Stardew Valley 1.6 added a hidden experimental multiplayer feature to the mobile version of the game, developer Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has revealed.
In a blog post, Barone said the feature is hidden because it may have some bugs or issues, and the nature of the mobile platform “could make a multiplayer session frustrating.”
“Mobile multiplayer works pretty much the same as on other platforms, except there is no farm ‘discovery’ capability,” Barone explained. “You can only connect via IP. You can, however, join a PC-hosted farm from a mobile device via IP.”
The ideal “mobile multiplayer” scenario, Barone added, would be to connect to a PC-hosted farm from a high-end mobile device on a local network (using wi-fi, unless you have some way to connect your mobile device to ethernet). “This would be the best-case scenario,” Barone said, before warning against trying to connect or host using a cell phone network.
“The worst case scenario would be if someone were to host a game from a low-performance phone, on a cell network (you would probably have to create a mobile wi-fi hotspot for others to connect to locally), and they were on a train or something, going through tunnels,” Barone went on.
“And then the host is also getting calls, causing the app to be interrupted repeatedly. This would result in a potentially frustrating multiplayer experience.
“However, if you want to try these things out, there’s nothing stopping you… Just be aware that there are inherent connectivity issues that can arise when attempting to host a multiplayer game from a mobile device.”
Stardew Valley 1.6 finally released on console and mobile this week, eight months after the update launched on PC. It did so alongside another big update that changed the hugely popular farm and life sim further.
Unlocking the mobile version’s hidden multiplayer feature requires inputting a riff on the Konami Code (the famous series of inputs used to unlock cheats in Konami games).
As Barone explained in the blog post, on the title screen, players will notice that the Stardew Valley logo has four groups of leaves attached to it. Tap the leaves in this order: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → then press the ? button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Exit the ? menu and you’ll have a co-op button on the title screen.
The free 1.6 update, which sparked a fresh 10/10 Stardew Valley review from IGN, launched on PC in March. Barone initially expected the console and mobile ports of 1.6 would be released a month later.
Barone has apologized to disgruntled fans and promised not to return to work on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, until Stardew 1.6 is finalized. Haunted Chocolatier, revealed in 2021, doesn’t have a release window.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
