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Stardew Valley creator’s next game is about a haunted chocolatier

In a surprise announcement, the lone developer behind Stardew Valley, Eric Barone, revealed his next game. Titled Haunted Chocolatier, the game places players in the shoes of a chocolate maker who has just moved to a new town.

ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier -- Early Gameplay

By just about every metric, it seems that Haunted Chocolatier shares a lot of DNA with Stardew Valley. The game features an extremely similar pixel art style to the farming simulator, all the way down to individual character portraits that show up when players speak to NPCs. Likewise, the game’s UI has the same style as Stardew Valley.

Player running in front of the choclaterie in Haunted Chocolatier.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Gameplay seems to be the only area where Barone — who also goes by the studio name ConcernedApe — makes a divergence between the two games. Players won’t farm crops or tend to animals, but rather will keep their small chocolate business afloat. To do that, players will travel through a portal in their house to a forest, where they can collect resources used to make chocolate, all the while fighting off enemies. Haunted Chocolatier‘s combat isn’t complex by any means, again sharing a majority of its DNA with Stardew Valley.

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Once they’ve made their chocolate, players can decorate their shop with countertops, lamps, and other decor, and put their goods out for the town’s residents to buy. However, it won’t be players putting their goods out, but small ghosts, which is where the “haunted” bit of the game’s title comes into play. The ghosts don’t seem malicious, and instead help players run their shop.

Today’s trailer for Haunted Chocolatier only announced that the game is in development. A release date, along with platforms for the game, has not been announced.

Otto Kratky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…
Haunted Chocolatier: everything we know so far
Character running past a chocolate factory in Haunted Chocolatier.

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 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.
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