Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has confirmed that his upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, is "larger" than the already expansive Stardew Valley.

But just how much bigger, or in what way is it bigger? Unfortunately, Barone did not provide further details. His full statement was simply: "The world of Haunted Chocolatier is larger than Stardew Valley." If he is referring to the game's length, though, How Long to Beat lists the average Stardew Valley playtime at over 50 hours for the main story and around 168 hours for a completionist run.

Unsurprisingly, these ten words generated a wave of excitement among his fans. One fan exclaimed: "[Concerned Ape] STOP TEASING. I MEAN- DON'T STOP TEASING. I MEAN- I DON'T KNOW, I'M SO EXCITED BUT I DON'T WANT YOU TO RUSH. TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME. WE LOVE YOU."

Last month, Barone shared that he "didn't want to just be known as the Stardew Valley guy," which is a key reason he is now developing Haunted Chocolatier. However, a release date should not be expected soon — Barone recently noted there is "still a lot to be done," especially since he feels the game "has to be better" than Stardew Valley.

He also hinted that he might "eventually create a Stardew Valley 2." But before getting too excited, the developer pointed out that it's "so much easier to simply add more content to Stardew Valley than to build an entirely new game from the ground up."

"All the core systems — all the major frameworks — are already in place. That’s the part that isn’t fun to build. When I work on an update [for Stardew Valley now], it's about adding this or that. Let’s include green rain — just these random, whimsical ideas."

Barone first announced Haunted Chocolatier back in 2021. Like Stardew Valley, it will be a top-down, pixel-art simulation game and appears to carry a similar charm as ConcernedApe's earlier project.