I used to thinkStardew Valleywas as ambitious as cozy games got. It has emotional richness, mines full of danger, and enough farmer activities to keep your pockets well-lined. Beneath its charming exterior, it’s quietly complex. The kind of game that sneaks up on you with its depth. But after hearingConcernedApe’s update about Haunted Chocolatier, I’m starting to think Stardew really was just the warm-up.
If Stardew is the Dark Souls of farming sims, quietly difficult, layered, and full of secrets, then Haunted Chocolatier already feels like the much bigger, more expansive Elden Ring. And frankly, I don’t think cozy gamers are ready for what’s coming. Not because we can’t handle it, but because we’ve never really been asked to.
A Bigger World, However You Measure It
The update I’m referring to is Barone confirming thatHaunted Chocolatierwill be larger than Stardew Valley. He didn’t say whether that means more land to explore or more story to dig into, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. Either way, it signals something huge. This won’t just be a new cozy game to slip in before bed. This’ll feel like a real journey. A world built for exploration, not just routine. For a solo developer known for polishing every pixel to perfection, that’s a big swing. For cozy gamers, that’s new territory.
Traditionally, cozy games offer comfort through routine. You plant your crops. You fish. You give someone a flower. They love you a little more. They might even marry you. There’s satisfaction in the repetition. The rules are simple, the stakes are manageable, and the world is there for you to gently shape. Even when Stardew introduces combat, it’s optional. You can largely stay within your bubble.
Haunted Chocolatier already sounds like it’s going to break that mold. Ghosts, magic, alchemy, combat that might be more than a side activity. It’s cozy with teeth. Barone isn’t just scaling up Stardew, it seems like he’s building a world that’ll beg to be explored rather than optimized. That’s not how most cozy games work, and that shift alone is radical.
This Isn’t Just A Spooky Stardew
That’s why the Elden Ring comparison holds for me. Both games are the product of a singular creative vision. Both are larger, lovingly detailed worlds. And while no one’s expecting Haunted Chocolatier to play like Elden Ring, when you zoom out, the parallels are there. Both follow iconic, genre-defining titles - and both aim to go bigger, stranger, and deeper. Cozy gamers aren’t usually handed this level of complexity, and that makes it all the more exciting.
Haunted Chocolatier doesn’t need to be punishing; it just needs to be a world to get lost in. One that surprises me the way Stardew did the first time I played it. I’m a little intimidated by what Haunted Chocolatier might become. But I’m also more excited for it than any other game on the horizon. If this really is our Elden Ring, then bring it on.
