The shadow guy in Stardew Valley
Image by Destructoid

How to complete A Winter Mystery in Stardew Valley

Not a mystery for long

Most quests in Stardew Valley only appear in your J🐽ournal when you’ve accepted them, but some will appear aft💝er cutscenes. ‘A Winter Mystery’ is one of these quests, and the steps to complete it aren’t exactly clear. 

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How to begin ‘A Winter Mystery’  in Stardew Valley

The bus stop where you'll encounter the Shadow Guy in Stardew Valley
Screenshot by Destructoid

Unlike some other quests that require you to build relationships or complete certain objectives, A Winter Mystery is a qওuest that is easy to unloc🍷k. All you need to do is leave your farm during the Winter and head to the Bus Stop between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.

If you do, you may encounter a shadowy figure. He’s known, at this point, as ‘The Shadow Guy’, and he’ll run away as soon as you see him. Now you need to find him, but Pelican Town is a pretty big place to search. ꩵThankfully, there’s a trail of footprints to follow.

How to complete ‘A Winter Mystery’ in Stardew Valley

The bush you need to interact with in order to complete 'A Winter Mystery' in Stardew Valley
Screenshot by Destructoid

To complete ‘A Winter Mystery’, head into town and up to where the Community Center is. Here, you’ll see the footprints leading intoܫ the bush shown above. 

Interacting with this bush will cause the Shadow Guy to jump out and apologize for stealing, because it turns out he’s quite the little thief. He’ll go on to give you the Magnifying Glass, which is a very useful tool, and the ‘A Winter Mystery’ quest will be complete. 

How to use the Magnifying Glass in Stardew Valley

Secret Notes in Stardew Valley
Screenshot by Destructoid

You don’t actually use the Magnifying Glass in Stardew Valley, but now that you have it, you’ll be able to gather Secret Notes. These Notes can drop while undertaking different act𓃲ivities, and provide useful information, or can lead to secret items or rare interactions.

Se🎐cret Notes have a specific drop rate from different🍎 activities:

ActivityDrop rate
Removing weeds0.9%
Killing monsters3.3%
Chopping trees0.5%
Fishing8%
Artifact Spots11%
Breaking stones0.75%
Removing:
– Large Stumps
– Large Logs
– Meteorites
– Boulders
5%
Destroying a Giant Crop100%

Once you’ve found a note, you’ll need to equip it in your hotbar and then use it in the same way that﷽ you consume food, which will reveal the secrets within. Y💟ou can check any previously opened notes in the Secret Notes tab of the Collections menu. 

Most of the Secret Notes contain information which will help you figure out the loved gไifts for each villager, although some of them contain maps guiding you to secret items such as a Ju꧟nimo Plush.


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Paula Vaynshteyn
With her first experience of gaming being on an Atari ST, Paula has been gaming for her entire life. She’s 7,000 hours deep into Final Fantasy XIV, spends more time on cozy games than she would care to admit, and is also your friendly resident Whovian. Juggling online adventuring with family life has its struggles, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.