Indie darling Stardew Valley has turned into quite the success story. Developed by a single person, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, the farming life simulator is beloved by many fans all over the world and has sold over 15 million units. First released in 2016 on the PC platform, Stardew Valley has since been ported to essentially every available gaming device, like the Nintendo Switch, Android Phones, and even Linux PCs.
ConcernedApe developed the game over the span of four years and was highly inspired by the Harvest Moon series. Following the game's original release, he has continued to support Stardew Valley with plenty of updates like multiplayer support. The game has a Metacritic score of 89 on PC and has been highly praised for its whimsical charm, eclectic cast of characters, and substantial replayability, with plenty of players clocking in hundreds of hours on the title.
With fans playing the title for such long amounts of time, players were bound to start finding bizarre secret things hidden in Stardew Valley, intentional or not. One Reddit user who goes by the name ChaosNCandy has shared their unique take on shopkeeper Sandy’s place of work.
With a peculiar shape and windows that look like eyes, ChaosNCandy believes that Sandy’s shop looks like the titular star of the British preschool animated series, Peppa Pig. It seems other Reddit members agree, with other users cursing out ChaosNCandy’s discovery, claiming they will never be unable to unsee the Peppa Pig likeness again. The post has blown up on Reddit, earning a staggering eight thousand upvotes and nearly two hundred comments as of writing.
It is a little heartwarming to know that an indie-developed game like Stardew Valley can manage to become so successful in a sea of expensive, AAA-produced titles. ConcernedApe’s labor of love has eager fans wondering what the Stardew Valley creator's much-anticipated next game will be. ConcernedApe has teased that his new game won’t be a farming title, but will feature top-down pixel-art and be somewhat similar to Stardew Valley in some facet.
Of course, Stardew Valley isn’t the only indie title to manage to become incredibly successful. Other titles like Hotline Miami and Disco Elysium were able to become massively hits despite their meager budget and manpower, and the unique asymmetrical multiplayer title Among Us became a bonafide pop-culture phenomenon last year. Still, there is something to be said about ConcernedApe’s heartwarming masterpiece; It is likely that Stardew Valley fans will continue playing for years to come. Perhaps they will find more Peppa Pig-like secrets, too.
Stardew Valley is available for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.