How to access the Stardew Valley multiplayer beta on Steam

The long awaited Stardew Valley multiplayer patch is coming soon, but before then you can now access the beta version. Well, if you're on PC anyway. The beta gets you access to the Stardew Valley 1.3 update on Steam, which features new items, events and cutscenes from Stardew creator ConcernedApe, as well as the multiplayer co-op mode developed by publisher Chucklefish.

The multiplayer allows you to invite one to three players to come over to your farm as farmhands via Steam or LAN, either starting a new game or just from your latest single-player save. Each player lives in their own cabin on the host farm, and all of you can work together to achieve various goals, all of which will be very familiar to existing Stardew players. You can also scale the profit margin of your produce sold to adjust the difficulty level of a multiplayer farm, if you so wish.

Oh and did we mention you can communicate using nearly 200 custom Stardew Valley emojis? YES SIR.

So without any further ado, here's how to access the Stardew Valley multiplayer PC beta.

How to access the Stardew Valley multiplayer PC beta

Log into your Steam account
In your Games Library, right click on Stardew Valley
Select Properties → Betas (see: https://imgur.com/a/H1gH4)
Enter the Beta access code “jumpingjunimos” and press Check Code
After this, select the beta branch option on the Beta selection drop down list above

It's worth noting that publisher Chucklefish recommend backing up your save before you opt into the beta. You wouldn't want to lose any of your hundreds of hours of farming, after all.

To do this, go to %APPDATA%\StardewValley\Saves on Windows, or ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves on Mac and Linux and simply make a copy before you start trialling the Stardew Valley multiplayer.

It's also recommended to remove any mods you may have on your Stardew Valley game for the time being too, just so you get the best beta experience possible.

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Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.