Stardew Valley creator reveals a single patch note from the big 1.6 update and fans are already calling it a "game changer"

Stardew Valley creator Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has revealed a single patch note from the upcoming 1.6 update, and it's already being  hailed as a "game changer."

In a tweet, ConcernedApe shared that he'd recently begun working on the official patch notes for Stardew Valley update 1.6, and he quite generously shared one of those notes with his fans.

It reads: "Cutting down a fruit tree now yields the appropriate fruit sapling. If the tree is mature (i.e. the fruit quality is > basic), it will yield a sapling with the same quality as its fruit. The higher the quality, the faster the sapling will mature when replanted."

Basically, starting with update 1.6, fruit tree saplings now have a quality rating equal to that of the fruit from the tree that spawned it. ConcernedApe clarified in a follow-up tweet that it'll take time for the sapling to grow into a tree before it can bear fruit, but it'll do so faster than normal based on the quality of the tree from which it sprouted. He also confirmed that the tree won't immediately grow the same quality fruit as the tree before, but it seems it will at least progress through the quality stages faster.

The Stardew community's response to the change has been unified and enthusiastically positive, as it'll allow players to rearrange the layout of their farms by cutting down long-standing trees and not having to shell out for new saplings and wait a long time for them to mature.

More than three years after the last update of its scale, Stardew Valley's 1.6 update is finally due to launch on March 19 for PC, and it's shaping up to be much, much bigger than originally anticipated. In fact, ConcernedApe has said there's so much new stuff to discover that it might be best to start a whole new save file.

The Stardew Valley creator recently said he doesn't think he'll ever "officially close the book" on the farming sim.