After getting Stardew Valley to 'a good place' with update 1.6, Eric Barone is now fully focused on his next game: 'I'm committed to not working on Stardew Valley until I'm done with Haunted Chocolatier'

Eric Barone at GDC 2025. — (Image credit: Future)

Eric Barone has a problem: He wants to make his new game, Haunted Chocolatier, but he also has a deep love for his indie mega-hit Stardew Valley—and, more to the point, a seeming inability to stop working on it. It's a tough spot alright, one he's talked about before, but speaking to PC Gamer's Wes Fenlon at GDC recently, Barone said he's got a plan, or at least an idea: Run away into the forest and stay there until it's done.

Barone's continued to work on the "vertical slice" of Haunted Chocolatier, while at the same time "trying to stay relaxed and stress free," and avoid rushing too much. But the pressure of Stardew Valley is always hanging overhead: Even though the game has been out for nine years and remains massively popular, he just can't stop. Barone said last year that he could work on Stardew Valley "for the rest of my life" and it sure doesn't seem like he was kidding.

"The 1.6 update is pretty settled at this point. There were ongoing console ports and bug fixes, but it's pretty settled now. I'm committed to not working on Stardew Valley until I'm done with Haunted Chocolatier… I think it's in a good place. I feel very solid about it. I think if anyone picks up Stardew Valley for the first time in 2025, I'm very proud of it, and I think they'll have fun with it if they like this kind of game."

Eric Barone talks Stardew Valley & Haunted Chocolatier | ConcernedApe Interview - YouTube

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"It's been a few years that I've been working on it now and it's like, I look at some of the stuff I did at the beginning and I'm like, 'Oh man, here we go again. I'm gonna have to redo all of this'," Barone said. "And it's not it's not like it's even bad, it's just—part of the problem of being, like especially a solo dev, is it takes so long to make a game. I'm literally a different person in four years, so it's like my whole feelings about everything have changed—my aesthetic sensibilities have evolved."

Sounds like exactly the sort of problem a couple years in an isolated cabin would fix.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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