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Hard to believe, but it's been four years since we first fired up Stardew Valley and began work on our farms. One pixelated little delight turned a legion of gamers into fishermen, pumpkin growers, and miners, and the game still has a devoted following. A community of generous modders and constant updates mean you can always find something new to do, but our team already has their wishlist ready for a Stardew Valley sequel.
This is the latest in a series of big questions we'll be interrogating our writers with, so share your answers and suggestions for topics with us on Twitter.
Stardew Valley 2 (°C of warming)
I hate to be "that guy" again, but imagine a farming sim that dealt with the realities of agriculture in 2020. Trying to maintain sustainable practices while still turning over a net profit, developing climate-resilient farming techniques to prepare for the inevitable swell of droughts, locust plagues, and flooding, fending off pressure from neo-colonial buyouts and the entirely automated competition... oh, and most of your potential love interests are rampant climate deniers now, so good luck falling head over heels for them. Gamifying those kind of challenges will surely lead to more rewarding and insightful Stardew sequel that pulls none of its punches. Alex Avard
Stardew Valley: Crufts
From what I can work out Stardew is about getting given a farm and having to tend to crops, look after the animals and make a new life for yourself. Well in Stardew Valley: Crufts you've been left the Crufts, the world's greatest dog show (quite why people keep leaving you with huge projects in their wills is unknown). You have to make sure everything about the event is organised before the week long show takes place. This happens every in-game year until you go bankrupt or get old enough to pass it down to the next generation. Have you booked all the celebrity dogs to entertain the crowds in-between judging rounds? Do you have the right judges? Is there enough space to house the 20+ Great Danes? Do you have enough food supplies? Where's the water supplies coming from? Why have the poodles all turned blue? THE SAUSAGE DOGS HAVE ESCAPED. As you can see, it's going to be pretty stressful. James Jarvis
Stardew Valley goes 2 Hell
Seeing Animal Crossing and Doom Eternal coming together via a shared release date has made me want a sort of cute demonic game. So let’s take the Stardew sequel to hell. Instead of cheese and eggs, let's cultivate pain and anguish from tortured souls in the lower circles. You’ll spend the days tilling fields of the damned, ‘watering’ the sinful with righteous fire to maximise suffering and instead of a rake… no, wait, the rake would still work. There’d be demons to grow and release into the world, new tortures to unlock, some sort of mayonnaise. There’d even be a bit of combat, what with all the heroes sneaking in to save loved ones or steal mythical weaponry. Always with the righteous quests, mortals. Can't you see the dark lord's branching out into dairy? Leon Hurley
Transform it into a mermaid RPG
I've personally always wondered where the Moonlight Jellies go when they head back south after the summer has ended. So, I'd like to imagine the next Stardew Valley sees you transform into a mermaid who goes to live under the sea and discover all of the wonders of the watery depths. Think Atlantis, or some kind of magical underwater city. You take up residence in a house made of shells and everything is in pretty pastel colours. You're in charge of looking after all of the wondrous sea creatures that live in the sea with you, like an oceanic vet of sorts. Basically, I just want to be a cute little pixelated mermaid who falls in love with another mermaid... or perhaps even a pirate. Heather Wald
Stardew Valley in Space
It’s time to look to the stars. Space, after all, is the final frontier – and would add an extra degree of challenge for veteran Stardew Valley players. Instead of inheriting your grandfather’s home, you’d be breaking new ground and having to deal with the pressures of maintaining everything from oxygen farms (admittedly, the science needs work) to new explorers touching down in your lunar neighborhood.
That way, you can keep the Stardew Valley formula intact, while still building on its strengths for a sequel. It’s wildly popular for a reason and there’s no need to be tinkering with the gameplay loop of dealing with crops and crises on a daily basis. But you could also throw in the added element of danger for those who have grown a little too familiar with the world of Stardew Valley. Though, honestly, as long as I can try and juggle my space spouses without having them meet, that’d be enough for me. Bradley Russell
Stardew Valley 2
In my eyes, Stardew Valley was basically perfect, so for any kind of sequel I just want more. Yes, that's easier said than done, but for me the sheer pleasure of the game came from really making my farm the best it could be. More animals, more interactions with the animals, maybe even some animal-specific storylines. "Oh no, Mildred the cow has escaped, again." "Ethel the Void Chicken is starting a coop coup, what are you going to do about it?". I just love the idea of your actual farming life being taken to the next level.
