Haunted Chocolatier: Everything we know about the New Game from Stardew Valley's Creator

Eric Barone, AKA Concerned Ape and creator of Stardew Valley, announced earlier this week that he's been working on a new game: Haunted Chocolatier. Here's everything we know:

What is Haunted Chocolatier?

Concerned Ape seems to be sticking to his roots with the art style and the general feel-good escapism featured in Stardew Valley, however, he feels that Haunted Chocolatier is his chance to break free from a genre and create some "fantastical."

In this game, you will play as a chocolatier living in a haunted castle. In order to thrive in your new role, you will have to gather rare ingredients, make delicious chocolates, and sell them in a chocolate shop.

Initial Thoughts

The only thing that could make Stardew Valley even more perfect...is chocolate.

The "fantasical" element is something that I really missed in Stardew Valley after religiously playing Harvest Moon. Secret lairs, courting mermaids, and goddess quarrels added a deep layer of mystery that really grabbed and kept my attention and I searched mercilessly to hunt down all of the harvest sprites.

This in particular is just my cup of tea. A little dark and moody, a little weird, and a game you could cuddle up on the couch with on a rainy day.

Is Haunted Chocolatier Similar to Stardew Valley?

Like Stardew Valley, this game will be centered around a town and starting a new life defined with a fulfilling purpose: a chocolate shop. Unlike Stardew Valley, the core of this game will be an action RPG.

I'm really interested to see how he mingles the concept of a town game into an action RPG, that could be an interesting genre all in itself, reminiscent of the original Pokemon games or the new indie hit Eastward.

When is Haunted Chocolatier's Release Date?

Since the game has only been in development for a year, the release date is to be determined.

What Platforms will Haunted Chocolatier Release On?

Definitely on PC, but unknown for other consoles. This suggests that he may not be working with a publisher, perhaps due to his success and experience launching Stardew Valley.

This is quite interesting to me, as it hints that he might not be working with Chucklefish anymore.

Side note, as a developer, launching a game to PC is...unbelievably easy. Like, you push a button easy. This leads me to believe that he might be publishing the game by himself and why console ports are so up in the air. There's a lot of weird requirements out there on porting to consoles, so that would explain why he doesn't know what platforms the game will be on for sure.

Mobile and Nintendo Switch are going to be the most likely "fast follows," since these are by far the easiest platforms to port to compared to Playstation and Xbox.  

That's it for now, folks. I'll update as I know more!