This Stardew Valley mod lets you have a best friend instead of a wife
Because not every character arc needs to end in romance.
If you're aromantic, relationships in games can sometimes be an unwelcome addition. Either that, or you want to experience the full offerings of each character arc without having to wine and dine them all. Or y'know, you're bitterly single. Well thankfully, Stardew Valley has a mod that lets you toggle platonic relationships with your fellow Pelican Town residents (thanks, PCGamesN).
Amaranthacyan's Platonic Partners and Friendships Mod allows you to fully change the extent of your relationships with each of the 12 default marriage candidates. You can set the candidates as marriage options, life partners, or simply best friends. The mod also tweaks a ton of the romantic dialogue where appropriate, reduces the use of the blushing portrait, and lets you designate what label you'd like to the relationship to have. There's also the option to choose your own term of endearment, and even an asexuality mode which removes suggestive comments made by platonic partners.
It's a great mod that lets you comfortably view everybody's 8+ heart cutscenes without ending up in some complicated dating ring, or if you just don't fancy any romance in your game at all. Amaranthacyan does warn that while the mod has been playtested as much as possible, some inconsistencies may still remain.
The mod is available over on NexusMods if you'd like to check it out. We've also got a bundle of other Stardew Valley mods for you to take a gander at.
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Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.