Previously, Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone had hinted that he was working on a new project unrelated to the popular farming simulator, but few fans suspected news would be arriving so soon. However, on October 21, a mysterious video simply titled "???" was uploaded to the developer's YouTube channel. This marked the first non-Stardew Valley video on the channel, and the reveal of Barone's newest project, entitled Haunted Chocolatier.
Barone's first project, Stardew Valley, was initially released in 2016 and was inspired by Barone's love for the Harvest Moon series. The game, which includes elements of farming, fighting, mining, fishing, relationship building, and more, has become a critical and commercial success and has seen release on a variety of platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles and even Tesla cars. As of 2021, Stardew Valley has sold over 15 million copies in total.
Although visually similar to Stardew, Haunted Chocolatier sees players embark on a new journey as the owner and head chef at a gourmet chocolatier staffed by adorable ghosts. The two-and-a-half-minute preview video revealed various gameplay elements including combat, conversation with various characters, ingredient gathering, and visiting a blacksmith's forge. The game seems to draw greater inspiration from role-playing games than Stardew Valley, with a dynamic combat system and multiple weapon options. Barone described the project as "early in development," and did not specify a release date. Previously, when hosting the Stardew Valley Cup event, he confirmed that the game was "not a sequel" to Stardew Valley.
Barone had discussed the possibility of working on non-Stardew related projects as early as 2018, though he chose to re-focus on Stardew while developing its multiplayer mode and porting it to various consoles. The 1.5 content update, which released in December 2020, added a massive amount of content to the game. This included a new location, Ginger Island, with puzzles Barone confirmed in an interview were inspired by Super Mario 64, several new crops, crafting items, and recipes, and a "Perfection" system that tracks how many of the game's updates a player has completed. Due to the implementation of the Perfection system, many sources speculated that 1.5 would be the game's last update and that Barone would move on to other projects.
Haunted Chocolatier seems to include elements which fans of Stardew will enjoy, such as its pixelated art style and the ability to expand and improve your chocolate business by learning new recipes and crafting or purchasing new types of furniture. However, the short initial reveal trailer alone seems to indicate that the game will have a wider variety of tasks and locations, including a bustling city and a scientific laboratory complete with ongoing experiments.
Unfortunately, it will likely be a while until Haunted Chocolatier releases. However, in the meanwhile, fans of farming, cooking and item crafting can enjoy the upcoming free update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which many have compared favorably to Stardew Valley.
Haunted Chocolatier is in development.