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Stardew Valley‘s creator ConcernedApe recently revealed that he’s only just completed the grind for 100% in the game’s Steam Achievements list. You’d have thought he’d be among the first to fill out such a list.
This means that it took eight years for Stardew Valley‘s creator to finally get every achievement in the game. He’s far from the first to do so, but this definitely says something about the relationship between creators and their games. The question I’m left with after learning this is: “so what’s next?”
Why Did it Take ConcernedApe so Long to ‘Complete’ Stardew Valley?
ConcernedApe announced his news on X, and it comes roughly a week before the game’s 1.6 update is due to hit consoles. I think it would be easy to read into this and say the developer is ticking off all these achievements because he’s never going to update Stardew Valley again. But it’s also impossible to know if that’s the case.
Instead, with an update still on the way, one that’s grown a lot in size and scope since its initial announcement, I believe this isn’t the end for Stardew Valley. Update 1.6 has shown the world that fans are still willing to return to the game for every update and wait as long as it takes between each one.
But why did it take so long for the creator to “complete” his own game? It’s a pretty easy question to answer when you think about the logistics of game development. While ConcernedApe has almost certainly played more hours in Stardew Valley than anyone else, a lot of that time will be spent testing new features for updates and identifying the causes of bugs to then implement fixes.
It sounds almost like a curse that game developers will always be the ones to play far more hours than anyone else in their own game and come out with less to show for it. But the end result is the exceptional quality in games like Stardew Valley that land so well with players because of that effort.
ConcernedApe’s final Steam Achievement was Fector’s Challenge, which requires players to complete the Journey of the Prairie King minigame without dying. I’ve never even attempted the minigame so won’t pretend I know how difficult it is, but I hear this particular achievement is far from simple to get.
What’s Next for ConcernedApe?
It’s well-documented that ConcernedApe’s next project is Haunted Chocolatier. This is another slice-of-life sim but with a very different direction.
Every time we get a new update for Stardew Valley it feels like it’s the last and ConcernedApe will move completely over to his new game. Haunted Chocolatier won’t be released for a good long while yet, so it’s safe to say that he’ll likely move back to developing the game, working on everything that will eventually be part of that title’s Steam Achievements.
The truth is that with ConcernedApe, in particular, it’s impossible to know what the future holds. With other games such as, say, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, development reaches a point where it’s done and dusted after post-launch updates.
ConcernedApe never seems to stop, though. He constantly moves back and forth between Stardew Valley and whatever else he’s working on. In this news, he’s shown that even when he’s not working on it, he’s probably playing it.
What I believe this news shows more than anything else is that Stardew Valley is an indie game that never really ends. I remember it as one of the earliest indie titles that made a huge splash when that initial wave was really taking off. The quality of the game hasn’t dropped in the decade since it’s release.
When a developer is still going back to grind out achievements alongside a player base, it’s a testament to a game’s quality. I have very few doubts that I’ll be able to say something similar in the future when the inevitable 1.7 update or Haunted Chocolatier finally lands in our hands.
Before you go
Thank you for checking out this longer-than-usual news piece about ConcernedApe’s Steam Achievement hunting. We cover all sorts of interesting news here, including the fact that Papa’s Pizzeria Deluxe is coming to Steam. So see if you can find something else that catches your eye.
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