Let Stardew Valley’s creator take as long as he needs to finish Haunted Chocolatier

Barone is a one-man development team who has made a massive impact on the cozy game genre and created one of the best farming/life-sim titles on the market today. Stardew Valley can stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Sims 4 — games that were created by massive, well-funded development teams. But unlike Nintendo and EA, Barone has never asked players for an additional dime. He’s spent the decade since Stardew‘s release pumping out massive content updates, all of which are free, as is the game’s co-op mode.

Image: ConcernedApe

You can see everything Stardew Valley has to offer by purchasing the game for a mere $15 (or less, it frequently goes on sale). By contrast, Nintendo’s recently released (and extremely well-received) Pokémon Pokopia costs an eye-watering $70, not counting any potential future DLC. The Sims 4′s base game is now available for free, but it’ll cost you roughly $1,600 if you want all of the game’s DLC content. Animal Crossing: New Horizons costs $60, plus an additional $25 if you want the Happy Home Paradise DLC. Sure, Nintendo just released a huge free update for New Horizons, but it’s nothing compared to the plethora of free Stardew updates Barone has cranked out over the years, all without ever asking players for another dime. Barone could charge for these massive Stardew game updates, and I’d happily pay for them. But he doesn’t. He updates his $15 game for free, and I respect his commitment to improving it without nickel-and-diming the playerbase.

Am I dying to get my hands on Haunted Chocolatier and live out my spooky Willy Wonka fantasy? Absolutely. But I’ll happily wait another decade for the game to arrive if that means it will be as in-depth, polished, and satisfying to play as Stardew Valley is. Plus, with all the new Stardew content Barone has been releasing, I have more than enough game left to keep me occupied until Haunted Chocolatier is ready.

In a world full of disappointing cozyslop, Eric Barone is one of the only developers taking the time to flesh out every inch of a game that was already fantastic when it launched a decade ago. I’d much rather have another wonderful Stardew-like experience than play an unfinished mess that was rushed out the door early to appease eager players. As Barone has said, Haunted Chocolatier “will come out when it’s ready.”

But until then, for the love of god, please let the man cook.