Stardew Valley 1.5 brings new region and characters, but requires save transfer on Android

The hit RPG Stardew Valley recently released its 1.5 update on Android and iOS, with the highly-anticipated update bringing new characters, a new farm layout, and more, but it requires a bit of extra work on Android.

As of this week, Stardew Valley 1.5 is available for Android and iOS. The exciting new update first launched on PC and other platforms in late 2020 and is one of the biggest in the hit game’s history, bringing with it some major additions to the game.

The full changelog is available on the developer’s website, but includes an entirely new region of the Stardew Valley world – Ginger Island – as well as a new NPC in Leo, complete with his own backstory and plot line. Ginger Island also brings new enemies, puzzles, and a farm area to cultivate. The update also brings a new farm layout for new saves, the Beach Farm, with a new farm animal in the Ostrich. There are also more home renovations, food items, fertilizers, furniture, weapons, clothing, fish, and literally hundreds of other changes.

In a Twitter thread, Stardew Valley’s creator explains that this update is a “completely new rewrite” of the mobile app, which they explain will make future updates easier to implement, including v1.6 which is confirmed, but has not yet been released anywhere.

Bug fixes are underway for the mobile version of Stardew Valley following this major update, but there’s one thing notable for Android users right out of the gate on v1.5. Players will be required to do a one-time save file transfer. It’s explained this was needed due to “new operating system rules concerning file access,” likely referring to “Scoped Storage” changes made in Android 11 on onward.

Stardew Valley is available on Android for $4.99, or available through Play Pass at no added cost. The 1.5 update is free.

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