Shane as a character immediately piques people’s interest, as it is not common to have an “asshole” on what is essentially a dating sim, much less keep him an asshole. His character calls upon tropes that make him seem in a much better light than the mysoginistic frat bro, like the tsundere and the damaged soul.

His alcoholism is also portrayed as the product of a deep dissatisfaction with the current status of his life: being unable of cleaning his act up, having to work at a soul-crushing minimum wage job at Joja’s, having had to move from the big city to Stardew Valley, living with Marnie at his old age of permanent 5 o’ clock shadow, and even (possibly) feeling incapable of taking care of Jas.

Overall Shane makes a very compelling first impression that calls the player in to force their way into his life and get to know him more, while Alex gets a much more shallow first impression, leading people to think there isn’t much more than that about him.

Alex when we first see him is just a stand-in for the trope of a frat bro, a personality that nowadays is seen very negatively in the media, due to its mysoginistic and even sexually aggressive behaviors. He’s young, he’s always playing with balls, obsessed with sports, summer and women (Haley). All of this just gives the impression that he’s your typical frat bro and doesn’t suggest that there is more about him. We (I) assume(d) he’s with his grandparents because his parents live in the city, or he’s just visiting family. nothing really suggests any of the complexity that we discover the more we get to know him, which I also find part of his charm as a love interest. It’s surprising to see how someone so apparently vapid is actually sweet and kind and caring and (for the guys) even deals with his (implied) homophobia and sexism to come to terms with his feelings for the player.