{"id":1934555,"date":"2026-05-14T10:17:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T07:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934555"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:17:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T07:17:04","slug":"im-not-going-to-actually-do-this-stardew-valley-creator-isnt-really-going-to-let-you-cheat-in-your-marriage-in-the-cosy-farming-sim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934555","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to actually do this&#8221; &#8211; Stardew Valley creator isn&#8217;t really going to let you cheat in your marriage in the cosy farming sim"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/stardew-valley\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Stardew Valley<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to actually do this&#8221; &#8211; Stardew Valley creator isn&#8217;t really going to let you cheat in your marriage in the cosy farming sim<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;I was just talking theoretically.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/stardew-valley-evil-genius-2-and-more-confirmed-for-game-pass-1628627930703.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Stardew Valley farmer carries some corn towards a farmhouse\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"stardew-valley-evil-genius-2-and-more-confirmed-for-game-pass-1628627930703.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"319\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>ConcernedApe<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-14T10:17:04+00:00\">May 14, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"6689d9bc-c5d9-4cb1-ad14-ef746bf9ebf8\" data-name=\"Stardew Valley\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Stardew Valley\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Stardew Valley\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Stardew Valley\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Stardew Valley\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Stardew Valley\" title=\"Follow Stardew Valley\"><br \/>\n  Follow Stardew Valley<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>A rumour has started going around that Stardew Valley creator Eric &#8220;ConcernedApe&#8221; Barone is considering adding the ability to cheat in your marriage in the wholesome farming sim. However, Barone has since come out and squashed those rumours while having an out-loud discussion about the merits of a theoretical cheating system in the game.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Stardew Valley &#8211; Official Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eerYgXiyUcI\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Barone told <a href=\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/feature\/2026\/05\/12\/the-supernatural-and-mysterious-nature-of-creativity\">GameInformer<\/a> that in a sandbox game like Stardew Valley, &#8220;you should be able to do wicked things&#8221; and then face the consequences of your actions afterwards. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t just make everyone be totally chill about it,&#8221;  Barone said of cheating on your Stardew Valley spouse. &#8220;Everyone would hate you. It would cause a lot of chaos and disaster and suffering, and people would be angry, and you would ruin the family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barone added that there would be &#8220;very serious consequences&#8221; if he hypothetically did add cheating on a partner to Stardew Valley, as it would potentially upset the tone of the game. &#8220;Part of me is like, &#8216;Well, maybe this is just too real&#8217;,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Maybe Stardew Valley is supposed to be, to some degree, an escape from those kinds of things. It\u2019s too realistic, you know?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Now, in a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConcernedApe\/with_replies\">posts on X<\/a>, Barone has clarified his comments, saying that what he said about cheating in Stardew Valley had been &#8220;taken out of context&#8221;. The quotes taken alone didn&#8217;t &#8220;capture the whole spirit of what I was saying&#8221;, he said, and instead made it seem like the option to cheat was &#8220;something I am planning on adding&#8221; to the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to actually do this,&#8221; Barone explained. &#8220;I was just talking theoretically, that if I <em>were <\/em>then I wouldn&#8217;t just make it some consequence-free thing, everyone would hate you, there would be severe consequences for your moral failures. If you&#8217;re making a sandbox game I think it&#8217;s interesting to allow people to do things, even bad things. But there should be consequences. That teaches you a life lesson. If you just get away with it or everyone is chill with it, that would be bad.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barone added that the only thing  he had ever seriously considered was allowing players to break up the Pierre-Caroline and Robin-Demetrius relationships, but even that &#8220;is probably too heavy and serious&#8221; for a game like Stardew Valley. Plus, he went on, &#8220;[it] would be a ton of work to adjust all the dialogue and tone of everyone in town in consequence, and Grandpa [would be] ashamed of you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robin and Demetrius from Stardew Valley dancing together\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Robin-and-Demetrius-from-Stardew-Valley-dancing-together.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"640\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Robin and Demetrius from Stardew Valley dancing together\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Robin-and-Demetrius-from-Stardew-Valley-dancing-together.jpg\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"640\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>ConcernedApe<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As for what is next, Barone is currently working on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/stardew-valley-creator-reveals-haunted-chocolatier\">Haunted Chocolatier was initially announced back in 2021<\/a>. In May of 2024, Barone<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/stardew-creator-wont-rush-haunted-chocolatier-better-to-have-a-good-delayed-game-than-a-bad-game-on-time\"> said he&#8217;s &#8220;not too concerned with the pressure&#8221; of releasing Haunted Chocolatier<\/a>, stating &#8220;it&#8217;s better to have a delayed game that&#8217;s actually good than a bad game that&#8217;s on time&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since then, Barone has revealed that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/haunted-chocolatier-will-have-a-larger-world-than-stardew-valley-creator-confirms\">world of Haunted Chocolatier is larger than Stardew Valley<\/a>. Then, in January of this year, Barone said he had &#8220;been very productive lately&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/im-alive-the-game-is-still-in-development-stardew-valley-creator-concernedape-gives-update-on-haunted-chocolatier\">Haunted Chocolatier is alive and well<\/a>, even if things are taking a bit longer than some had hoped or expected.