Stardew Valleymay seem like an innocent game to unfamiliar players with its brightly-colored seasons and adorable farm animals, but the game can actually be quite dark during lesser-known moments. For example, there are many theories out there about the parents of some Pelican Town residents likeAbigail and her true fatherand Sebastian and his father’s whereabouts. The mental health of many characters like Kent and his possible PTSD has been heavily analyzed, and players can even abandon their children and turn them into doves if they wish to have more or simply don’t want them anymore.
But despite how dreadfulStardew Valleymay seem at times, its dark secrets are some of the many reasons why players have come to love the game so much. Its developerEric “ConcernedApe” Baroneis currently creating his next game known asHaunted Chocolatier, and it’s been thought that the two could be set in the same universe. Whether or not that’s true,Haunted Chocolatiermay naturally be darker, judging by its spooky name and premise, and it should use the same morally gray aspects that makeStardew Valleymore interesting and realistic, despite their sometimes supernatural nature.
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Stardew Valley’s Personality and Humor
Being able to turn children into doves and let them fly away while wiping the spouse’s memory is quite possibly the most sinister moment inStardew Valley, and it’s accompanied bythe secret of Fall 26, where the player can see an Ancient Doll on television and get attacked in the witch’s hut. Also, some believe that Kent is trying to kill the player, and a more ridiculous theory states that the player died at Joja before that game even started. What’s interesting about these theories is that they’re not major parts of the game and have only been discovered by a small percentage of the community that’s put the time and effort into finding these secrets.
Thegameplay loop ofStardew Valley, while repetitive, is far from monotonous. Most players become addictively stuck in the cycle of watering plants, loving the animals, giving gifts, and finishing the day off by mining, fishing, or collecting wood until nearly 2 AM. What makes it worth it is finding these bits of interesting lore and places where the story deviates from the norm, like Pierre’s secret stash or Caroline’s secret walks to the Wizard’s tower. They makeStardew Valleyfeel more lifelike because these are things that occur in the real world, even if people can’t actually turn their children into birds to abandon them. It adds personality thatHaunted Chocolatiershould hold onto.
Stardew Valley’s lore is deeper than many might initially think, but its universe is massive and it’s more than possible thatHaunted Chocolatiertakes place in the same universe. In a Twitter reply, ConcernedApe said he was “working on a couple of new projects,” one of which “takes place in the world ofStardew Valley.” He has not yet indicated whether or not this is in fact his upcoming game about making chocolate in a haunted mansion, though, on a separate occasion, he said thatHaunted Chocolatieris the moon toStardew Valley’s sun. If this is true, the game is more likely to take afterStardew Valley’s darker gameplay options, and it could even solve a few fan mysteries along the way.
