Stardew Valley creator's new game, Haunted Chocolatier, is "more of an action RPG" than farming sim

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, has given a new interview - and finally revealed a little more information about his upcoming title, Haunted Chocolatier. In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, which tackles topics ranging from creative burnout to the importance of 'cosy gaming', Barone also slips in some new information about what we can expect from his highly-anticipated Stardew Valley follow-up.

And it's all rather surprising. Per the interview, this game is a much more action-oriented affair than the cosy homesteading of Stardew Valley: "It is still what I call a town game," he told GQ, "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."

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For anyone that's played Stardew Valley, this won't be a massive shock; there is a combat element to the game, though mostly it's sequestered to one portion of the map - the mines that hold some of the game's rarest materials. If you had fun venturing in there at night to fight slimes and horde minerals, you're going to like Haunted Chocolatier, it seems. "[The new game] is for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines. That's what I do, honestly," said Barone.

Elsewhere, Barone noted that Haunted Chocolatier is a more "metaphysical" experience than Stardew Valley - which makes sense, I suppose, given its connection to the world of ghosts and spirits - and that "no one's playing the game until I'm ready to show it". Hence, there's still no word on a solid release date.

The last update we had on the game was all the way back in January, where Barone noted "I'm alive, the game is still in development", following up previous statements he made alluding to the fact that the world of Haunted Chocolatier is bigger than Stardew Valley. As for when it's coming out? "The bottom line is, I don’t want to give a release date," Barone said at the start of the year. "The game will come out when it's done."

If you want to learn more about the man behind one of video gaming's biggest phenomena of the past few generations, I'd urge you to read the full GQ piece: it's a sensitive, comprehensive look at a man that boasts many talents, yet is also humble and grounded. If you're interested in the musical side of his development process, I profiled Barone once in my column at The Guardian.