Stardew Valley was released just under 9 years ago, and developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone finally unlocked one of the game’s hardest achievements, allowing him to reach 100% completion on his farming life simulator. “Finally 100% performance achieved Stardew Valley,” Barone posted on X Tuesday, with a photo of the 100% unlocked achievements. The final achievement Barone needed to complete the game was ‘Fector’s Challenge’, which requires the player to beat the in-game mini-game Voyage of the Prairie King without dying.
On Steam, only 1.2% of players completed the Factor’s Challenge achievement; the only achievement with a lower percentage is ‘Perfection’, which requires the player to complete everything there is to do and earn Stardew Valley. The performance that is simply beatable Voyage of the Prairie King – even with deaths – the completion rate is only 1.7%.
The top-down twin-stick shooter is basically its own game inside Stardew Valley — you start with four lives, but if you’re looking for the achievement, you don’t need the extras. Enemies attack in waves and they all need to be killed to advance to the next level. There are three stages with different locations, with multiple areas within each stage. Each level ends with a boss fight. Beating the game is hard, so beating the game without dying is even harder.
Barone posted some tips for beating the game in his Buy the best item you can afford in this order: ammo > revolver > boots,” he wrote. “Save a machine gun power-up for fighting Factor, you can take him out before he even has a chance to attack you.” He added that he was “intentionally” hitting Voyage of the Prairie King to play 100% of the game.
In response to a fan who cheekily posted that Barone was noting his own achievements, Barone said, “The developer gave me a pat on the back.”