Haunted Chocolatier has fishing, books, and a new screenshot so pretty I want to live in it

A screenshot from Haunted Chocolatier showing a small figure looking at a stream of water in an autumnal forest landscape

(Image credit: ConcernedApe)

Every couple of weeks my daughter asks if Haunted Chocolatier is out yet. I always have to say no, but at least next time I'll be able to confirm that Haunted Chocolatier will have fishing, and also show her a new screenshot, which is embedded above.

Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone shared the image today and it's lovely. The detail in the pixel art, especially on the surface of that homely looking tree house, is gorgeous. As for fishing, the revelation came after a fan, perhaps noticing water in the above screenshot, asked for a "status report on a fishing mechanic". To which Barone replied "there is fishing".

This is good news for people who like to fish in games, but be careful what you wish for: Stardew Valley's fishing minigame has attracted a lot of hate, even though it's just a fishing minigame. In a recent interview, Barone expressed regret about how it "starts out too hard", so perhaps Haunted Chocolatier's fishing will be much better.

Barone is happily working away on Haunted Chocolatier, which doesn't have a release date yet. Barone recently tweeted that whenever "I'm about to write a whole essay on Twitter, on the nature of good and evil or some other self indulgent philosophy slop, I'll just add a new book to Haunted Chocolatier's library instead. It's a win win". So there you have it: books confirmed too! And wouldn't it be nice if we could all deposit our philosophical musings onto pages, whether real or virtual, instead of the brainrot feeds.

Whereas Stardew Valley was about "the fundamentals of human sustenance", Haunted Chocolatier is about "what's next". Barone said in April that he's now fully focused on his in-development game now that Stardew Valley 1.6 is out, but we've heard that before.

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.

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