Stardew Valley is a game all about building a farm inherited from the player character's grandfather in a lovely little place called Pelican Town. As players make the farm their own and explore the town, they'll discover lots of little secrets alluding to the history of the valley and beyond.

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Being a labor of love by the developers ConcernedApe, this adorable farming sim RPG has lots of secrets for the player to unlock; whether those are in-world or meta. Someone could play this game for years and never discover all these small things. Here are some of the best secrets that Stardew Valley players should go and check out immediately.

Updated April 2, 2024, by Alexandra O'Leary: Stardew Valley has remained one of the most popular and commercially successful indie games of all time since its release in 2016. Part of this overwhelming success is due to the care and attention developer ConcernedApe has put into every aspect of the game. Beneath the various layers of game play, characters, and storylines, are a wealth of fun secrets and Easter Eggs that occasionally give the player a knowing wink. These secrets are tremendously fun to find and prove time and time again how ingenious and creative ConcernedApe really is. There are loads of them in the game, and this list has been updated with a few more to keep players' secret-hunting excursions fresh.

1 Intro Screen

Secrets Found Before The Game Even Begins

The Easter Eggs start as soon as players load into the game. There are a few little secrets in these beginning moments that players can discover. They're pretty darn cute and are bound to give players a little boost of serotonin every time.

ConcernedApe Logo

Clicking on the logo when it appears during the title screen will cause the creature's sunglasses to disappear and the creature's eyes will open with a very... Concerned look. There will also be the sound of a duck/splat when players do this.

Tip Messages

This wonderful game even keeps track of how many times it's been opened. During the ConcernedApe logo screen, friendly messages will appear in the bottom-left corner based on the number of the current amount of launches.

Title Screen

There are a few Easter Eggs on the title screen that players can discover out of curiosity or by following these steps for each unique Easter Egg.

• Clicking the letter 'E' in Stardew 10 times will cause a door to open and an alien to appear who will wave at the player before disappearing.
• Clicking the leaves 10 times in any combination will cause 3 Junimos to appear and bounce about the screen.
• Clicking the lower-right screw on the 'W' in Stardew will cause butterflies to appear.
• Clicking the bottom-left corner of the title box will cause the player to pick up a small happy face which they can then place in the 'R' of Stardew. Doing so will cause foliage and birds to burst from the box.
• While using a controller, players can press B on Xbox or O on PlayStation to increase the speed of the passing clouds while the two birds are flying. This doesn't work once the actual title screen has been reached.

2 Favorite Thing

Little Messages For The Stardew Fans

There are a couple of things players can input into the 'Favorite Thing' prompt that will inspire unique pop-ups when a Stardrop is consumed. If the player puts 'ConcernedApe' as their favorite thing, they'll get a little thanks from the dev.

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Anything containing the word 'Stardew' (which must be capitalized) will result in a unique prompt that says the Stardrop makes the character feel an unwavering connection to the valley itself. These are both very sweet details that players can utilize to show their unwavering love for ConcernedApe and his game.

3 In-Game Menus

Easy-To-Miss Secrets Hiding In Plain Sight

There are a few cute Easter Eggs that players can discover by messing around with the in-game menus. Menus are a great place to hide some fun little Easter Eggs, especially because of how much time players tend to spend in them, especially in Stardew Valley. There are a lot of Easter Eggs players can find on these screens, but here are just a few:

The Man In The Moon

There is a small chance of a full moon appearing in the top-right corner of the shipping screen on some nights. Clicking it 11 times will cause the man in the moon to reveal himself with a pretty displeased face.

Lonely Stone

On the map screen, there's a little rock sitting in the water south of the beach. Clicking it will cause a rock sound to play, and clicking it again while the sound plays will cause the map screen to close. There's no other lore surrounding this lonely stone, making it a fun and mysterious little Easter Egg for players to discover.

Gift Log

Players can access the Gift Log through the relationships menu and clicking on a character's entry. Once in the Gift Log, characters who players have more than four hearts with will have a custom animation when their sprite is clicked. A special sound will also accompany the adorable animation.

Christmas Miracle

On the 24th of Winter, Santa and his reindeer can be seen riding a sleigh across the sky on the shipping screen. A short but sweet nod to the seasonal holiday, and a good precursor to the Winter Star festival taking place the next day.

4 Chat

Cheeky Chats With ConcernedApe

Pressing 'T' on PC will open up a chat window that players can use to talk to their friends in multiplayer mode, but more importantly, it gives players access to some fun new Easter Eggs. Typing certain things will get different responses, all very meta in nature.

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• If players are feeling a little cheeky, they can type any of these prompts: /cheat, /cheats, /imacheat, /money, /showmethemoney, /freegold, /debug or even /rosebud (a reference to The Sims franchise, or Citizen Kane for the movie buffs). Typing any of these into chat will cause a message from ConcernedApe himself to appear, in which he simply says, "Nice try..."
• Inputting either /ca, /ape, or /concernedape will inspire another message from the dev in which he wishes the player the best with their new life. Typing it again will cause the message, "ConcernedApe is hard at work..." to appear. Probably busy working on Haunted Chocolatier.
• Typing /qi into the chat will cause messages from Mr Qi himself to appear. The first message is a little meta, expressing that it should be obvious he has access to this. The second message is similar to ConcernedApe's first message as he wishes the player the best for their farm. Typing it again after this will show an away message for Mr Qi.

