Stardew Valley remains a massively popular farming sim even eight years after its initial release. Naturally, fans have been eager to see what its developer, Eric Barone (known online as Concerned Ape) will do next. Of course, what he’s mostly been focused on lately is continued free updates to Stardew Valley, but gamers have not forgotten about his other project, Haunted Chocolatier. This project, originally announced in 2021, has largely flown under the radar in recent years thanks to the massive Stardew Valley 1.6 update and related projects. But now that the update has officially hit consoles as well as PC, Barone is ready to return to his shiny new project.
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Haunted Chocolatier has a familiar look in terms of art style, but Barone has been clear that it’s not going to simply be Stardew Valley 2. The game brings a spookier vibe, with a haunted castle where gamers will run a chocolate shop while also presumably doing something with the ghosts that inhabit it. The initial gameplay trailer released in 2021 shows some of what we can expect when this haunted chocolate making game finally becomes a reality, and it has many fans excited for this new creation. However, after a few development updates in 2021, Concerned Ape has largely been silent about progress on his new game.
As the focus clearly shifted back to Stardew Valley during the 1.6 update, many cozy fans lost hope that we’d ever see our spooky chocolate making dreams come to fruition. But at last, Barone has updated the Haunted Chocolatier blog with new information about the game in progress. And yes, the game is indeed still in progress!
Stardew Valley Developer Confirms He’s Still Working On New Game
In a December 4 update, Concerned Ape shared that prior to his hiatus while focusing on Stardew, Haunted Chocolatier had a skeleton with “most (not all) of its bones in place.” He states that there is a good bit of work ahead, but that he is “addicted to the grind” and intends to keep working on the game. While it’s exciting to see that the project is still underway, the blog post does confirm there’s still a long way to go before players will see Haunted Chocolatier.
Barone also confirmed that the game will not launch into Early Access or have any sort of crowdfunding campaigns. These are big trends, especially in the indie and cozy space, but the Stardew dev wants to stick to what’s worked for him in the past – and that includes not adding “a ton of external pressure to finish the game on a timeline.”
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Along with these updates on what to expect (and not expect) from Haunted Chocolatier, Concerned Ape’s post does include a few new screenshots from the game in progress. They, like any early game footage, are subject to change before the game’s launch. But there are some cute little monsters and an adorable little house, which give a nice insight into how the game’s aesthetic will be similar to and different from Stardew Valley.
As of now, there is no anticipated release window for Haunted Chocolatier and no promises of more consistent updates. Nevertheless, Barone wants fans to rest assured that just because he isn’t posting about his new game, that doesn’t mean he’s not working on it behind the scenes.
