Many indie games offer players a range of character creation and relationship options, as these have traditionally been absent in large-scale AAA productions. One game that arguably set a standard in this regard was Stardew Valley, which released in 2016 with six bachelors and six bachelorettes to woo regardless of how players design their farmer.
Some of these Pelican Town residents have deeper, darker stories to dive into, such as Shane dealing with alcoholism and depression or Penny dealing with poverty and her mother's binge drinking. Others have more straightforward arcs, and among them Maru is one of the most multifaceted characters in the cast. She's more difficult to approach than other options given her family lives in the mountains and she's often hard at work, but there is a sweet story with some outlandish twists for players who pursue this relationship.
Maru's Family Fostered a Number of Interests
Maru is the daughter of Pelican Town's carpenter Robin and scientist Demetrius, as well as Sebastian's half-brother. As Sebastian was Robin's first child with her previous husband, he expresses resentment about Maru being the "favorite child" and getting more attention. He is cold and distant toward Maru, who says Sebastian hardly talks to her and that, "I want to have a brother but he doesn't act like one." This is also reflected in their opposing demeanors; Sebastian spending a lot of time sullen in his basement room, meanwhile Maru is more outgoing and ambitious with a variety of hobbies and interests.
During her free time Maru is interested in constructing robots and working on other gadgets. She also has a particularly strong love of astronomy, decorating her room with starry wallpaper and spending a lot of time with her telescope. Whatever interest in science she picked up from her dad also translated to real-world skills, as Maru has a part-time job working as a nurse at Harvey's medical clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Maru's Likes and Dislikes are Fitting for Miners and Mechanics
Stardew Valley allows players to build up their relationships by talking to residents and offering them up to two gifts every week. A lot of Maru's favorite gifts should be obvious, and will be easy to collect for players who frequent the mines. Diamonds, gold bars, iridium bars, and radioactive bars are loved gifts, meanwhile copper bars, iron bars, and quartz are in the "Likes" category. Maru also loves to receive battery packs and some foods like cauliflower, strawberries, rhubarb pie, and pepper poppers, with oak resin and pine tar being liked choices too.
Players should avoid holly, honey, pickles, snow yams, and truffles if they hope to woo Maru, plus other foraging goods such as blackberries, samonberries, common mushrooms, and crystal fruit. Maple syrup is also not a great option, despite coming from a tapper like oak resin and pine tar. The Pelican Town movie theater is a great place to take Maru as she doesn't dislike any of its films, and she's a fan of star cookies or stardrop sorbet from the concessions stand.
Maru's Heart Events
Maru's heart events focus around her multiple interests and only converge toward the end. At two hearts players will help Maru and her dad with an experiment, and then at four hearts they help her with an accident at the clinic (one the player causes by startling her). Players who reach six hearts with Maru can join her to stargaze in the mountains, and after that she'll begin to let them in on her secret project. Both the eight and 10-heart events center Maru building a robot to help Robin and Demetreus in the event she moves out. Though the robot becomes self aware and requests to be free, this episode convinces Demetreus that the player is a good partner for Maru.
Once married Maru moves to the farmhouse, retrofitting her room with gadgets and a familiar starry wallpaper. Some days she works on a gadget outdoors, and her gifts are more industrial products like refined quartz or bombs for mining. However, at 14 hearts the player gets one more cutscene in which the couple go stargazing again, this time to see a comet pass by Earth. This is a nice, quiet conclusion to a story that includes things as ridiculous as building sentient robots, and is just one more reason why Maru is worth considering as a partner in Stardew Valley.
Stardew Valley is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.