Stardew Valley Free Upgrade Shadow Dropped, Grab It Now

A brand new-gen upgrade of Stardew Valley was shadow dropped earlier this week, and it’s completely free for owners of the original game.

Stardew Valley is available on a variety of platforms, but one of the most popular game systems for fans to play it on is Nintendo Switch.

There’s just something about the handheld nature of the console that makes it an excellent choice for fans of cosy games or life sim RPGs.

The Switch version of Stardew Valley released way back in October 2017, but creator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone announced a Switch 2 version in September earlier this year.

This was later teased again earlier this month, where ConcernedApe stated that news was coming “very soon”, while also apologising for the delay.

It seems that day has finally come though, as ConcernedApe was saving the Switch 2 release for a surprise Christmas Day launch.

Nintendo fans of the popular farming sim can now download a free Switch 2 upgrade for the game by heading to the Nintendo eShop and downloading the Upgrade Pack from the game’s store page.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Stardew Valley takes advantage of the console’s mouse controls, allowing you to place furniture and navigate your inventory with a bit more precision.

It also adds local split-screen multiplayer up to four players and eight player online co-op, as well as support for the Switch 2’s Game Share feature so multiple players can play Stardew Valley together on only one copy of the game.

The patch also increases resolutions up to 4K, however it does not increase the frame rate beyond 60fps despite the console supporting 120fps.

Official banner image from the Stardew Valley website, ConcernedApe

Stardew Valley On Nintendo Switch 2 Is Experiencing Some Issues

After downloading the update, be aware that some players have reported issues with the multiplayer not working. Some users also report crashing and other issues which interfere with their experience.

ConcernedApe addressed the issue a day later, on 26 December, writing “I am aware that there are some issues with the nintendo switch 2 edition that just dropped. I take full responsibility for this mistake. We will fix this as soon as possible.”

He posted later in the day saying that "online co-op should be fixed", however he is still investigating other issues that have appeared as part of the new update.

In addition to this, ConcernedApe also stated that original Switch owners will not be locked out of future updates to Stardew Valley, with the upcoming 1.7 update coming to both generations.

Stardew Valley on Nintendo Switch 2 is available now as a free upgrade for Switch owners.