Stardew Valley Creator Reveals Next Game: ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier

In the five years since it was released, Stardew Valley has become an indie sensation. Now, Stardew Valley's creator, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, has revealed his next game: ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier. The first trailer for Haunted Chocolatier is here, and it shows off some early gameplay from the new title. It's safe to say that Stardew Valley fans will probably find a lot to be excited about in the first trailer for Haunted Chocolatier.

In ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier, players will take on the job of a chocolate maker living in a haunted castle. Throughout the game, players will have to collect ingredients, make chocolate, and then sell it in their very own chocolate shop – one where ghosts help manage the store, it seems. We've embedded the first trailer below, and it shows off a good mix of gameplay, from managing the chocolate shop and interacting with NPCs to exploration and combat.

Haunted Chocolatier looks a lot like Stardew Valley, and that certainly isn't a coincidence. While we imagine that many things about the game will change during development, Barone has a pretty distinctive pixel art style, so the finished product will probably still look like Stardew Valley in at least some regards.

In any case, Barone already has a website set up for Haunted Chocolatier with both a blog and an FAQ. In the first blog post about the game, Barone says that even though the Haunted Chocolatier features spooky stuff like ghosts and a haunted mansion, it won't be "an evil or negative game." Instead, Barone says, "I intend for this game to be positive, uplifting and life-affirming. However, if Stardew Valley mostly channeled the energy of the sun, Haunted Chocolatier channels the energy of the moon. Both are vital."

In the accompanying FAQ, we learn that so far, Haunted Chocolatier is a solo project for Barone, just as Stardew Valley was. Barone also describes Haunted Chocolatier as "another 'town game'" where players will be moving to a new town and getting to know the people who live there. However, Barone also describes Haunted Chocolatier as "more of an action-RPG compared to Stardew Valley," so we can expect some changes on the gameplay front.

Barone also confirms that Haunted Chocolatier is being developed in a new game engine, though sadly, he doesn't want to reveal if it's set in the Stardew Valley universe yet. He also says that while he intends to bring Haunted Chocolatier to major platforms, he can only confirm the game for PC at the moment. There's no talk of a release date yet, as Barone says the game is still "relatively early in development." It sounds like we'll be waiting a while for the arrival of Haunted Chocolatier, but we'll let you know when Barone shares more.