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>A rumour has started going around that Stardew Valley creator Eric &#8220;ConcernedApe&#8221; Barone is considering adding the ability to cheat in your marriage in the wholesome farming sim. However, Barone has since come out and squashed those rumours while having an out-loud discussion about the merits of a theoretical cheating system in the game.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Stardew Valley &#8211; Official Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eerYgXiyUcI\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Barone told <a href=\"https:\/\/gameinformer.com\/feature\/2026\/05\/12\/the-supernatural-and-mysterious-nature-of-creativity\">GameInformer<\/a> that in a sandbox game like Stardew Valley, &#8220;you should be able to do wicked things&#8221; and then face the consequences of your actions afterwards. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t just make everyone be totally chill about it,&#8221;  Barone said of cheating on your Stardew Valley spouse. &#8220;Everyone would hate you. It would cause a lot of chaos and disaster and suffering, and people would be angry, and you would ruin the family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barone added that there would be &#8220;very serious consequences&#8221; if he hypothetically did add cheating on a partner to Stardew Valley, as it would potentially upset the tone of the game. &#8220;Part of me is like, &#8216;Well, maybe this is just too real&#8217;,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Maybe Stardew Valley is supposed to be, to some degree, an escape from those kinds of things. It\u2019s too realistic, you know?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Now, in a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ConcernedApe\/with_replies\">posts on X<\/a>, Barone has clarified his comments, saying that what he said about cheating in Stardew Valley had been &#8220;taken out of context&#8221;. The quotes taken alone didn&#8217;t &#8220;capture the whole spirit of what I was saying&#8221;, he said, and instead made it seem like the option to cheat was &#8220;something I am planning on adding&#8221; to the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to actually do this,&#8221; Barone explained. &#8220;I was just talking theoretically, that if I <em>were <\/em>then I wouldn&#8217;t just make it some consequence-free thing, everyone would hate you, there would be severe consequences for your moral failures. If you&#8217;re making a sandbox game I think it&#8217;s interesting to allow people to do things, even bad things. But there should be consequences. That teaches you a life lesson. If you just get away with it or everyone is chill with it, that would be bad.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barone added that the only thing  he had ever seriously considered was allowing players to break up the Pierre-Caroline and Robin-Demetrius relationships, but even that &#8220;is probably too heavy and serious&#8221; for a game like Stardew Valley. Plus, he went on, &#8220;[it] would be a ton of work to adjust all the dialogue and tone of everyone in town in consequence, and Grandpa [would be] ashamed of you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robin and Demetrius from Stardew Valley dancing together\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Robin-and-Demetrius-from-Stardew-Valley-dancing-together.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"640\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Robin and Demetrius from Stardew Valley dancing together\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Robin-and-Demetrius-from-Stardew-Valley-dancing-together.jpg\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"640\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>ConcernedApe<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As for what is next, Barone is currently working on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/stardew-valley-creator-reveals-haunted-chocolatier\">Haunted Chocolatier was initially announced back in 2021<\/a>. In May of 2024, Barone<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/stardew-creator-wont-rush-haunted-chocolatier-better-to-have-a-good-delayed-game-than-a-bad-game-on-time\"> said he&#8217;s &#8220;not too concerned with the pressure&#8221; of releasing Haunted Chocolatier<\/a>, stating &#8220;it&#8217;s better to have a delayed game that&#8217;s actually good than a bad game that&#8217;s on time&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since then, Barone has revealed that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/haunted-chocolatier-will-have-a-larger-world-than-stardew-valley-creator-confirms\">world of Haunted Chocolatier is larger than Stardew Valley<\/a>. Then, in January of this year, Barone said he had &#8220;been very productive lately&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/im-alive-the-game-is-still-in-development-stardew-valley-creator-concernedape-gives-update-on-haunted-chocolatier\">Haunted Chocolatier is alive and well<\/a>, even if things are taking a bit longer than some had hoped or expected.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Stardew Valley &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to actually do this&#8221; &#8211; Stardew Valley creator isn&#8217;t really going to let you cheat in your marriage in the cosy farming sim &#8220;I was just talking theoretically.&#8221; Image credit: ConcernedApe News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on May 14, 2026 Follow Stardew Valley A rumour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1934555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}