In late 2021, indie developer Eric Barone (commonly known as ConcernedApe online), famed for single-handedly creating the magical Stardew Valley (one of Digital Trends’ best video games of all time), officially announced that he was developing an all-new game that instantly shot up to the top of our list of anticipated upcoming video games alongside Silksong and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. That game is called Haunted Chocolatier, and it looks like a whole other world of fun, casual simulation where you find out the secret desires of every single member of your community.
Details are still limited. but don’t worry —plenty of info has already dropped. We’ll keep you updated about every detail so you know what’s going on.
Release date speculation
There is no set release date for Haunted Chocolatier, and it looks like it’s going to be in development a bit longer than fans initially expected.
Console and mobile ports are still in progress. I acknowledge that they are taking a long time. There are reasons for this, but the bottom line is that they are not out yet, we are still working on them, and they have been our primary focus since 1.6 came out for PC. It would be…
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) August 28, 2024
An August update from Concerned Ape came as a post on X (formerly Twitter) partially commenting on the Stardew Valley 1.6 update for consoles. Here, it is revealed that this update has been the team’s primary focus to the point where “I have not touched Haunted Chocolatier in a long time.” It seems we will have quite a long wait ahead indeed.
Later in December, we got a full blog post on the game’s official website where ConcernedApe went into more detail about the slow development. He explains that he initially wanted the Stardew Valley 1.6 update to be “done by others so that I could focus on Haunted Chocolatier” but end up getting wrapped up in development himself. While the blog doesn’t give much new info, it does give a bit of hope that the game is indeed in progress. “I’ve already done a ton of work on the game. Before I took this break for Stardew 1.6, I had created a “vertical slice” of Haunted Chocolatier, essentially a skeleton of the game with most (not all) of its bones in place,” he explains. “My next task will be to tweak the existing bones until I’m happy with them, add all the rest of the bones, and then flesh it all out with all the content that will need to be in the game. Yes, it’s going to be a lot of work still, but it’s okay, I’m addicted to the grind.”
The only other details of note are that he has no plans to do any sort of early access, crowdfunding, or even preorders for Haunted Chocolatier. The post ends with a simple “Thank you for reading all this, and I look forward to sharing this new world with you… when it’s ready 
”
Platforms
Haunted Chocolatier will absolutely be coming out on PC, but there has been no mention of other platforms.
Stardew Valley eventually made its way to consoles and mobile, so we’re assuming Haunted Chocolatier will be readily available to all gamers as well.
Trailers
We’ve only seen a quick glimpse of Haunted Chocolatier in an early gameplay video released in October 2021. The video shows citizens going about their day in a cozy little town, a little bit of combat as a character gathers ingredients in the wild, and some chocolate-making footage from inside the chocolate factory.
Gameplay
Haunted Chocolatier begins with the player starting up a chocolate shop while living in a haunted castle in the middle of a snowy community. The player will need to seek a wide variety of ingredients and alliances to make the best chocolate possible and ultimately reach success.
It’s not surprising just how similar the game looks to Stardew Valley so far. ConcernedApe has compared it to the energy of the moon, as Stardew Valley was the energy of the sun. The art style, movement, and interface are all recognizable here. However, it is being created in a new engine, which appears to allow for some important additions. So far, there’s no information if it’s actually placed in the same world as Stardew Valley.
The simulation aspects
One of the things people fell in love with in Stardew Valley was the ability to take their time, get to know everyone in the community, and make progress with a variety of relationships (and farming, of course), what Barone calls a “town game.” Haunted Chocolatier will be more of the same, with similar systems to give gifts, get to know characters, and progress relationships…or make mistakes.
Action and combat
Here’s where Haunted Chocolatier splits from Stardew Valley in important ways. There is a much greater emphasis on Action RPG features, and that includes combat, which has a complete overhaul. There will be a variety of weapons and shields, a full blocking system, a stun system connected with successfully blocking enemies, and more. This should make foraging attempts and exploration an interesting part of the game for those who want a little more action in their chocolate-making plans.
Surprisingly, the combat in the game could take a bit of inspiration from Diablo II.
“When I was in the early stages of Haunted Chocolatier, I was playing a bunch of Diablo II. Getting loot and seeing your numbers go up on the stats? I like that stuff,” said Barone in a December 2022 interview with Screen Rant. “I feel like a lot of Stardew Valley players aren’t that into it, but I’ve just got to do what I think is fun. And I think that’ll shine through in the game, if I’m excited about it.”
The soundtrack
Fans of Stardew Valley are no doubt eager to know what sort of soothing tunes Haunted Chocolatier will have. Good news — it sounds great so far. You can check out the trailer to get an idea of what to expect. We probably won’t hear much more until the game nears completion.
Multiplayer and co-op
According to the FAQ section of the developer’s blog, Haunted Chocolatier is being designed as a single-player game with no plans for any kind of multiplayer aspects.
Preorders
If the blog post on Haunted Chocolatier‘s website is to be believed, there will not be any preorder options for the game. If that changes, we will keep you updated.
