Stardew Valley multiplayer for PC is live on PC and the console versions are "coming soon"

You can play Stardew Valley multiplayer right now! I mean, as long you own the game on PC. Developer ConcernedApe and Chucklefish launched the public-ready version of the long-awaited update on August 1, letting PC players invite up to three of their friends onto their farm or start a new communal farming experience from the beginning. You can even play between the separate friend systems of Steam and GoG using invite codes, which is handy.

The only word on Stardew Valley multiplayer for Switch, PS4, and Xbox One is "coming soon," but at least we know they're in development now. And you can always watch the multiplayer trailer for the hundredth time while you wait.

The Stardew Valley multiplayer update also comes with a plethora of other new features, which are as follows:

Latest Videos From

• Chat box & Custom Emojis - Communicate using the new chat box feature with coloured text and nearly 200 custom Stardew Valley emojis.
  
• Multiplayer Marriage - Farmhands can choose to woo Pelican Town's NPCs, or craft a wedding ring to propose to a fellow Player. You can also divorce or ban farmhands by demolishing their cabins. 
  
• Scalable Difficulty - As more hands are better than one, players will be able to scale profit margin or produce sold to change the difficulty level of a multiplayer farm.
  
• Work Together - Each player lives in their own cabin on the host farm as you work together to achieve common goals such as farming, mining, fighting, fishing, foraging and festival participation.
  
• Four-Player Farming - Invite 1-3 players to join you as farmhands, either starting from scratch or diving in from your latest single player save.

How many people can play Stardew Valley multiplayer?

Up to four players can participate in a single game of Stardew Valley multiplayer.

If you load a pre-existing game, Robin (the carpenter) will offer to build up to three additional cabins on your farm. Or if you start a new one from the co-op menu you can begin with the cabins pre-built. This is where the other players - AKA the farmhands - live. They'll get 5x3 spaces of their own to customize, which is nice.

Farmhands are free to wander around town and can do almost every activity available in single player, including farming, fishing, and cave delving. Exceptions include deciding when to sleep, when to begin festivals, and other big decisions that impact everyone playing; those remain the responsibility of the farm owner.

Do you need to start over for Stardew Valley multiplayer?

Nope! No need to give up the rustic perfection of your current save in order to try out multiplayer. You can accept new farmhands onto existing farms. You will have to clear out some space for the farmhand cabins, of course.

Can you get married in Stardew Valley multiplayer?

Yep! You can totally get hitched with another player, on top of the standard NPC romances.

Don't expect it to be as easy as both parties selecting "I do." You'll need to go through some significant effort to craft a new wedding ring item, at which point you can use it to become officially engaged. And yes, you can get divorced too. Though you will still live on the same farm. Awkward.

What platforms are getting Stardew Valley multiplayer?

All versions of Stardew Valley will receive multiplayer support eventually, though it won't arrive at the same time. Here's the rough timetable as it's currently planned.

Specific release dates will vary, but eventually everyone will get multiplayer (and the other stuff coming in the update, to boot).

Is Stardew Valley multiplayer be paid DLC?

The Stardew Valley multiplayer update will be free for everyone who owns Stardew Valley now or in the future. It would not be at all unreasonable to charge extra for this huge feature update, but the devs are just sweet like that.

Get the best games and entertainment news, reviews, tips and offers delivered to your inbox every week by signing up to the GamesRadar+ newsletter today.