Summary
Stardew Valleyis a game all about building a farm inherited from the player character’s grandfather in a lovely little place called Pelican Town. As players make the farm their own and explore the town, they’ll discoverlots of little secretsalluding to the history of the valley and beyond.
Being a labor of love by the developers ConcernedApe, this adorable farming sim RPG has lots of secrets for the player to unlock; whether those are in-world or meta. Someone could play this game for years and never discover all these small things. Here are some of thebest secretsthatStardew Valleyplayers should go and check out immediately.
Updated June 01, 2025, by Alexandra O’Leary:Stardew Valley has remained one of the most popular and commercially successful indie games of all time since its release in 2016. Part of this overwhelming success is due to the care and attention developer ConcernedApe has put into every aspect of the game. Beneath the various layers of game play, characters, and storylines, are a wealth of fun secrets and Easter Eggs that occasionally give the player a knowing wink. These secrets are tremendously fun to find and prove time and time again how ingenious and creative ConcernedApe really is. There are loads of them in the game, and this list has been updated with a few more to keep players' secret-hunting excursions fresh.
1Intro Screen
Secrets Found Before The Game Even Begins
The Easter Eggs start as soon as players load into the game. There are a few little secrets in these beginning moments that players can discover. They’re pretty darn cute and are bound to give players a little boost of serotonin every time.
ConcernedApe Logo
Clicking on the logo when it appears during the title screen will cause the creature’s sunglasses to disappear and the creature’s eyes will open with a very… Concerned look. There will also be the sound of a duck/splat when players do this.
Tip Messages
This wonderful game even keeps track of how many times it’s been opened. During the ConcernedApe logo screen, friendly messages will appear in the bottom-left corner based on the number of the current amount of launches.
Title Screen
There are a few Easter Eggs on the title screen that players candiscover out of curiosityor by following these steps for each unique Easter Egg.
2Favorite Thing
Little Messages For The Stardew Fans
There are a couple of things players can input into the’Favorite Thing’prompt that will inspire unique pop-ups when a Stardrop is consumed. If the player puts ‘ConcernedApe’ as their favorite thing, they’ll get a little thanks from the dev.
Anything containing the word ‘Stardew’ (which must be capitalized) will result in a unique prompt that says the Stardrop makes the character feel an unwavering connection to the valley itself. These are both very sweet details that players can utilize to show their unwavering love for ConcernedApe and his game.
3In-Game Menus
Easy-To-Miss Secrets Hiding In Plain Sight
There are a few cute Easter Eggs that players can discover bymessing around with the in-game menus. Menus are a great place to hide some fun little Easter Eggs, especially because of how much time players tend to spend in them, especially inStardew Valley. There are a lot of Easter Eggs players can find on these screens, but here are just a few:
The Man In The Moon
There is a small chance of a full moon appearing in the top-right corner of the shipping screen on some nights. Clicking it 11 times will cause the man in the moon to reveal himself with a pretty displeased face.
Lonely Stone
On the map screen, there’s a little rock sitting in the water south of the beach. Clicking it will cause a rock sound to play, and clicking it again while the sound plays will cause the map screen to close. There’s no other lore surrounding this lonely stone, making it a fun and mysterious little Easter Egg for players to discover.
Gift Log
Players can access the Gift Log through the relationships menu and clicking on a character’s entry. Once in the Gift Log, characters who players have more than four hearts with will have a custom animation when their sprite is clicked. A special sound will also accompany the adorable animation.
Christmas Miracle
On the 24th of Winter, Santa and his reindeer can be seen riding a sleigh across the sky on the shipping screen. A short but sweet nod to the seasonal holiday, and a good precursor to the Winter Star festival taking place the next day.
4Chat
Cheeky Chats With ConcernedApe
Pressing ‘T’ on PC will open up achat windowthat players can use to talk to their friends in multiplayer mode, but more importantly, it gives players access to some fun new Easter Eggs. Typing certain things will get different responses, all very meta in nature.
