Sans titre

Jeu : Haunted Chocolatier  |  Développeur : ConcernedApe (Eric Barone)  |  Éditeur : ConcernedApe  |  Plate-forme : TBA  |  Date de sortie : TBA

Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe, real name Eric Barone, published a brief development update on his Haunted Chocolatier blog on June 25, 2026. The post, titled “Still here, still grinding…”, confirms the game remains in active development. No release window, no screenshots, and no new gameplay details were shared.

What ConcernedApe Actually Said

The update begins with characteristic bluntness. “Yep. I’m still working on the game,” Barone writes. “Feels kinda dumb posting this same thing over and over.” He acknowledges the repetitive nature of his check-ins but explains why they remain necessary: the absence of updates generates community concern that the project has been cancelled or abandoned, which he wants to prevent.

The full blog post focuses on a specific UI element Barone has been designing, which he describes in precise and demanding terms without naming it explicitly. He walks through the requirements he holds it to: minimal clicks to accomplish the player’s goal, the right quantity of data presented without overwhelming or underwhelming the player, intuitive groupings, and visual appeal that feels both compelling and easy to read at a glance.

“This is just the bare minimum, that players will likely take for granted,” he writes. He follows that statement with his own self-assessment: “I torture myself over every last detail.” The tone is neither frustrated nor discouraged. It is the voice of a developer who sets an unusually high bar and is entirely aware of the cost that standard carries.

What Haunted Chocolatier Is

ConcernedApe first revealed Haunted Chocolatier in October 2021 with a brief gameplay trailer. The game is a life simulation and RPG in the same genre as Stardew Valley but with a darker aesthetic. Players run a chocolate shop in a haunted castle, forage for ingredients in mysterious ghost-filled locations, and build relationships with a cast of characters. The 2021 trailer showed pixelated gameplay broadly similar in presentation to Stardew Valley but with a noticeably different tone.

ConcernedApe has described Haunted Chocolatier as “more fantastical and more action-oriented” than Stardew Valley. He has also stated publicly that his ambitions for the game are higher than what he accomplished with Stardew. Additionally, he has been developing the game alone, as he did with Stardew Valley during its four-year development from 2012 to 2016.

The Stardew Valley Context

Understanding how long ConcernedApe takes to ship requires understanding what he has already built alone. Stardew Valley sold over 40 million copies across all platforms and is widely considered one of the most successful indie games ever made. Barone developed it solo over four years before releasing it in 2016. He then continued updating it for free for years after launch, adding multiple major content patches including multiplayer support, new farm types, and expanded story content.

Haunted Chocolatier entered public awareness in 2021. At that point, Barone had already been working on it for an unspecified period. Furthermore, he has continued supporting Stardew Valley in parallel, releasing the 1.6 update in 2024 with substantial new content. The dual workload and his stated perfectionism make a long development timeline not just understandable but structurally predictable.

IGN’s coverage of the June 25 update notes that Barone’s own framing — “I torture myself over every last detail” — is consistent with the development philosophy that produced Stardew Valley’s quality, even if it makes release date prediction essentially impossible.

What the Community Can Reasonably Expect

Nothing from the June 25 update suggests a release is imminent. The update describes active work on a single UI system and frames that work as ongoing rather than completed. ConcernedApe has not announced a publisher, a release window, a platform list, or a pricing structure. There is no trailer beyond the 2021 reveal. There is no confirmed platform beyond a reasonable assumption it will include PC.

However, the update confirms two things that matter to anyone following the project. The game is still actively in development and has not been quietly cancelled. Additionally, the developer’s standards have not dropped. The same perfectionism that made Stardew Valley exceptional is still the operating principle. For a community that has waited this long, that is the most honest and ultimately the most reassuring thing ConcernedApe could have said.

Résultat final

There is no release date, no window, no new media, and no timeline. What there is, is ConcernedApe still at his desk, still grinding, still holding the work to a standard most developers would not impose on themselves. Haunted Chocolatier will ship when it is perfect. Based on what Stardew Valley became, that standard is worth waiting for.