Highlights
- Stardew Valley's developer, Eric Barone, has been working on Haunted Chocolatier for about 4 years and it could potentially be released in 2024.
- Haunted Chocolatier will offer a different experience compared to Stardew Valley, with players managing a confectionery store and building relationships with both townsfolk and ghosts.
- Combat seems to play a larger role in Haunted Chocolatier, with the world being filled with enemies and players being able to gather ingredients from defeated foes.
It has been nearly six years since ConcernedApe's farm life simulation game Stardew Valley began captivating the gaming community in a way not many of the genre's titles had ever done before. Since then, Stardew Valley has gone on to become one of the most successful indie games ever made, and it still receives regular updates from its devoted developer, Eric Barone. Now, Barone looks to capture the hearts of gamers again with the release of his upcoming confectionery store simulation game, Haunted Chocolatier.
Haunted Chocolatier has now been in development for nearly 4 years, leaving fans of Stardew Valley in anxious anticipation of the game's arrival. As it turns out, 2024 could be the year Haunted Chocolatier graces the gaming market with its presence, although Barone has yet to confirm whether that's the case. At the very least, fans can expect something very similar to Stardew Valley once Haunted Chocolatier arrives, but likely with many of the improvements that Stardew initially lacked on its release.
What to Expect From Stardew Valley in 2024
As 2024 approaches, Stardew Valley fans get ever closer to the long-awaited 1.6 update, but this isn't the only thing coming in the new year.
Haunted Chocolatier Could Release in 2024
Barone began work on Stardew Valley in 2012 with little idea of the global phenomenon it would become. In 2016, he finally finished his work on the game and released it to favorable reviews, with many critics praising it for the new life it breathed into the farm life sim genre. Stardew only improved from there, with Barone eventually implementing a multiplayer mode into Stardew Valley, as well as many other fan-requested features.
Development for Haunted Chocolatier began in 2020, and Barone has been hard at work on it ever since. As Stardew Valley took him around four years to finish and release, Haunted Chocolatier could be released in 2024. However, development on Haunted Chocolatier has most likely been a bit different from Stardew Valley, as Barone has been simultaneously busy updating Stardew and adding new content — a distraction he did not have during Stardew's development. This means that Haunted Chocolatier's release may not happen until 2025, though fans shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the thought of a 2024 release.
What to Expect From Haunted Chocolatier When It Finally Releases
Despite its similarities to Stardew Valley, Haunted Chocolatier will likely create an entirely different experience for players. In Haunted Chocolatier, players run a confectionery store, as opposed to the farm they ran in Stardew Valley. According to the information Barone has disclosed thus far, Chocolatier's core gameplay loop revolves around players collecting ingredients to make a variety of chocolate confections and upgrading their chocolate shop as they progress.
There is little doubt that Stardew Valley fans are bound to see elements of their favorite farm life sim in Haunted Chocolatier. Chocolatier players will, of course, be given the opportunity to build relationships with the townsfolk like in Stardew Valley. However, they can also build relationships with ghosts that roam the world. There also appears to be a greater emphasis on dialogue choices than there was in Stardew Valley, so this will undoubtedly factor into the relationship that players establish with others. Furthermore, just as they could customize their farm in Stardew Valley, players can customize their chocolate store in Haunted Chocolatier​​​​​​.
It also appears there will be an even greater emphasis on combat in Haunted Chocolatier than there was in Stardew Valley. Whereas most of Stardew's combat was confined to the mines, the world of Haunted Chocolatier seems to be teeming with enemies. In one video shared by Barone, the player character is seen battling a bee who then drops several items when defeated. These items are probably linked to the player's store, and will likely serve as ingredients.
It's currently unclear whether Haunted Chocolatier will be released in 2024, but fans of Stardew can still hold onto hope that they'll see Barone's next release very soon. Whether it does arrive in 2024, the gaming community most likely still has something captivating to look forward to in the future, if Barone's past work has proven anything.
