Haunted Chocolatier is the next game from the creator of Stardew Valley, one of the most successful and adored cozy RPGs ever made. Not surprisingly, fans are getting antsy to hear more about the upcoming release. But the wait is leading to all sorts of speculation, so developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone recently took to the game’s website to dispel the unfounded rumors in a new blog post.
“Hey everyone, good news: I’ve been very productive lately on Haunted Chocolatier,” he wrote this week. “Yep, it’s taking a while to finish the game. That’s oaky. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have announced the game so early. But I had my reasons.” From there he went on to debunk some popular fan myths and set the record straight on Haunted Chocolatier‘s development.
1. Haunted Chocolatier will not be abandoned and added to Stardew Valley instead
He promised this wouldn’t happen, but said that even if he did end up abandoning his new game it would be absurd to think it would get added to the existing one. They were made in different engines and “you can’t just copy and paste Haunted Chocolatier into Stardew Valley.”
2. Ideas for Haunted Chocolatier are not being tested inside Stardew Valley
Barone once again reiterated that these are “separate” games even if they might share the same aesthetic. Furthermore, he said he doesn’t want to spoil anything being worked on in Haunted Chocolatier by teasing it early in Stardew Valley.
3. He’s not working on Stardew Valley to avoid working on Haunted Chocolatier
Barone maintained that the only reason he keeps releasing new Stardew Valley updates is because it’s still an incredibly popular game, not because anything with Haunted Chocolatier has gone awry.
4. Haunted Chocolatier doesn’t have a 2030 release date
The developer previously said he “hoped” that Haunted Chocolatier would be out in the next five years. That was taken by some to mean it won’t be out before then. He re-confirmed there is no actual set release date and it will just be done when it’s done, like all good things worth waiting for.
Welp, glad that’s all settled. The Haunted Chocolatier subreddit can go to sleep now until the game is out, or better yet just keep playing Stardew Valley.