Life on Stardew Valley’s farm is pretty idyllic: grow some trees, harvest some crops, sell goods to earn a little cash. But (ahem) dig around a little and you’ll make some astounding discoveries.
Some of these are pretty obvious, but Stardew Valley is positively packed with hard-to-find Easter eggs. Blue chickens? Rare furniture? Add some mystery to your hallowed homestead with these secrets, straight from developer ConcernedApe. [Warning: spoilers, naturally.]
Plunder the Skull Caverns
Located in the northwest area of the Desert, the Skull Caverns are initially locked until you acquire the Skull Key (to get that, you’ll need to reach level 120 in the Mines).
Unlike the Mines, there is no elevator to save progress, so with each visit you must start from the very first floor. Mummies lurk in the Skull Caverns; stock up on bombs to take them down. Perhaps you’ll run into the mysterious Mr Qi!
Get slimed
Though you’ll have to fight plenty of Slimes in the Mines, you can actually raise Slimes in hutches on your farm, too. Find Robin and purchase a Slime Hutch (cost: 10,000g), which stores up to 20 slippery critters.
Find the Junimo Plush
This one requires incredible timing: you can find the Junimo Plush, a unique piece of furniture, by shaking a bush in the northwest corner of Pelican Town on the 28th of any season at exactly 12pm.
Land a legend
You may come across a Lost Book called Secrets of the Legendary Fish, which mentions the seasons and locations of the five legendary fish: Crimsonfish, Angler, Legend, Glacier Fish and Mutant Carp. They’re quite difficult to reel in, so you’ll want to equip an Iridium Rod and raise your fishing skills as high as possible.
Give your chickens the blues
After seeing bachelor Shane’s eight-heart event, each chicken you purchase from Marnie or hatch from a brown or white egg has a one in four chance of being blue! Blue chickens are hatched as blue chicks.
Raise dinosaurs
Don’t bother scouring the map for mosquitoes trapped in amber. To rear dinosaurs in Stardew Valley, try placing a Dinosaur Egg into an Incubator in your Big Coop. The first Dinosaur Egg must be found either by digging up an Artifact Spot or in a fishing chest.
Grow giant crops
By planting cauliflower, melons or pumpkins in a 3x3 pattern, they may combine into a Giant Crop which doesn’t die at the change of seasons like other crops. Plus, it looks pretty cool!
Search the Sewers
The Sewers are initially introduced in an early cutscene, but it isn’t obvious how to access them. After you donate 60 items (artefacts or minerals) to the Museum, you will receive the Rusty Key.
Use this to enter the Sewers through the cover south of Pelican Town, or through the grates in the south of Cindersap Forest. Located in the Sewers is Krobus, a character who sells rare items and eventually may even open up another passage.