Stardew Valley DLC-sized 'Horizons' expansion to bring three major new locations to the game

Stardew Valley’s official 1.7 update is in development, but there’s actually another project on the way that I’m a smidge more hyped for. Sorry, ConcernedApe.

If ‘Stardew: Horizons’ isn’t already on your radar, it absolutely should be.

This exceptionally exciting player-made expansion is essentially set to introduce all of the locations you see within Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone’s Stardew Valley but never actually visit.

Think of the likes of Grampleton and the Gotoro Empire, with Prairie Island actually being the first location that modder and NexusMods user Raynity is hoping to bring to life.

Those are the three locations that have been predominantly teased, but the Fern Islands and Zuzu City are also being contemplated.

“I'm so excited to finally share a first look at Stardew: Horizons, my upcoming large expansive mod for Stardew Valley,” the creator began, dropping a single screenshot of the project.

“This mod is all about exploring those far-off places you see in the game but never get to visit — the kind of spots that make you go, ‘Wait… what’s over there?’

“Well, ConcernedApe left those areas a bit mysterious… and I’m here to expand on them.”

They went on to tease that first location, Prairie Island, describing it as “a place full of untold stories, strange raccoons, and a whole new array of biomes”.

Raynity wrote, “It’s been in the works for a while now, and I can’t wait for you to explore it! I’ll be posting sneak peeks every week or so leading up to release, so stay tuned!”

‘Stardew: Horizons’ has launched a Discord server for those who wish to stay up to date

A launch date is yet to be announced but as of this week, ‘Stardew: Horizons’ has launched its own Discord server where you can be kept up to date on the mod’s progress.

That includes seeing work-in-progress glimpses, teasers, and behind-the-scenes content as Raynity beavers away on this very ambitious community project.

It goes without saying that as a mod, only PC players will be able to enjoy ‘Stardew: Horizons’ but at least ConcernedApe is working on update 1.7 for all our benefit.

It’ll perhaps come as no surprise that ‘Stardew: Horizons’ is already drumming up plenty of hype beyond my own.

“Oh that sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun to get into,” said Reddit user adelmortescryche.

“Wow wow wow! I can’t wait to play this mod,” remarked Small_Rub_5273.

User otter_mayhem wrote, “I love this game and this community! I am so looking forward to this.”

Best of all perhaps, Raynity has confirmed that no AI is being used during development nor will any appear in the end product.

With AI slop creations flooding all of our timelines, this is a joy to hear - and we’re all for championing hardworking creators.

The hope is that ‘Stardew: Horizons’ will be compatible with existing majorly popular mods like ‘Stardew Valley Expanded’, which is great to hear.

So if this is a mod expansion you’re going to want to download, your best move is to join the Discord server.

I, for one, cannot wait to see what Raynity cooks up.