Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) has released a 10th anniversary video revealing, among other things, two brand new marriage candidates being added to the game in the upcoming patch 1.7: Clint and Sandy.
Clint has long been a requested bachelor by the Stardew Valley community. As the valley blacksmith, he's the one who upgrades all the player's tools and opens geodes for them, meaning visiting him regularly is pretty common. But players have wanted to romance him largely because of his awkward relationship with an existing marriage candidate, Emily. Clint has a huge crush on Emily that remains unrequited even the player doesn't marry Emily, but has a few scenes where he seems downright hurt if they do. Giving Clint more of a storyline that his current tactiturn, awkward lines is a much-needed change.
Sandy has also been a requested marriageable villager. She's the manager of the Oasis in the Desert, meaning players don't usually see her until they've played for a while. And unfortunately she never actually leaves the Oasis, so there are fewer opportunities for interactions with her. However, she's kind to the player, leaving the fandom hungry for more Sandy storyline and more interactions with her, which they'll certainly get now.
Additionally, ConcernedApe opened the video by showing off some old builds of Stardew Valley (then "Sprout Valley") along with his own commentary. The sequence begins with the game's original 2012 look, six months into development, when he had a "functioning game" that was very rudimentary, and similar to the original Harvest Moon game. Even so, you can see how much the basic design of the game looks very similar, right down to where things are located in Pelican Town, the bus, and more.
