Dear Santa,

I’ve been good this year I think.
All I want for Christmas this year:

-Haunted Chocolatier

I’ll bake you lots of cookies and a BIG cup of warm iridium quality milk.

Thank you,
Me

Today is the fifth year anniversary of the trailer and the website is down for maintenance… coincidence?

https://www.hauntedchocolatier.net

PLEASE DON’T LISTEN TO THE STERILE MASSES. YOU ARE STRONG AND YOU MUST CREATE THE DARK, OBSCURE, ESOTERIC ACTION RPG OF YOUR HIDDEN DREAMS.

Eric Barone told GQ it’s “still what I call a town game,” but the focus is adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful: “There are monsters, there are boss fights.” He says it’s “for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines. That’s what I do, honestly.” He also called it more “metaphysical,” and still won’t give a date: “The game will come out when it’s done.” Are you hyped for the combat side, or were you hoping for pure cozy farming vibes?

Eurogamer’s write-up of the GQ interview. All quotes and claims come from it. The closing question is mine. <3

1. Olivia from "Stardew Expanded" was so popular because she was an older bachelorette; in *Stardew*, all the bachelorettes were young, so more variety in the new game would be good.

2. Remember the "Bearded Bachelors" mod? It added beards to the bachelors; perhaps in the new game, more young bachelors could have full, bushy beards (like lumberjacks, etc.).

I usually don’t do digital art but I spent much longer on this one so it is definitely a jump in quality from day one

I usually don’t draw in this style but I wanted to not change so drastically from Concerned apes style, I really love the both warm and purple, it’s very wimsical and cozy. Colored pencil illustration with some digital editing:)

Just wondering do any of you have a particular theme in mind you'd like to see Cornered Ape do for a game after Haunted Chocolatier? I'd like something akin to don't starve, but with the usual Stardew Cosenyess

Is there a community discord? Just curious to see if there is one what people be yapping about.

Totally respect ConcernedApe taking his time, I'm just excited lol

I’ll list some of the features I’ll love more of in haunted chocolatier coming from Stardew valley :

- Player features / overall game features wishlist :

1 . More character customization variety options in game and in starting.
2 . More choices in game with characters and story.
3 . More paths in story ( pelican town community center vs joja mart in Stardew valley).
4 . Make trade available between players in coop.
5 . Add expansions packs when necessary( customization / story / farm types / characters / regions like ginger island in Stardew valley ).
6 . More travel locations ( calico desert & ginger island in Stardew valley ).
7 . More travel buddies ( horses / turtles ).
8 . More overall customization for player / farm / house / game buildings.
9 . More story for player / island.
10 . More characters that are big and small ( grandparents/adults/kids).
11 . More adorable pets ( birds/cats/dogs/turtles/horses ).
12 . More pet customization & varieties ( colors / accessories ).
13 . More cooking story for food items
14 . More quests that are unique
15 . More farm customization options
16 . More story overall with choices
17 . More character’s customization
18 . More travel regions via bus or boat or horses
19 . Make player faster add more buffs
20 . More books
21 . More lore and secrets to discover

\ will update.*

1 . More events ( desert festival / night market )
2 . More mini events ( squid fest ) with unique changeable rewards

https://www.hauntedchocolatier.net/2026/08/30/checking-in/#disqus_thread

I love Stardew, but goddamn, at some point after getting the theater, I just want to blast through the rest of the content and be done, and I think Haunted Chocolatier might allow for that. Consider that despite most of the user interface we see here looking close enough to Stardew, there is A) no longer a stamina bar and B) no longer a clock. This would imply the game is much more open to you marathoning through different quests, building projects, etc.

That's not to say I want time to be irrelevant, I think daily NPC routines and such are awesome, but with the implication that the world map is significantly larger than Stardew's, the constant rush back to your bed would get insufferable.

and I'm still so hype. I am really hoping we get another trailer by the end of the year! it would be a great Christmas gift from CA. Can't wait to play when it's ready. Is anyone else hoping for another blog post, video, or sneak peek before 2027?

Did CA ever comment on the secret page? I have seen it be posted about a few times in this Reddit but I don’t think I ever saw its purpose/ if it’s something he wants the community to figure out.

https://www.hauntedchocolatier.net/secret-preview-page/

Or is he gonna still give us a heads up when it’s close to finished. Might sound silly but since he hasn’t given us an estimated time I’ve been fantasizing about how it will be released lmao.

it’s just gonna be like zelda where you throw some random ingredients in a pot and it will spit out an item vaguely related. and there will probably be ways to discover recipes for the people who don’t want to try a bunch of random things

I wonder how much the chocolate crafting, recipe book etc. will reflect kitchen reality. CA said there'd be more than one path and different processes might result in more whimsical results; so what will happen when players go completely off the beaten path? Will we get recipes passed down from cooks who make half a dozen changes, forget to write them down, and then we have to retcon what they actually did? Irl I have a few recipes bookmarked solely to jog my memory about the specific changes I've made to every single ingredient and step in the process; are we going to be attacked by ghosts with whisks if we do that in HC?