Polygon is investigating the crime

Stardew Valley fans have seemingly looked into every pixel of the game since its release, doing everything from creating massive wikis cataloging the game's every detail to creating world-spanning mods. Despite all this work, one big mystery still eludes fans everywhere. It's 2024, and we still don't know who threw rocks at Linus and destroyed his home.

Developer Eric Barone, known as ConcernedApe, released Stardew Valley over eight years ago. It follows the story of a disgruntled office worker who quits and starts a farm on a plot of land bequeathed to them by their late grandfather. To this day, the game has an avid player base and Barone continues to release significant updates. In light of Tuesday's Stardew Valley 1.6 update, I've been thinking about this very mystery, so it seems like the best time to try to solve it.

Stardew Valley takes place in a small village called Pelican Town where you can befriend a colorful character as you start a farm. One such character is Linus, an outcast who lives in a tent on the outskirts of town. Like other townspeople, he is a bit guarded when he first meets you and doesn't want to talk to you. But he makes a request to the player: "Please don't destroy my tent. It's happened before." If you continue to talk to him throughout the seasons, he will mention other forms of harassment. In other cases, someone threw a rock at his tent while he slept, and another spray-painted it.