5Hats
Put A Hat On Everything!
Hatscan be found around the world, bought at shops (mostly from Hat Mouse) or acquired through various other tasks or competitions. A very fun thing about these hats is that players are able to place them on a variety of different NPCs, creatures or items. Most notably, perhaps, is the ability to place a hat on a horse.
Hats can also be placed on children once they reach toddler age and start running about. The alien rarecrow is the only scarecrow that players can place a hat on. Surprisingly, players can also put a hat on a sea urchin, which is very reminiscent of actual sea urchin behavior.
6Fishing
Casting A Line Into The Unknown
There are a few places in the world where players can deploy their fishing rod to snag a surprise gift. All of these can be obtained in a single playthrough if players choose the Beach farm. Here are all the secrets players can find and where exactly to do so.
7Strange Capsule
Unidentified Sighting
After the player discovers astrange capsulethat’s been broken on their farm, they have a 1% chance of seeing a super rare event. Either up by the bus stop or outside Jodi’s and Emily’s houses, players will have the chance to seea shadowy figuremake a brief appearance.
If spotted at the bus stop, they’ll wave at the player. If spotted outside the houses, the player will observe it run to the right from behind a bush.
8Locked Boxes
Secret Statue Hunting
The incomprehensible book found in the library gives players a clue as to where to find some secret boxes that can be unlocked when presented with certain items. Each box will give players a figurine, akin to the strange doll they can find through exploration.
9Mayor Lewis' Purple Shorts
Cause Mischief With Mayor Lewis' Lucky Underoos
By now, most will have encountered the quest whereMaylor Lewisasks the player to find and returnhis lucky purple shorts. It’s well-knownStardew Valleylore that Maylor Lewis and Marnie have a secret fling going on, but some might be surprised to learn that Lewis' purple shorts can be found in Marnie’s bedroom. Once retrieved, there are a few different things players can do with the purple shorts instead of giving them straight back to Lewis.
Potluck Soup
If players put Mayor Lewis' purple shorts in the potluck soup at the Luau, they’ll end up in the Governor’s bowl when he tries the soup. The Governor will be disgusted and insulted, and Lewis and Marnie will quite noticeably react. The Governor will turn green, Lewis will reprimand the town for this terrible (and embarrassing) act, and tell everyone to go home - ending the festival.
Grange Display
If players put Lewis' lucky purple shorts on their grange display at the Stardew Valley Fair, Lewis will judge each box and angrily accuse the player of playing a sick prank. Despite his moral stance, Lewis will then bribe players with 750 star tokens (the currency of the festival) and tell them to keep quiet about the shorts. Speaking to Marnie after this will also cause her to slip up and admit to the player that she’s more than a bit familiar with Lewis' lucky purple shorts.
Ginger Island Attire
Players can return Mayor Lewis' purple shorts when he’s visiting Ginger Island, which will cause him to put them on. Holiday attire Mayor Lewis will hang around for several days, sporting his purple shorts look every time players see him.
10Galaxy Sword
Summon The Power Of The Galaxy
Players who love fighting monsters in the mines from dawn ‘til dusk will be interested in finding the best weapons in the game. There are a lot ofdifferentStardew Valleyweaponsthat have special abilities and can deal massive damage, but one of the best by far is theGalaxy Sword- which can be a little difficult to acquire.
If players want to find the Galaxy Sword organically, the way the game intended, then they’ll need to donate all the Dwarf Scrolls to the museum to obtain the Dwarvish Translation Guide. In the Graveyard in Pelican Town, a tomb that the player couldn’t initially read will suddenly hold instructions about how to locate the Galaxy Sword. The message is a bit cryptic, but ultimately it requires the player to have a Prismatic Shard and to head into the Desert.
Once in the Desert, players should head to the top right area and stand in between the three distinct pillars in a triangular formation. If players stand in that area while holding a Prismatic Shard, it will transform into the legendary Galaxy Sword - an epic monster slaying tool.
