Stardew Valley is nearing its massive 10th anniversary, and developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has treated us with a teaser about the 1.7 update and its two new marriage candidates – but without concrete evidence on who they could be, the fandom is going wild.
Guesses have been all over the place, ranging from more ridiculous theories like Mr. Qi to some genuinely possible suggestions, including Clint and Sandy – but the one that has left me the most shocked has to be this idea that stems from a statement ConcernedApe made during the Tiger Belly podcast last year. Put simply, it revolves around NPCs Demetrius and Robin divorcing, like, canonically… because of the player.
A fan has uploaded a clip of the dev's words on Reddit, insinuating that it implies the two new romanceable characters coming in 1.7 could be Demetrius and Robin.
"I immediately thought of this with the announcement that ConcernedApe is adding two new marriage candidates," the poster writes – and fellow players are running with it. As one so eloquently exclaims in the comments, "Daddy Demetrius, here I come!"
ConcernedApe talking about wanting to make Robin and Demetrius romanceable by allowing the player to break them up. from r/StardewValley
They're sticking to it so much so, in fact, that they're calling for other NPCs to divorce, too. "I wish we could break Caroline and Pierre up," somebody replies, and they're not alone. I'm seeing various calls for Caroline to ditch Pierre, either to marry the player or… the wizard? You know what, valid, I guess.
Not everyone is on board with the whole homewrecking thing, though. Plenty of folks think it kills the whole "cozy" vibe.
"Y'all be like, 'Stardew Valley is my cozy game! It's how I relax and escape the negativity of the real world,' and then proceed to break up two sets of happily married couples, steal and wear the mayor's underwear, and hate the blacksmith with an unwavering passion," as one fan puts it.
Another similarly states, "I thought this was supposed to be the most wholesome gaming community." Hey, two things can be true at once, right?
I'm not sure I personally believe that this whole Demetrius and Robin situation will play out like ConcernedApe's hypothetical town-destroying scenario (as much as I wish it would), so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for two brand-new NPCs instead.