And for goodness sake, let me pet the goddamn dog! Sam Loveridge
Stardew Valley x Pokemon
This is low-hanging fruit, but hell, if we're gonna dream, let's dream big. Would Nintendo or The Pokemon Company ever allow the Pokemon IP to be used for something like this? No. Would it be flippin' sweet if it did? Yes. In my head, all you need to do - conceptually, anyway - is take the timeless Stardew Valley game loop and supplement it with animal husbandry by way of Pokemon. Ride your Lapras out into the sea to go fishing. Get your Chikorita and Bulbasaur to help you maintain your fields, and ask your Vaporeon to water your crops. Bring your Onyx with you when you go mining. Have your Alcremie help you prepare sweets with which to woo your favorite townsfolk. Breed herds of Wooloo, sheer them, and use their wool to craft and sell various clothing. Basically, replace as many tools and techniques as possible with Pokemon, and then profit. I mean, there's already a mod for this, let's just flesh it out and make it official, yeah? Austin Wood
Basically, what Sam said
As another die-hard Stardew fan, I too think the original is perfect (unpettable puppers aside.) However, no matter how many seasons pass, time doesn't really progress in any other way in the game, so I would love to see a sequel that furthers the storylines of the existing villagers (though in some cases, furthering the storyline could mean death.. sorry, Mayor Lewis). I want to hear more about Leah's art career, Elliot's novel, the torrid love affair of Marnie and Mayor Lewis'. I want to see Vincent and Jasmine grow up, I want new villagers to arrive, and see some of those that have been desperate to leave finally move onto better things. I also want Emily to finally reject Clint to his face because his pining after her gets real old.
But mainly just let us pet the dog, pretty please. Ellen Causey
Stardew Valley of the Gods
This one writes itself. What? It doesn’t? Oh. Right then. Imagine a Stardew Valley sequel where all the characters are mini versions of actual gods, whose traits pertain directly to their strengths of yore. Diddy Dionysus would be put to use crushing grapes and nurturing vegetation, while tiny Apollo would run the local art and poetry school. Little Hephaestus would be in charge of crafting, mini Odin would conjure magic, and pint-sized Ceres gets total ownership of grains and cereal. Also unlockable as you advance a surprisingly sinister storyline involving murder, betrayal, and Morgan Freeman in a white suit: Pluto, god of annoying Disney dogs; Hermes, god of smashed parcels left round the back of your recycling bins; and Chloris, goddess of toddlers urinating in swimming pools. Ben Wilson
Stardew Valley 2: Electric Boogaloo
I have not played Stardew Valley, but my coworkers' not-so-gentle prodding means I will be playing it in the very near future. As I grow older, I've found value in games that are soothing, and Stardew sounds like exactly what I'll need during my next anxiety attack. Until then, I've had to bother them about the game's mechanics and details, and the one that stuck out the most was the dating. This is very on brand for me, a perpetually horny person. My version of Stardew Valley 2 would have more dating options, and potentially even the chance to have a throuple (looking at you, Elliot and Emily). You've already given us the option to have same-sex coupling, let's get even more radical! Alyssa Mercante
2 Stardew 2 Valley
After your farmer from the first game flees from Stardew after letting their farming nemesis escape from the SVPD, they move to Miami and make money participating in illegal farming activities, like street ploughing. After being caught during one of their illegal street ploughing races, they are offered a deal from their former boss to go undercover and take down a Stardew Valley vegetable lord, in exchange for their criminal record to be expunged.
Enlisting a childhood friend (voiced by Tyrese Gibson), the pair work their way into the vegetable lord's inner circle, doing various tasks for said crime boss, like harvesting illegal street crops and looking after illegal street chickens. In a shocking twist after another long day of illegal street farming, the pair discover the vegetable lord's plan to launder his goods and escape from Stardew. Can you and your childhood friend stop him? Did I not realise how long the Wikipedia synopsis for 2 Fast 2 Furious is and get bored of my joke halfway through writing this entry? Am I a slave to the rule of thirds? Find out the answers to all these questions in 2 Stardew 2 Valley! Ben Tyrer
Stardew Valley 2 in space… again
Bradley and I seem to have had the same idea - namely, taking Stardew Valley into space. But rather than setting the next game solely on the moon, I'd suggest going even further. Why not have a whole galaxy you can colonise? It'd come complete with different planets, environments, and challenges for each location, up to and including starships and unexplored areas you can make your own. It'd be a fun challenge to grow harvests on a snowy iceball world or somewhere with screwy gravity, for instance. You could also throw in all sorts of monsters and alien love-interests to spice things up. Because if Mass Effect taught us anything, it's that we can't resist bumping uglies with creatures from another world. Basically, what I want is Stardew Valley crossed with No Man's Sky. Benjamin Abbott
Stardew Valley x Papers, Please
At the start of Stardew Valley, your character has finally had enough of their soul-crushing office job at Joja Corp. They open that long-forgotten letter from their grandfather, find the deed to the farm, and get the hell outta there. What if we could join their story before they tire of the endless oblivion that is menial office labor? You go through each day of work with a Papers, Please style interface, sorting customer service requests by category and priority, desperately attempting to fill your quota and avoid negative service ratings. If you do well enough, you can keep clinging to your job long enough to get a perfunctory promotion and buy more Joja products. If you fail, your protagonist gives up, opens the letter, and regular Stardew Valley begins. The only problem is how to keep people from failing on purpose... Connor Sheridan
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