Not content with throwing load of new features into Stardew Valley on mobile with this week’s long-awaited 1.6 update, it turns out developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone also chucked in a pretty major unannounced one too; a secret experimental multiplayer mode is now available to mobile players, if they’re feeling sufficiently brave.
Barone confirmed the existence of Stardew Valley mobile’s (now no longer) secret multiplayer mode in a message shared on social media, accompanying the reveal with a detailed guide on how to get it up and running. That process starts with the installation of this week’s 1.6 update, available to download now, after which players will need to summon their powers of recollection and bash out the legendary Konami code – or most of it at least.
Eagled-eyed players should notice four leaves festooning Stardew Valley’s title screen logo once update 1.6 is installed: the one top-right points up, the one bottom-left points down, top-left points left, and botton-right points right. With that in mind, players then need to enter the following code by tapping the corresponding leaves: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right. After that, it’s simply a matter of poking the question mark at the bottom of the screen to reveal the main menu’s hidden co-op session button.
From there, players can choose to either join or host a new multiplayer game, but hosts will first need to set up a farm, while those joining will require the host’s IP address, as detailed in Barone’s instructions. Additionally, all participants must be on the same network or connecting to a player who is port-forwarding their game. It’s not, then, the most straightforward of solutions, but it does have the benefit that mobile players can also join a PC-hosted game via IP.