Stardew Valley Creator's Next Game Gets Unexpected Hefty Map Tease

Stardew Valley creator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has revealed another big teaser for his next game.

We first heard about Haunted Chocolatier way back in 2021 with a fun gameplay trailer, but even after six years of development, we still don’t have a rough release window.

Between juggling this and the upcoming 1.7 update for Stardew Valley, there’s no denying that Barone has a lot on his plate right now. Despite that, it seems he’s also quite comfortable with sharing more details of the upcoming life sim game.

Speaking to Game Informer, Barone talks about all things Stardew and Chocolatier. It seems the man doesn’t take a break, revealing he’s spending five days a week on Haunted Chocolatier, and the other two on Stardew Valley.

He’s also let out some details about the scope of Haunted Chocolatier, teasing that it’ll be a bigger game than Stardew Valley.

“It’s way bigger than Stardew Valley, at least in terms of the amount of maps, the amount of monsters, the depth to the whole item system, and all the equipment slots and all the stuff like this,” Barone says, adding that “Everything is cranked up.”

Barone goes on to tease that Haunted Chocolatier will explore darker themes than Stardew, saying: “I'm interested in exploring a darker theme, a darker atmosphere.”

ConcernedApe

He adds: “The ghosts, the haunted nature, the castle, allow for a lot of interesting, creative things that I can do that are kind of creepy, like not totally horrifying, but maybe slightly, you know, creepy stuff.”

Obviously, Stardew Valley has its own share of spooky goings-on, but considering Haunted Chocolatier deals with ghosts (plus, y’know, the clue’s in the name), it’s easy to see how Barone might be able to weave in some darker themes into the game.

Stardew Valley Creator ConcernedApe Is One Busy Person

If Stardew Valley Update 1.7 and Haunted Chocolatier weren’t enough, Barone has also expressed interest in doing a Stardew Valley 2.

Barone said earlier this year that he “would love to” make a sequel to Stardew Valley, because “it would just be fun to work on a whole new set of characters, a whole new world, maybe capture some of that original energy that I had back in 2012, when I started working on Stardew Valley.”

Stardew Valley was released in February 2016 and has gone on to become one of the most successful indie games of all time.

It sold roughly 425,000 copies in its first two weeks on PC, but this ballooned to a whopping 3.5 million by the end of 2017. After being ported to many different platforms, the game has accrued 50 million copies as of its tenth anniversary.

It's also had a massive impact on the 'farming' and 'cosy' gaming genres, with many new games made by indie developers aiming to capture the same audience with their visuals, gameplay, and themes.

Read Next: Stardew Valley Rival Drops Free Sample On Steam, 10/10 Ratings Flood In