It looks like Rune Factory 5 players in Japan now have more romancing options to choose from.

Marvelous has released the game’s version 1.1.0 update in Japan, which adds support for same-gender romance/marriage. Here are the translated patch notes below (courtesy of Gematsu):

Version 1.1.0

• Added support for romance and marriage with characters of the same gender.
  • When the player confesses their love to a character of the same gender and receives a positive response, the game will progress with their romance scenario.
• Fixed a bug where you might not be able to advance if a marriage candidate asks you out on a date and you go out on a date while an event is in progress.

This option for same-gender romance/marriage will also be available as a base feature in the game when it launches in North America on 22 March 2022, and 25 March 2022 in Europe. We’ll report back if we hear more in the future.