The creator of Stardew Valley just achieved the hardest Steam achievement available in his own game, eight years after its release.
In posted yesterday on X/Twitterdeveloper Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone revealed that on October 25, 2024, he officially obtained the final achievement he needed to 100% complete Stardew Valley. The achievement is called “Fector’s Challenge” and requires the player to complete a mini-game in the Journey of the Prairie King universe without dying. Only 1.2% of players had this achievement when Barone obtained it.
I finally managed to get 100% achievements in Stardew Valley pic.twitter.com/hoaSmDnTWi
— ZapokojonaApe (@ZapokojonaApe) October 29, 2024
Journey of the Prairie King is an arcade game that the player can access in Stardrop Saloon. It is a top-down twin-stick shooter in which the player must shoot at enemies that appear in waves from all sides of the screen, avoiding touching both the enemies and their projectiles. The player starts with four lives, and additional lives are available as rewards, so you never have to die to simply beat Journey of the Prairie King. You just need to avoid dying too often.
What Barone did is much more intense. This requires you to never die, which is quite a challenging feat, especially if you’ve ever seen the gameplay of Journey of the Prairie King. There are three stages in total, the first stage covers four levels plus a boss, and the second and third stages each cover three areas and a boss. As you progress, the enemies become more challenging and varied, and collecting good power-ups at certain points is crucial to survival, so there is at least an element of luck involved.
So while Barone took on this absurd challenge, it’s not terribly surprising that he would have difficulty completing it during a regular Stardew Valley game, especially since he probably has better things to do with his time than practicing Journey of the Prairie King. Congratulations to ConcernedApe! Good luck to the rest of us.
Stardew Valley remains a masterpiece even eight years later, and our re-review from earlier this year concluded that “eight years of updates have made Stardew Valley a modern classic with an endless list of enticing activities to do and a deeply satisfying management challenge.” sometimes”. take.” The latest update 1.6 is now available on PC and will finally arrive on consoles on November 4, 2024.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Her posts can be found on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
