We’ve seen very little of Haunted Chocolatier ever since it was first announced by creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone almost two years ago. That’s mostly because he can’t leave Stardew Valley alone at the moment, as work on Update 1.6 is still ongoing. However, Barone is apparently sat on a treasure trove of in-game screenshots, and occasionally he’ll post one on Twitter to send fans into meltdown.
That’s exactly what happened earlier today, but this particular screenshot has caused a lot more of a stir than usual, as it contains on old man lying in bed with presumably the main character of Haunted Chocolatier stood next to him. This old man is unnamed, but he states that he was “just having the most terrible dream”. It’s pretty vague, it’s definitely mysterious, and it’s caused fans to come crawling out of the woodworks with all sorts of completely bizarre theories about what this screenshot could mean.
The most popular theory appears to be that this old man is the same one that features in the beginning of Stardew Valley. Fans of the title will know that the reason you actually own a farm in the first place is because your grandpa leaves it to you in his will before he passes away, yet some fans think this Haunted Chocolatier screenshot is implying that grandpa was simply asleep and that the entirety of Stardew Valley was some kind of wild fever dream.
Another fan called Mads believes this is actually a fake out, and that this grandpa is the exact same grandpa as the one in Stardew Valley. Not only does he own a farm, but he also owns a chocolate factory too, and leaves each one to his two grand children in order to sustain the family legacy. How can he die in two places at the same time? Don’t think about it.
Other theories include the possibility of this being a prequel, and that grandpa simply got up and then went and died in a cozy cottage somewhere else in a much less comfortable bed, while one person on Reddit brings up the possibility that this could be related to the upcoming Stardew Valley update, as the “???” obscuring grandpa’s name is the same as the tease that Barone included in a recent tweet. Whatever the case, we know for sure that Barone has incredible power at his disposal, as his ability to completely rile up social media is unmatched.