The promised co-op multiplayer may be coming to Stardew Valley [official site] sooner than you’d expected. The farming/adventuring/country-living sandbox RPG is mostly the work of one chap but adding co-op is not a small amount of work so huzzah, he’s called in help! Stardew publishers Chucklefish, who also make Starbound, are pitching in to help with Stardew Valley’s co-op and Mac and Linux versions while creator ConcernedApe works on new content. Which is great, because we really dig the game.

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Death is not the end, croaked Bob Dylan on 1988’s Down in the Groove. I’m not even sure that death is a possibility on the bright, friendly farms of Stardew Valley [official site] but there was an end-point of sorts. Marriage, rather than being the beginning of something wonderful, marked the end of independence, the full stop at the close of your spouse’s individuality.

No longer! A patch earlier this week improves the behaviour of spouses, allowing them to leave the house independently to go for a walk or visit town, and providing each with a set of unique dialogue. There are other tweaks as well, including a fix to “the farm rampage”. Boo! I don’t know what that is but it did really need to be fixed?

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After my second nearly sleepless night, I think it’s safe to say that I’m hooked. Only this isn’t the “just one more turn” of Sid Meier’s Civilization, it’s the “just one more day” of Stardew Valley [official site], a honkey-tonk love letter to the Harvest Moon series. But Stardew Valley isn’t trapped by its obvious affections for Harvest Moon. It uses them as a foundation to expand from, to create something that is as rewarding as stepping foot outside your door to see a crop of bulbous melons ready to harvest. Here’s wot I think:>

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If you’ve wanted a game like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing on PC, hey, Stardew Valley [official site] came out on Friday evening and is very much that sort of game. That’s you sorted, off you go.

If those names mean little to you… Stardew Valley’s a country life sim/RPG/thing about a simpler life of growing crops, raising animals, fishing, going on adventures to duff up monsters, befriending townfolk, finding love, crafting, collecting, building and all that. It’s proving quite popular.

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I don’t know when the best time to release a game about spending a lot of time toiling in fields is. In winter, many will find the idea of even a virtual outdoors loathsome. But then there are those of us who’ll be basking in front of lightboxes, longing to roam further afield. Who wants to spend summer indoors at a computer? Maybe early autumn, when people are mourning flora? Farming/country life RPG Stardew Valley [official site] is thinking February. February 26th, to be precise. Observe:

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