Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone – known for his work on the immensely popular farming and life sim Stardew Valley – has revealed more details about his next project – Haunted Chocolatier. In an interview with GQ, Barone spoke about how the upcoming title will differ from Stardew Valley, and went as far as to say that it will be “more of an action RPG” rather than a cozy game.
While Haunted Chocolatier will certainly feature elements of living a life in a small town in the vein of Stardew Valley, Barone has said that there will be more of an emphasis on dungeon crawling, adventuring, and discovering new equipment that results in power boosts.
“It is still what I call a town game. But it’s more of an action RPG – the main focus is more about adventuring, finding equipment, and getting more powerful. There are monsters, there are boss fights. It’s for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines. That’s what I do, honestly.”
As for Haunted Chocolatier taking quite a bit of time to develop, Barone apologizes. Recalling the days of developing Stardew Valley when he didn’t quite have the fame afforded to him by the success of the life sim, Barone says that he misses a time when there wasn’t an audience, and expectations weren’t quite so high.
“I’ve been struggling with that because I really want to recapture that feeling that I had when I was making Stardew Valley. Back then, there was no audience, there was no precedent. Everyone’s watching me, and if I don’t do things a certain way, it might disappoint millions of people.”
Despite this, Barone is also adamant about not showcasing Haunted Chocolatier before it’s actually ready. “No one’s playing the game until I’m ready to show it. If you have a turkey in the oven. You’re not going to pull it out halfway and have the guests taste it, right? It needs to be done.”
While Haunted Chocolatier was announced all the way back in 2021, in the years since then, Barone has chosen to take frequent breaks from its development to instead work on brand-new content for Stardew Valley. In 2022, Barone said that players will need to wait for quite some time before they get to play Haunted Chocolatier, since it’s going to be “a big game”.
“I have a big, ambitious vision for it. It’s a little bit daunting, the amount of work that it’s going to be. But Stardew Valley took me four and a half years; I’ve been working on Haunted Chocolatier for about a year and a half or maybe two years now. I announced it a little bit over a year ago, but it’s still gonna be a while. But I think it’s going good. So far. There’s a lot of good things so far.”
In the meantime, Barone has kept up with support for Stardew Valley, bringing in a variety of new features and content to the game. He is also working on yet another update. Dubbed 1.7, he hasn’t revealed any details about it.
