"Clint this, Sandy that": Stardew Valley fans have bigger things on their mind than the 1.7 marriage candidates, like the goblin villages ConcernedApe "completely scrapped"

While working on Stardew Valley and its 1.7 update, creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone chose to give us a quick sneak peek at the farming sim's two new marriage candidates after looking back at what could've been – and one axed feature has left fans wanting more.

Speaking in the recent Stardew Valley 10-year anniversary video on YouTube, the developer unveils an early build of the game from 2013. He covers some of the content he cut or ended up changing, like procedurally generated mines akin to Terraria, and… goblin villages? Yep.

"Here we have a goblin village – an underground goblin village," he says at around the 9:06 mark. "All this content [was] completely scrapped from the game."

He doesn't feel any remorse about the decision to remove goblin villages, either. "I don't regret it. Just 'cause something sounds cool, just 'cause the idea is cool, doesn't mean that it's going to be fun, or it's going to be the right idea in practice."

And, just to rub some salt into the goblin village-less wound, he confirms, "By the way, goblin villages are not canon." In fact, everything shown from old builds "is not considered to be canonical Stardew Valley."

Unsurprisingly, fans aren't thrilled that goblin villages could've been a thing – and now are not (I mean, just listen to that music).

Over on Reddit, one person posts a clip of the dev's "reveal" of the considered feature, writing, "It's never too late to add Goblin Villages CA!" The top comment amusingly reads, "People have big feelings about the marriage candidates. I have big feelings about the secret goblin village we could have had!"

Elsewhere on the site, another post echoes this sentiment. "Obviously, marriage candidates are big news, but I just want my goblin village. This was the most important thing in the whole video for me. It's canon in my heart. I would love if 1.7 took us to new underground story places. More dwarves or shadow people (or goblins!) to talk to and make friends with."

Me too, but judging by ConcernedApe's words, I think he's firm on no goblin villages.

Reactions over on Twitter are just as hilarious. "Clint this, Sandy that, but you know what got me most interested about the 10-year video of Stardew Valley?" a player asks, referencing all the discussions surrounding Clint and Sandy, the two new marriage candidates.

"The concept of a Goblin Village that was scrapped. Adding a bit more of overworld exploration would be nice. Especially for the swamp area, it would fit right in."

Another fan looks to modders for help in their thread. "Happy 10-year anniversary, Stardew Valley! Modding community, y'all know what to do about Goblin Village. I don't even gotta say it." Hear, hear! I'll personally be keeping my eyes on Nexus Mods…

"I don't know what I was thinking": Stardew Valley creator went through hell 6 months before launch, and the game didn't come together until "the last moment"