‘Stardew Valley’ Has A Battle Royale Mod, Because Gentle Farming Isn’t Enough

Stardew Valley, a video game in which you fix a rundown farm to satisfy your dead grandpa’s ghost, is a gentle game. Players clear the land, till the soil, and tend to their crops, selling produce to save up for a home renovation. However, in an era where every video game of relevance must have a battle royale mode, nothing is sacred — not even an innocent farming simulator.

Created by Stardew Valley modder Ilyaki, Battle Royalley is a mod that transforms the peaceful valley into a murderdome of violence and death. Up to 100 farmers are placed around the map at the beginning of a round, and must fight to be the last one standing as the map’s border gradually shrinks the playable area. Farmers can attack each other with swords, slingshots, bombs and whatever else they can loot from chests dotted around the map.

Like Fortnite, Battle Royalley also includes an element of construction. Farmers can chop down trees and craft fences to use as cover, or hide behind foliage to ambush people. Horses are also available to provide a speedy means of making a quick getaway — or hunting down your prey.

Though there is an element of combat in the unmodified Stardew Valley, it’s directed toward creatures such as Slimes, Bats and Skeletons, which are typically found in the Mines to the north of the map. Human-on-human swordplay isn’t a phenomenon familiar to the residents of the valley, a game that doesn’t even let you slaughter your animals for meat (though there is a mod for that at well).

Sadly, joining the countryside brawl appears to be a bit of an ordeal right now, as both Kotaku and Rock, Paper, Shotgun‘s attempts at getting Battle Royalley up and running were futile. It sounds as though there might be a few issues to iron out, but that’s unsurprising considering the fan project was only just released. If you’d like to give it a go yourself, you can download Battle Royalley and find instructions for running it at Nexus Mods.