Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update launched last week, and despite it being available to play on PC, Eric Barone says the work’s not over yet, and that he doesn’t want to carry on with other projects until everything to do with 1.6 is done and dusted. 

In response to a fan asking whether there would be any more updates about Haunted Chocolatier (Barone’s next upcoming game), he simply replied: “I am eager to get back to work on it. But I have to see Stardew 1.6 settled, bug-free, and out to all platforms first.” 

Taking some time to iron out the wrinkles is more than understandable. In the replies to almost every one of his recent Twitter posts, you’ll see players pointing out bugs and problems with 1.6, and to almost all of these queries, you’ll see a response from Barone directly underneath it, asking for specifics so he can look into it. 

For example, one player pointed out that, during an event that sees players bring maple syrup to the forest, the bear has a creepy face, like it was shifted to the right. To this, Barone replies that this bug will be fixed in 1.6.3 “as well as a couple of other cases where large sprites have a visual error (clint hammering, island frog).”

It’s been three months since we got any sort of news concerning Haunted Chocolatier, with the last update arriving on the official blog on Christmas Day 2023: “I’ve been doing a lot of work on Haunted Chocolatier, and making good progress. Mostly, I’m working on core elements of the game. I will be doing this for a while. I don’t really feel like sharing much, because I’d rather let the game be a surprise than reveal everything. I just like working in secret.” 

Honestly, if I had as much work to do as Barone does, then I’d probably resort to working in secret as well. Even so, I can’t wait to see what Haunted Chocolatier has in store for us, and like most, I’ll be eagerly waiting for any update about the next cosy sim which will likely take over my life.