Stardew Valley Marks 10th Anniversary as 1.7 Adds Clint and Sandy as Marriage Candidates
stardew valley turns 10 years old today, and its solo creator used the anniversary to unveil a sneak peek of the long-awaited 1. 7 update. The announcement matters because the preview confirmed the first new marriage candidates in years—Clint and Sandy—while also underscoring that development on the game continues even as updates have slowed.
ConcernedApe and Eric Barone Premiere Anniversary Video
Solo developer ConcernedApe, also known as Eric Barone, premiered a video on YouTube to mark the milestone and to celebrate the project’s history. The presentation took a trip down memory lane, showing old builds of the farming sim and offering a behind-the-scenes look at how the game came together. Despite not being a live service title, Barone is still providing content updates to this day, though those updates have slowed significantly in recent years.
Clint and Sandy Revealed as New Marriage Candidates
At the very end of the anniversary video, Barone revealed that players will be able to romance Clint, the blacksmith, and Sandy, a shopkeeper in the desert, in the 1. 7 update. The update is described as coming soon but does not have a release window yet; the developer said only that it will hopefully be out sometime soon. The explicit reveal of marriage options is the most concrete change shown in the preview.
Community Reaction to Clint’s New Romance Path
Clint’s inclusion is notable because he is often the target of jokes and dislike within the community for his personality; in a cast of beloved characters, he stands out as one of the most commonly disdained. What makes this notable is that adding a romance quest can give characters more narrative depth, and romance mechanics often reshape how players perceive long-standing NPCs, so the choice may be an attempt to shift Clint’s standing among players.
Robin, the Wizard and the Question of Further Additions
Long-requested characters such as Robin—who is married when the player first arrives in the village, a detail that has not deterred fans seeking a romantic option—and the Wizard remain unconfirmed as marriage candidates. The developer did not promise additional bachelors or bachelorettes, and unless more content arrives in a hypothetical 1. 8 update, fans who want different pairings will need to rely on fan fiction and mods.
Related Platform Updates and Haunted Chocolatier
The anniversary message also reminded players of recent platform work: the Switch 2 update for the game includes split-screen co-op and mouse controls for those returning after a break. As for the creator’s next project, Haunted Chocolatier, no release date has been given; the timing is unclear in the provided context, but the title is already noted as an anticipated follow-up from the developer.
The 1. 7 preview combined celebration, archival footage and concrete gameplay news in a single presentation. For players and observers the immediate effect is simple and measurable: the game’s roster of romance options will expand to include two named NPCs when 1. 7 arrives, while the broader implication is that the team—effectively a single developer—remains engaged with the title a decade on despite slower update cadence.
