but there are a few hidden on the map. Some others can only be collected once the player reaches a certain achievement.

There is a secret Easter Egg regarding the Stardrops as well. During character creation, if certain things are put in the favorites section, it will trigger a unique dialogue. Otherwise, be sure to put something there that is edible, otherwise, the dialogue will eventually mention how that ferret tastes, which is just weird.

2 Creating A Massive Orchard Is Both Beautiful And Practical

Several Cherry trees and other types of trees in front of the greenhouse on Stardew Valley
  • Trees take 28 days to fully grow, and some trees only produce fruit in certain seasons.

Fruit trees take the length of an entire season to grow, then will only produce fruit in the proper season. On farms such as the Beach Farm, where farming space is limited, fruit trees can grant a steady sort of income that can be ignored except for harvesting. What's more, they make the farm look majestic.

Couple all this with Ginger Island, and it can make for a massively satisfying forest of fruit trees. Then, players can also put tappers on strings of natural trees and roll in the Maple Syrup, Pine Tar, and Oak Resin to use for other tasks. The fruit can also be turned into juice or jam, so it would be a great steady income.

1 Make The Prettiest Farm Is The Ultimate Long-Game Adventure

  • A Catalogue can be obtained at Pierre's Store for 30,000g, and it gives players unlimited wallpapers and floorings.
  • The Furniture Catalogue can be acquired at Robin's Carpentry for 200,000g and it gives unlimited furniture.

Robin and Pierre (or Joja Mart if that route is chosen) sell catalogs that make it, so decorative items can be picked up at any point without needing to spend any more on them. That means the style can be changed a thousand times and it still costs nothing. Stardew Valley 1.6 allows the house to become even bigger, so there are even more spaces to decorate.

However, there are still limited items that are only found during festivals or other means, so players should go out and collect those too. Visiting the Night Market every day for a new painting, stalking the Traveling Cart, fishing in the Secret Woods, and becoming friends with everyone is the best way to find everything possible and make the prettiest farm inside and out.

Stardew Valley Collector's Edition for Playstation 4
Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is an open-ended country-life RPG. You've inherited your grandfather's old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life. Can you learn to live off the land and turn these overgrown fields into a thriving home?

Platform(s)
PC , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , iOS , Android
Released
February 26, 2016
Developer(s)
ConcernedApe
Publisher(s)
ConcernedApe
Genre(s)
Simulation , Farming
Multiplayer
Online Co-Op
ESRB
E10+
How Long To Beat
52.5 hours