Between his next game being larger than Stardew Valley and the fact that he now spends seven days a week on game development, it seems like Stardew creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone is constantly battling to one-up himself. Apparently, he hasn’t given up on that yet, as his hit game’s incoming update is slated to be its biggest yet (even though he’s simultaneously developing an entirely new game).
During the finale of Stardew Valley’s soundtrack tour at Colorado’s Red Rocks late last month, Barone made an appearance to thank fans for their support (thanks, GamesRadar) and was greeted by a lot of applause. He also snuck in that “we’re working on the 1.7 Update,” which is “looking to be the largest Stardew Valley update ever. It’s jam-packed.” He also revealed that it’ll likely come out in 2027. Yay!
“Clint and Sandy are just the tip of the iceberg—there’s so much more in the update,” he continued. “You guys are in for a real treat.”
While 1.7 is slated to be massive, Barone has also kept much of its content under wraps. We have reason to think, however, that it could include improvements to the game’s children (which are constantly panned as boring), a new farm map, a farm map editor that would allow players to break free from preset layouts, and possibly even social features that let players share their map designs. Barone also confirmed that the update will render Sandy and Clint as eligible for marriage, which is a little unfortunate if you’re as big a Clint hater as I am.
On the flip side, he’s been sharing quite a bit of info recently about his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, revealing that it’ll be more of an action RPG and that it’ll have slightly darker themes than Stardew. The game is likely a lot further out than Stardew’s 1.7, but I have a good feeling that we’ll be treated to a lot more news about both in the coming months.