Stardew Valley is one of those games where it seemingly jumps from immense success to immense success. Through consistent updates and steady evolution, it has easily become one of the most beloved and universally praised games on any platform, and that success is largely owed to its original solo developer and the small team that has since come on board.
As such, when the game's original creator Eric Barone announced he was working on a new title, Haunted Chocolatier, the future of Stardew Valley's updates was thrown into some doubt.
Fortunately for fans, Barone confirmed back in August that he would be releasing a 1.7 update when addressing the crowd at the Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons concert, saying "After that [1.6] update, I was thinking, 'I don't know if I’m going to make another update'. But I wanted to share something with you tonight, it's kind of a secret… there's going to be another update."
Despite that obviously being really exciting if you're into the game, it has generated mixed feelings from those desperate to see what Barone has been working on with The Haunted Chocolatier.
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"I love that after all this time Stardew Valley still gets updated, but I also just want Haunted Chocolatier to come out lol but it's really nice that ConcernedApe can take his time and put care into both games," one user said over on Reddit.
"I hope the guy takes his time and makes Haunted Chocolatier as good as it can be. However, how often he stops working on it due to burn out and switches to SDV updates, I genuinely wonder if the game will come out before the end of the decade lol. Hell, I'm not 100% convinced it won't get cancelled or become vaporware," another added.
Others think he may have jumped the gun when announcing the game at all, with one saying, "While I'm extremely happy he keeps updating one my friend and I’s favourite game, he really shouldn't have announced Haunted Chocolatier this early as its probably not coming out for another 5 years at this point."
Barone is yet to confirm exactly what the 1.7 update is set to contain, or when it might release, but fans of his work have been waiting in anticipation for several months for additional word on both that and progress on Haunted Chocolatier.
Whatever does happen, he has built up more than enough credit with the community to keep them trusting the process for a while longer.
Topics: Stardew Valley, Indie Games