Stardew Valley isn't quite a children's game, but it's certainly meant to be family-friendly. However, there are subtle ways that the game caters to an older audience. For example, a popular secret of Pelican Town is the relationship between Marnie and Mayor Lewis. At some point, the Mayor will ask the player to find his purple shorts. This can only be completed after getting Marnie to 2 friendship hearts because they're located in her bedroom.
Another more mature portion of Stardew Valley is the ability to abandon children, permanently removing them from the game. Prior to Stardew Valley Version 1.4, there were no consequences to abandoning children for any reason. However, the 1.4 update added a secret event that can only occur on Fall 26 after turning children into doves.
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The Dark Shrine of Selfishness
After marrying one of Stardew Valley's many bachelors or bachelorettes, the player will be asked if they want to have children. Players can then have a second child only after the first kid grows to the Toddler age. Unfortunately, children not age past Toddler in Stardew Valley, a function many have hoped to see changed at some point in the future, and players can only have two children at any given time. So naturally, many players have opted to "dismiss" their children to have more, possibly even with another spouse after divorcing the first.
To do this, players will have to go to the Dark Shrine of Selfishness in the Witch's Hut, which is only accessible after completing the Dark Talisman quest, so it's only something that can occur in late-game Stardew Valley. Here, players can interact with a number of Dark Shrines that perform sinister actions, for example, wiping the memory of any and all ex-spouses, which makes it as if they've never met the player. This allows players to re-marry an ex if they so desire.
The Dark Shrine of Selfishness, on the other hand, will turn all children into doves, who then fly away, if offered a Prismatic Shard, permanently removing them from Stardew Valley. Strangely, it seems like spouses will have no response to this and it will also be as if it never happened.
TV Channel '???'
As the name of the shrine might suggest, this is a pretty heinous act (though it's just a game and players are bound to get curious), and Stardew Valley 1.4 did add the rare chance to be punished for it. On Fall 26, when turning on the TV in Stardew Valley, players may notice a new channel, '???' Upon clicking on it, a doll appears on the screen, saying, "You've brought this upon yourself… now I'm free… Hee hee hee!" Then, it pops out and becomes an item that players can collect, but it's not like just any other item.
However, this Stardew Valley secret doesn't stop there. If players take the Ancient Doll back to the Witch's Hunt after this event occurs, another Ancient Doll will be seen floating in the middle of the room and will attack. Upon defeating it, the doll turns into a black bird and flies away. Perhaps this signifies that Ancient Dolls withhold the souls of children?
After abandoning children in Stardew Valley, a couple of other events can occur as well, though they are not tied to Fall 26. Players may receive a terrifying phone call that says, "You have forsaken us," but this cannot happen after bringing the Ancient Doll to the Witch's Hut. And if players have turned many children into doves, there's a chance they'll fly past in formation during Stardew Valley's Summit sequence.
Stardew Valley is out now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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