Eric Barone warns that Stardew Valley's hat mouse has gone missing, but only in Spanish games
Stardew Valley's 1.6.9 update has arrived with a few hiccups, including missing chickens and a sudden announcement to remove all hats from pets to avoid performance issues, and these peculiar problems aren't slowing down. Fortunately, ConcernedApe has reassured us with various responses that things will be taken care of in the next update, but when that will be remains a mystery.
The newest issue raised by a player on X states that the hat mouse, the beloved character responsible for selling you new hats, is completely missing from its usual location southeast of the Wizard Tower. But rather than stopping players from buying hats, the door to its shed can still be interacted with to open the shop menu. Bizarrely, the issue is only affecting players with their language set to Spanish, which ConcernedApe warned in response to the bug being flagged, alongside the confirmation that it will be resolved in the next update alongside everything else.
There was no reason shared as to why this is affecting players in Spanish exclusively. But, the consensus is that the banner for the shop is different in Spanish since it says 'Sombreros' rather than 'Hats' which may have caused the sprite of the mouse and the banner to not appear. You'll still receive the letter from the hat mouse saying you can come and buy hats, but the shack will continue to look closed. Basically, the mouse has scampered off and left an honesty box in the shed for you to drop your gold into in exchange for a stylish new cap.
Unlike the other issues raised as part of this update, like the case of missing chickens being stolen by "invisible coyotes" or the rash affecting dogs and cats resulting in needing to remove hats from pets, the mystery of the hat mouse doesn't come with any lore. I like to think that our favourite accessory-wielding rodent is taking some well-deserved time off since I can't imagine selling hats to overworked farmers is a forgiving business. A lot of other players are suggesting that the mouse is having a siesta, which is equally as wholesome. Generally, it's nice to see players interacting with bugs in a fun way rather than kicking off about a missing sprite.
Hopefully, an update fixing these problems comes sooner rather than later, but I can't lie, I love seeing how ConcernedApe is responding to the player reports. I can only imagine how stressful it is to have a barrage of people sharing everything going wrong with a game you've created, but there is something admirable about how he's handling it. The stories that Barone is creating to coincide with each bug make them feel less like a problem and part of Stardew's story instead, and I look forward to the reasoning behind them more than the fix itself. Even though the hat mouse didn't get the same treatment, which yes, I am slightly bitter about.