Stardew Valley 1.6 patch notes released, as game hits all-time player high

After a several-year long wait, Update 1.6 has finally landed in Stardew Valley. Well, for PC players at least. Other platforms are expected to receive the update soon.

As the update is now freely available, that means that the patch notes are too - so you can find out exactly what patch 1.9 entails other than the very cursed update that you can now drink mayonnaise.

Update 1.6 has added new festivals and events including the spring Desert festival, a summer environmental event, and the fishing festivals Trout Derby and SquidFest.

A new farm type has been added, called Meadowlands Farm, which includes chewy blue grass. Opt for this farm and you’ll start with a coop and two chickens.

NPC dialogue has been majorly expanded, you can now get multiple pets, Ginger Island has received a world map, NPCs have gained winter outfits, a bookseller will now visit your town twice a season, plus you’ll be able to enjoy newly added mystery boxes.

That’s far from being it. There are four new crops, four new home renovations, various new items, you can place hats on cats and dogs, there are new animal breeds, new easter eggs, and improved visual effects around the valley.

PC multiplayer now also supports up to eight players and a ton of bugs have been fixed. The full patch notes are indeed lengthy - a testament to how much hard work developer Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has put in.

Take a look at Stardew Valley in action below.

That hard work has paid off already as Stardew Valley has just shattered its player count record.

As reported by IGN, according to SteamDB, Stardew Valley's previous PC record was set in January of 2021 when the game had 94,879 players online.

A new all-time peak was set within the last 10 hours, at the time of writing, when 146,159 players were all online at the same time.

Those are phenomenal numbers and remember, this is just those playing the game on Steam.

I have no doubt that when the patch drops on PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox, players will flock to those platforms too.