The past week has seen Stardew Valley players hungrily exploring the wealth of new content, bug fixes, and Easter eggs that have made their way to the PC version of the beloved farming RPG courtesy of the newly released 1.6 update.
Inquisitive fans have already figured out how to lay hands on a legendary crossover weapon in the form of Terraria’s Meowmere sword, and have even found a sinister cutscene designed to punish players for using a glitch to access a late game area known as The Summit.
It would appear that Barone’s latest major update brought another surprise to the game: a new breed of creepy Cursed Mannequin that seems to take on a life of its own when the player goes to sleep for the night. The uncanny item of furniture is markedly different from the regular mannequins that can be purchased at the Oasis in The Calico Desert, and can seemingly only be obtained as a rare drop from defeated Haunted Skulls found in the Quarry Mines.
According to some players, the Cursed Mannequins have an unsettling habit of shaking violently, and moving of their own accord at night after being placed in the home. Others have reported that the mysterious fiends took it upon themselves to redecorate parts of the house, or randomly change outfits as the player counted sheep. In a sinister twist, some players have even awoken to find that the mannequin had stripped their character in the night and donned their clothes.
the cursed mannequin took the clothes off of my body while i was sleeping. i love you@ConcernedApe pic.twitter.com/GoAV7V5IQY
— lummi (@lummi_a) March 20, 2024
“So this update seems to have quite some disturbing content,” wrote Reddit user Pip1336. “I placed a haunted mannequin in my house and it randomly moved around. Quite harmless, right?? This morning the mannequin was wearing MY CLOTHES. The ones I went to bed with!!! It actually swapped the displayed outfit with the outfit my character wore.”
Why not take a look at our Stardew Valley Wiki to catch up on everything added in the 1.6 update, and be sure to stick with IGN to stay up to date with all of the news and mayo-drinking antics as we collectively await Eric Barone’s next game, The Haunted Chocolatier.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