5 Hats

Put A Hat On Everything!

Hats can be found around the world, bought at shops (mostly from Hat Mouse) or acquired through various other tasks or competitions. A very fun thing about these hats is that players are able to place them on a variety of different NPCs, creatures or items. Most notably, perhaps, is the ability to place a hat on a horse.

Hats can also be placed on children once they reach toddler age and start running about. The alien rarecrow is the only scarecrow that players can place a hat on. Surprisingly, players can also put a hat on a sea urchin, which is very reminiscent of actual sea urchin behavior.

6 Fishing

Casting A Line Into The Unknown

There are a few places in the world where players can deploy their fishing rod to snag a surprise gift. All of these can be obtained in a single playthrough if players choose the Beach farm. Here are all the secrets players can find and where exactly to do so.

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Stardew Valley Player Shows off Incredible Beach Farm

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• 'Boat' painting - South West fishing spot on the Beach Farm
• Decorative Trash Can - Fountain west of the Community Center
• 'Foliage' painting - River west of Ginger Island North
• Frog Hat - Gourmand Frog's cave on Ginger Island
• Gourmand Statue - Pirate Cove on Ginger Island
• Iridium Krobus - Southernmost point of Cindersap Forest, near the sewer entrance with at least Level 15 Fishing
• Lifesaver - Backroom of Willy's shop
• 'Physics 101' painting - Volcano Caldera
• Pyramid decal - Southern pond in Calico Desert
• Squirrel figurine - West edge of river on Ginger Island in an area accessible through the volcano
• 'Vista' painting - Pond outside the spa (not during Winter)
• Wall Basket - Secret Woods pond

7 Strange Capsule

Unidentified Sighting

After the player discovers a strange capsule that's been broken on their farm, they have a 1% chance of seeing a super rare event. Either up by the bus stop or outside Jodi's and Emily's houses, players will have the chance to see a shadowy figure make a brief appearance.

If spotted at the bus stop, they'll wave at the player. If spotted outside the houses, the player will observe it run to the right from behind a bush.

8 Locked Boxes

Secret Statue Hunting

The incomprehensible book found in the library gives players a clue as to where to find some secret boxes that can be unlocked when presented with certain items. Each box will give players a figurine, akin to the strange doll they can find through exploration.

• Brown box in the fenced area north of the Blacksmith - Super Cucumber
• Partly hidden metal box in the Stardrop Saloon's backroom - Duck Mayonnaise
• Chest in Vincent's room - Strange Bun

9 Mayor Lewis' Purple Shorts

Cause Mischief With Mayor Lewis' Lucky Underoos

By now, most will have encountered the quest where Maylor Lewis asks the player to find and return his lucky purple shorts. It's well-known Stardew Valley lore that Maylor Lewis and Marnie have a secret fling going on, but some might be surprised to learn that Lewis' purple shorts can be found in Marnie's bedroom. Once retrieved, there are a few different things players can do with the purple shorts instead of giving them straight back to Lewis.

Potluck Soup

If players put Mayor Lewis' purple shorts in the potluck soup at the Luau, they'll end up in the Governor's bowl when he tries the soup. The Governor will be disgusted and insulted, and Lewis and Marnie will quite noticeably react. The Governor will turn green, Lewis will reprimand the town for this terrible (and embarrassing) act, and tell everyone to go home - ending the festival.

Grange Display

If players put Lewis' lucky purple shorts on their grange display at the Stardew Valley Fair, Lewis will judge each box and angrily accuse the player of playing a sick prank. Despite his moral stance, Lewis will then bribe players with 750 star tokens (the currency of the festival) and tell them to keep quiet about the shorts. Speaking to Marnie after this will also cause her to slip up and admit to the player that she's more than a bit familiar with Lewis' lucky purple shorts.

Ginger Island Attire

Players can return Mayor Lewis' purple shorts when he's visiting Ginger Island, which will cause him to put them on. Holiday attire Mayor Lewis will hang around for several days, sporting his purple shorts look every time players see him.

10 Galaxy Sword

Summon The Power Of The Galaxy

Players who love fighting monsters in the mines from dawn 'til dusk will be interested in finding the best weapons in the game. There are a lot of different Stardew Valley weapons that have special abilities and can deal massive damage, but one of the best by far is the Galaxy Sword - which can be a little difficult to acquire.

If players want to find the Galaxy Sword organically, the way the game intended, then they'll need to donate all the Dwarf Scrolls to the museum in order to obtain the Dwarvish Translation Guide. In the Graveyard in Pelican Town, a tomb that the player couldn't initially read will suddenly hold instructions about how to locate the Galaxy Sword. The message is a bit cryptic, but ultimately it requires the player to have a Prismatic Shard and to head into the Desert.

Once in the Desert, players should head to the top right area and stand in between the three distinct pillars in a triangular formation. If players stand in that area while holding a Prismatic Shard, it will transform into the legendary Galaxy Sword - an epic monster slaying tool.

Stardew Valley

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , Android , iOS , PS4 , Switch

Released

February 26, 2016

Developer(s)

ConcernedApe

Genre(s)

RPG , Simulation

See at Official Site