Stardew Valley is a quaint little game, combining the average farming simulator with a simple slice-of-life RPG. It’s a smash hit that weaseled its way into many an indie gamer’s hearts.
Part of what’s made the game so successful is how rich it is with cute graphics, memorable characters, and delightful music. Players can date half the town, battle multiple monsters in the mines, landscape the ultimate farm, and more. But amid this varied world, there are many amusing Easter Eggs scattered about, some even added during the latest 1.5 update. And here are at least 10 of them that players may have missed!
10 Lewis’ Lucky Purple Shorts
Any experienced player of Stardew Valley will have undoubtedly come across the hilarious quest to recover Mayor Lewis’ Lucky Purple Shorts. Once obtained from their scandalous hiding spot, the simplest thing to do would be to return them to Lewis. But where’s the fun in that?
Indeed, should players keep ahold of this pair of underwear for a while, they can do many mischievous things with them. For example, they can put them in the Luau’s potluck, display them in a grange at the fall fair, or even turn them into an object that players can wear themselves. And now, should players give them back to Lewis on the newly-added Ginger Island, he’ll proudly strut his stuff in them there, for the rest of the season.
9 A Little Logo Love
As the game boots up, it runs through the usual game developer screen, proudly displaying the ConcernedApe logo. Most players probably know that clicking on the ape removes its glasses and makes a funny sound. However, they might have missed out on the tips in the bottom-left corner.
It’s understandable – they aren’t always there, as they correspond to a certain number of times the game is launched. They’ll show up consistently for the first ten times players log on, but afterward, they only appear at the 15, 20, 30, 100, 1000, and 10,000 times, respectively. Hard numbers to reach, but for the determined and stubborn, each tip is unique and adorable to find.
8 Secret Smiley Title
Continuing on the intro, the titular title screen itself holds many Easter Eggs. Clicking the “e” in “Stardew” ten times will cause an alien to briefly appear. Also clicking ten times on the bottom-right part of the “w” in “Stardew” will cause butterflies to spawn in. Clicking any of the leaves ten times will cause three of the elusive Junimos to spawn on the title card.
They’re ultimately small, silly things that just add a bit of humor to those seeking it out. But with the 1.5 update, another small secret was added: clicking the bottom-left corner of the title card will spawn a small smiley face. It can be placed in the hollow part of the “r” in “Stardew,” and causes foliage to bloom all around the card. Still meaningless, but still cute and definitely worth trying out.
7 Funny Names
Stardew Valley allows for near-infinite creativity, down to even what players can name themselves. From crude phrases, nonsensical noises, to exploits that can spawn in almost any item, what gamers can call their farming personas is only limited by how many character spaces there are.
But there are certain little secrets hidden in naming one’s self. Pressing the less-than, dollar, asterisk, equal, and plus signs will create a brief, unique sound that corresponds to each symbol. Likewise, these symbols, along with the “at” and greater-than signs also produce unique characters. Try them out, and add a bit of flair to the next nameable thing in the game!
6 Favorite Things
In character creation, players will be asked to name their “favorite thing.” This seems to have little purpose until they encounter one of the few elusive “Stardrops” scattered throughout the world. Finding and consuming each of these magical fruits comes with many benefits, among which is a small cutscene in which players are reminded of said “favorite thing” upon eating the Stardrop.
It just so happens that putting two specific things as a “favorite thing” edits the generic text of the cutscene. The first unique thing is to put down “ConcernedApe,” the game developer. The second is to put down anything containing the phrase “Stardew.” (Note, both are capitalization-specific, and won’t work if the proper letters aren’t capitalized.) Both special texts are small but fascinating. Of course, they still pale in comparison to the actual effects of the Stardrop.
5 Man in the Moon
At the end of each day, players will be greeted by a small, nighttime screen displaying their total daily profits in several categories, as well as in general. On occasion, though, this sleep imagery will be interrupted by unique on-screen objects.
Santa can be spotted flying across the background during Christmas. A UFO has a microscopic chance to spawn after a sunny day. And, more frequently, a full moon will appear in the upper righthand corner. But unlike the former two, the moon holds its own special secret: it’s interactable, and clicking it several times will reveal the man in the moon, himself! A neat way to wrap up the day, indeed.
4 A Lonely Little Rock
The Valley may be a bit of an expansive place for newcomers to the game. Fortunately, players will always have a small map of Stardew handy from their first day on the farm. The map provides useful pointers to where what is, as well as when places open and close.
However, there is a bit of a mystery to this map that’s yet to be explained. Next to the beach and docks is a lonely boulder, the only interactable thing on the map. And it just so happens that clicking on this boulder will create a small sound effect and cause the player to exit out of the map entirely. Why does this happen? To this day, no one still knows!
3 Maybe Aliens
Stardew Valley is littered with tiny, random events, that have an even tinier chance of happening. One of these tiny events – added with the 1.5 update – involves the appearance of a Strange Capsule (which may or may not be related to alien shenanigans) on players’ farms. The item can be picked up, and it’s best to keep it in the immediate inventory.
Because, after three days have passed, it’ll suddenly become the “Empty Capsule,” broken open by some unknown thing. What is it that escaped from this weird artifact? No one knows for sure, but if players are patient enough, they might catch a small glimpse of it after dark. Happy alien hunting!
2 A Suspicious Sea Sight
Sea monsters are fun cryptids to hunt, right? Well, returning back to Stardew Valley’s beach, this humble little town actually has a sea creature of its own! Should players fish on any of the docks near Willy’s Shop, there’s a microscopic chance that a mysterious sea creature will pop its head out of the water, before quickly descending back under the waves.
It’s not interactable otherwise, as it cannot be caught like a fish or spoken to like an NPC. Is it a merperson? An actual monster? Who knows, but one thing’s certain: it’s a neat Easter Egg to find.
1 Illusive Chats
Located in the Wizard’s Tower, the Shrine of Illusions is where players can go back and fully edit their characters (barring clothing, which can be changed separately). This includes changing favorite things and players’ names, which can especially come in handy for those seeking out the special Stardrop messages (assuming they haven’t collected all the Stardrops yet), or wanting to use the item exploit.
However, for anyone looking to use the item spawn code exploit, they might run across some special Easter Eggs of their own. Putting in any item spawn code as a name will cause one of several special messages to appear on the screen that not-so-subtly tease the player for the cheat. Worry not, though, as aside from the messages, the exploit works just as normally as it would at the beginning of the game.
