"It Sets The Cave To Wumbo": Stardew Valley Fans Shed Light On An Interesting Feature Within Skull Cavern

One Stardew Valleyplayer has just discovered a mysterious button located in the Skull Caverns, leaving them to wonder what its purpose is. Players that have progressed far into the game will be familiar with the dangerous Skull Caverns located in the desert, a daring venture that's better left until gamers are well-prepared. Without any way to save progress through elevators, these mines are a risk to go deeper into but offer great rewards to those who dare.

The player, Otherwise-Term-9322, stumbled across a strange button located outside the Skull Caverns. Marked by a giant skull and popping up with a question mark when interacted with, it's clear that this red button is there for a purpose, but the game doesn't tell players exactly what it's for, which led them to Reddit in search of answers.

Helpful commenters came to the rescue though, explaining that this button will replace enemies with their more dangerous counterparts as well as adding radioactive ore nodes.

Stardew Valley Skull Cavern Has A Higher Difficulty Level For Fearless Fans

Why Not Make Stardew Valley's Toughest Area Even Harder?

If players are looking for even more of a challenge than the normal Skull Caverns, helpful Reddit commenters have solved the mystery of what this button actually does. Commenter iamergo states,"It toggles the "Dangerous" mode, which replaces enemies with their "dangerous" versions and adds radioactive ore nodes to the pool of possible ore nodes." This adds a whole new level of fear to the already feared Skull Caverns and gives hardcore veteran players more of a challenge.

Harvey and Linus looking surprised at a player breaking a rock in the mines in Stardew Valley.

"I Didn’t Even Know That Was Possible": Unlucky Stardew Valley Player Has The Worst Luck In The Mines, Not Once But Twice

A Stardew Valley player has demonstrated incredibly awful luck by incurring the near-maximum penalty for dying in the mines twice in a row.

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While it's already very tough to go down into the mines, with many players preparing through specific meals or enhanced weaponry, this extra mode turns enemies into their even more dangerous variants for the benefit of better loot. Some other funny commenters made sure to prepare the player for what they'd be getting themselves in for, as user Django-UN claims it turns the mines to "Wumbo", which references a quite hilarious SpongeBob SquarePants episode.

Our Take: As If Skull Cavern Wasn't Scary Enough On Its Own, Click The Button

ConcernedApe Knows How To Give Players A Challenge

Players that have completed Stardew Valley's base mines are most likely already aware that the Skull Caverns in the Calico Desert offer a much tougher challenge for players, even before pressing this strange button. Without any way to resume progress, players are reset to level one every time they enter, with hundreds of levels to traverse.

While this is substantially tougher than the other mines, the chances for players to pick up iridium ore are also much greater, as well as offering special item drops from enemies. There is also more information regarding the "hard-mode" button on Stardew Valley's wiki, which gives an in-depth rundown on how to unlock and use it, and what the mines hold once the button has been pressed.

By collecting 100 Golden Walnuts and gaining access to the Walnut Room on Ginger Island, gamers will then be able to unlock the usage of this even harder mode for themselves. This is sure to take a lengthy amount of time though, encouraging players to go deep into their Stardew Valleygame before taking on this incredible challenge.