Haunted Chocolatier Release Date, Trailers, Gameplay, And Everything Else We Know

Haunted Chocolatier^[1] is the next game from ConcernedApe, the developer behind the massive indie farming sim, Stardew Valley. This has made Haunted Chocolatier highly anticipated, although little information about the game has been shared, beyond making it clear that it’s a game where you move to a new town and take over a chocolate shop. ConcernedApe has said that it will share gameplay elements with Stardew Valley, but will be more of an action-RPG compared to Stardew Valley.

When will Haunted Chocolatier be released?

Haunted Chocolatier does not have a release date nor window at this time, and ConcernedApe has said that he doesn’t intend on giving one until he’s confident it’s going to release. Haunted Chocolatier was originally announced via a trailer^[3] back in October 2021, roughly four years ago. In a blog post^[4] on September 12 discussing the announcement of Stardew Valley 1.7, ConcernedApe said his attention was still primarily on Haunted Chocolatier, even teasing that Haunted Chocolatier could arrive prior to Stardew Valley 1.7, but no guarantees.

Haunted Chocolatier trailer

Currently, the only trailer for Haunted Chocolatier is the reveal trailer shown above, and a couple of trailers featuring music from the game, but no additional gameplay. The trailer briefly shows a snowy mountain, with a bakery and other buildings, including your chocolate shop. From the chocolate shop, the player jumps into a portal, which takes them to a combat dungeon, which shows more in-depth combat mechanics. That portal is also where you gather chocolate ingredients, which can be used back at the chocolate shop to make products to sell in the store.

Shop customization is shown after that, with shelves for products and decorations. This is also where the Haunted part of the name comes in, with a bunch of ghosts running the chocolate store for you. The final section of the trailer shows a quick handful of interactions with different NPCs living in the town, with gift giving as well, likely containing a relationship system similar to Stardew Valley.

Haunted Chocolatier platforms

Currently, Haunted Chocolatier has only been announced for PC, but ConcernedApe mentioned in the game’s FAQ^[9] that he intends to bring it to other major platforms. Stardew Valley was initially only available on PC, but was later ported to nearly every modern platform, including all consoles and mobile.

Haunted Chocolatier Story, Setting, and Characters

As part of ConcernedApe wanting to take his time making Haunted Chocolatier, he has kept many of the details about what exactly Haunted Chocolatier is close to his chest. That said, the basic premise has been revealed–you’ll take on the role of running a chocolate shop with some spooky help.

There are a few named characters shown in the announcement trailer, like Burk the blacksmith and a woman named Maddie. The name of the town hasn’t been revealed, nor has the reason for your character taking over the chocolate factory, but a brief conversation about the big city in the trailer suggests at least a similar character background to the farmer in Stardew Valley.

Haunted Chocolatier Gameplay

As the name suggests, the main gameplay loop will revolve around gathering ingredients, making chocolate, and selling chocolate. In the announcement blog^[10], this was the only gameplay mechanic highlighted, although it was implied to share gameplay elements with Stardew Valley, like having a cast of NPCs to befriend and possibly romance. While details are still fairly light, ConcernedApe has provided some details regarding combat and chocolate making.

Two additional blog posts provide more details on the gameplay. First is a blog post^[11] about “Intuitive” chocolate making, where ConcernedApe vaguely describes that the chocolate making gameplay loop will have multiple ways to progress and make chocolate, some more systems based and others based on “intuitive” chocolate making. The second blog post^[12] is focused on combat, specifically highlighting a shield system that allows you to stun enemies, rewarding a defensive play-style and showing that the Haunted Chocolatier combat system will have more depth than Stardew Valley’s.

Haunted Chocolatier Development News

It has been about four years since the original announcement of Haunted Chocolatier, and aside from a couple of blog posts talking about specific aspects of the game, ConcernedApe has not commented on how the game is progressing in specific detail. The most recent blog post^[13] on the Haunted Chocolatier website from September 2, 2025, mentions that while a Stardew Valley 1.7 update is in the works, ConcernedApe himself is focused on Haunted Chocolatier.

The blog states that Haunted Chocolatier will release eventually, and that it could even release before Stardew Valley 1.7, but that nothing is set in stone. ConcernedApe did reiterate multiple times that he is working on Haunted Chocolatier entirely solo, and that there is no release window being targeted just yet.