Note. At the time of publication, the Switch 2 update is not yet live on European eShops. However, it is accessible from the North American eShop if you have a Nintendo Account from that territory.

I’ve spent close to 300 hours with Stardew Valley since it landed on Switch in 2018. That feels like rookie numbers compared to other people, but even with the portability, the Switch version has always been slightly behind other versions in the multiplayer department, which is where ConcernedApe’s surprise Christmas treat comes in handy.

Stardew Valley on Switch 2 is almost the best way to play the game (without mods) – just a few bugs, which the developer is currently working on, hold it back from perfection.

I’ll start with the Iridium-quality stuff: Mouse Mode. I don’t really like Mouse Mode, but here, it's perfect for two aspects of Stardew Valley that were always a bit finicky with a controller: decorating and inventory management.

The former is now effortless, as with the click of a button and drag of the Joy-Con 2, you can move or pop down furniture without relying on your character’s positioning. I no longer need to block out multiple days of in-game time to decorate my house. The latter also eliminates the need to use the shoulder buttons to shuffle through pages, making my speedy Skull Cavern dives a breeze.

I thought Mouse Mode would be good for farming, but this still only works if you’re right next to whatever you need to till or hoe. Not a big deal, but the other two uses make it a vast improvement over solely relying on the controller, which makes tabletop play a dream.

Online multiplayer now supports up to eight players; this was bugged on launch day, but quickly fixed. Five of us got together on a brand new co-op farm and, after a few days of running around, fighting over where to plant seeds, buying and selling random junk, fishing, and ganging up on the same trees to chop them down, it was pretty flawless, save a few little pauses and stutters when others moved between areas.

Improved split-screen co-op is another huge boon, as you can now play with up to three other people on the same farm on the same screen. The magic of better processing power! Or you can GameShare with up to three others to Switch 2 or Switch 1 – this works perfectly in handheld mode, but docked, the bottom half of the screen gets distorted.

There’s also a crafting bug at the time of writing which causes some items to disappear; most of the recipes affected are pretty easy to avoid for me, but it’s something to be aware of.

Otherwise, this is Stardew Valley as you know it. Between three different farms and playing on friends' and families’ save files, I can safely say that this is one of my favourite games ever, and the best farming sim of all time. And once it's fully up-to-date, Switch 2 might rival PC as the best place to play it.

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