Haunted Chocolatier , the follow-up to Stardew Valley, was announced back in October 2021, but creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone can't say whether it'll be out in five years.
To be fair, Barone was put on the spot in an appearance on Bobby Lee's TigerBelly podcast (timestamped here), and he was probably just being extra careful not to commit to anything or confirm a launch window on a podcast, but his answer gives you an idea of how early in development Haunted Chocolatier appears to be despite being announced almost four years ago.
"I hope so," he said when asked directly if Haunted Chocolatier will come out within the next five years. "That's the goal ... there's a lot that still needs to be done."
Barone has been candid about struggling to find time to work on Haunted Chocolatier when he was still actively developing Stardew Valley 1.6, but now that the big update's shipped on all platforms, he's recently committed to fully working on the follow-up game.
"It has to be better [than Stardew Valley}," Barone added.
Meanwhile, in the same interview, he set the internet ablaze by uttering the words "Stardew Valley 2," seemingly for the first time publicly. Barone said he "might eventually" make a full-blown sequel to Stardew Valley, but one can hope he'll make sure Haunted Chocolatier releases first, because us spooky cozy sickos need our fix too.
Eric Barone says "if there was gonna be another" Stardew Valley update after 1.6, he wouldn't announce it until it was "completely finished" on all platforms.
