After so many years of support, it might feel like there’s nothing left that needs to be added or changed in Stardew Valley after you’ve mastered the essential tips and tricks. This farming sim lets you live your best life in the quiet countryside with your own farm, villagers to meet and date, Easter eggs to find, and quests to complete either alone or in co-op.
Multiple updates have only expanded the number of things to do in a game you could already spend hundreds of hours in, like finding the legendary Meowmere. But the developer behind this game is just one person, and even an entire team couldn’t match the output of the entire modding community. Given the meteoric success this game has had and sustained for so many years, there have been hundreds of mods created by passionate fans that change the game far more than any cheat could. These mods can make your humble little farm life feel completely fresh, as well as smooth out a couple of lingering rough edges in the game. We’ve farmed up the absolute best Stardew Valley mods you should try for yourself.
Stardew Valley Expanded
Each major update to Stardew Valley adds a host of new features, but one fan just couldn’t wait and decided to make their own unofficial expansion called Stardew Valley Expanded. Just looking at the feature list of this mod, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a true expansion, or maybe even a sequel. It adds 27 new NPCs, 50 more locations, 27 fish, two new farms, and even updates a couple of existing things. That’s not even mentioning the new music, quests, objects, festivals, and more. The entire thing was made to feel as seamless with the base game as possible, and is intended to give that same feeling of wonder and joy players had when playing the game for the first time.
NPC Map Locations
The world map in Stardew Valley isn’t super big, but it is complex enough to make wandering around stressful if you’re looking for a specific NPC before a certain time. Each character follows a different schedule, and if you haven’t learned them all, you might spend all day looking for someone. If that doesn’t sound fun to you, NPC Map Locations adds a friendly little icon for each NPC on your map so you know exactly where they are at all times. To accomplish this, the map had to be remade to be more accurate, which is just an added bonus. The map constantly updates as characters move, and you can highlight them to see their names as well.
Tractor Mod
What is a farm without a tractor? It seems like a natural thing for the game to have by default, but it ended up falling onto modders making Tractor Mod to get this iconic farming equipment into the game. Adding this mod allows you to purchase a tractor and storage garage from Robin. Once done, you can drive it to clear all kinds of debris more easily or use it to fertilize, plant, or hoe your land way faster than normal.
Skull Cavern Elevator
Dungeon crawling in the normal mine would be a nightmare without the elevator, which sadly doesn’t exist in the special Skull Cavern. You can always take the ladder out to escape, but this cave is meant to be done from the first floor every time you try it. That can be a bit frustrating, so the Skull Cavern Elevator adds a handy lift that works just like the normal one by adding an elevator checkpoint every five floors.
CJB Item Spawner
Stardew Valley is more than just a farming sim — it also has a lot of crafting elements as well. To that end, the entire design is meant to have you slowly accumulate more and better materials to make better things. Of course, some of us are a little impatient or have already done the grind enough times and just want to get to the good stuff. The CJB Item Spawner mod lets you access a list of every item in the game from a single button press and spawn whatever it is you need or want. There are multiple ways to sort the items, or you can use a search bar to find exactly what you’re looking for. It is compatible with the most recent version of the game as well, so you can get all the new stuff here as well.
Lookup Anything
While we are honored to give you guides on some of the more obscure systems and mechanics in games, we do admit that it is a drag to be forced to look for information outside of the game. It completely ruins your flow and grinds your progress to a halt. The creator of the Lookup Anything mod felt the same way and made a massive system in which you can see all the relevant info you want on anything you put your cursor over. This includes how long crops take to grow, structure durability, villagers’ stats and favorite gifts, and tons more. It essentially builds a Wikipedia into the game you can use whenever you’re confused.
Stardewvalley anime mods
Dating and romance are a big part of the Stardew Valley experience. Each NPC has its little sprite you see walking around, but also a detailed portrait that gives you a better look at their faces. The default NPCs have great designs, but it never hurts to change it up for some variety, especially if you enjoy a more anime-inspired art style. Stardewvalley anime mods simply replaces all the NPC portraits with redone artwork that looks more anime in design. They’re still the same characters and just meant to be a different interpretation of how they look.
Seasonal Outfits
If you want some villager variety but don’t want to completely overhaul their appearance, check out the Seasonal Outfits mod. This will change all the character sprites and portraits depending on the in-game season, with every character having a different look for each of the four seasons plus unique outfits for the FlowerDance and SpiritsEve events. It adds a nice bit of realism to make it feel like your villagers are alive and adapting to the passage of time.
Automate
Running a farm all by yourself is tedious work. There are some better tools and machines you can get to help speed up your daily chores, but a lot of tasks require you to do menial work over and over. When you’ve converted raw materials once, you might as well have done it 100 times. The Automate mod doesn’t add any new machine or tools, but makes it so that any chest you place near a machine, such as a furnace or crystalarium, will automatically feed that machine as many raw materials as it has to convert into the final product and spit it out back into that same chest. It can dramatically cut down on your busy work.
