Despite being released in 2016, Stardew Valley continues to inspire speedruns and serve as a bastion of relaxation and zen in a hectic world. The game’s singular creator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone announced his next solo title Haunted Chocolatier in October 2021, and while no release date has been set, more and more screenshots are making their way to Twitter indicating a likely smooth development period.
In a new interview with Game Informer, Barone made an interesting comment regarding a third game in the works. A collaborative project, little is known quite yet, although the creator has explained that he’s “not trying to make the next big indie hit.”
Following Stardew Valley, Haunted Chocolatier will be another solo game developed entirely by Barone. This mystery project seems to be more complex. “I was almost considering – it might be interesting to release the game under an alias,” he said. “And people don’t even know it’s me, and then to see if it could actually just be successful on its own merits. But I feel like that’s a bit disingenuous; I’m not going to do that.”
Barrone has stated that Haunted Chocolatier will be the first to be released. The game will see players gathering ingredients, making chocolate, and running a chocolate shop while dealing with otherworldly phenomena. ConcernedApe notoriously likes to keep things under wraps until release, so players will need to wait until the final product to see what the title will bring to the table.
Stardew Valley was initially released on PC in February 2016 and has later been ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, and mobile devices. The game sold over 15 million copies as of 2021 and inspired a board game, along with a physical Collectors Edition of the formerly digital-only title. Haunted Chocolatier is in production, and no release date has been announced. The game is confirmed to share the same relationship system with Stardew Valley, a fan-favorite feature, with improved dialogue and more opportunities to react with NPCs.