Stardew Valley is coming to iOS and it’ll let you import your PC saves

The developer behind Stardew Valley, the hit indie farming sim, this week announced the game was coming to mobile devices. The iOS version launches in two weeks, while the Android version is still in development.

This, by itself, isn’t exactly surprising. Stardew Valley is the sort of twee indie game that makes the jump to mobile very easily, just like it’s predecessor series Harvest Moon did with the 3DS. (Speaking of which, I’m surprised we’ve never seen a Harvest Moon game for iOS, to my knowledge.)

What is unexpected, however, is that Barone specifies that PC gamers can import their save files to the iOS version of the game. This idea, that you can transfer your progress back and forth between PC and mobile, is actually an intriguing and unexpected development for a game not called “Fortnite.”

Developer Eric Barone doesn’t say exactly how it’ll be done, just that it’ll be via iTunes:

PC players can transfer their save data to the iOS version via iTunes – but make sure to always back up your save data first! Mods are not supported, and any save data transferred containing mods may cause compatibility issues.

It doesn’t sound as though progress will be concurrent across both devices — just that you’ll be able to transfer one to the other.

I might not be necessarily eager to get back to the Valley, but if I did, it’s nice to know I could bring along my established farms. I put a grand total of six days’ worth of play into two farms. No way am I abandoning them now.

The iOS version launches on October 24 for $7.99. I’ll be battening down the hatches for Red Dead Redemption 2, which comes out two days later, so I probably won’t be able to allow myself to get sucked into the Valley all over again. Still, I might give it a try just to see how the save transfer system works.