Just a few months ago,Stardew Valleycreator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone confirmed he was developing a brand new game inHaunted Chocolatier. Obviously, the two games will have their similarities asConcernedApewill have built both from scratch.Haunted Chocolatier,in the past, has been described as a new “town game” where players move to a new place, build a life (this time as a chocolate maker), explore the town (and the castle here) to find resources, achieve goals, and get to know the townspeople.
However,Haunted Chocolatier’s gameplaywill also have its differences. From ConcernedApe’s perspective, there are ten more years of game development under his belt withHaunted Chocolatierthan there was withStardew Valley.Haunted Chocolatieris also going to have stronger combatand action RPG elements thanStardew Valley, but there’s at least one more feature set to return (among others confirmed or to be confirmed), as ConcernedApe discussed in a recent interview with VGKami.
RELATED:Stardew Valley Creator ConcernedApe Working On More Than Just Haunted Chocolatier
During the interview, ConcernedApe provided a few new details and insight into the development ofHaunted Chocolatier. For example, his favorite part of game development comes after all the main components are finished and when he gets to “just add fun things on top of it. The little surprises for players to discover.” But he also notes that comes at the very end, and he’s not that far withHaunted Chocolatieryet. He also briefly discussed one returning feature fromStardew Valley,relationships.
There are plenty of NPCs to interact with inHaunted Chocolatier,and some trailers have hinted at an improved dialogue system as well. However, it wasn’t clear if relationships withNPCs would be similar toStardew Valley. It’s one feature many assumed would return, of course, but it’s nice to hear it from the horse’s mouth too:
“Yes, there will be relationships like in Stardew Valley. I haven’t decided exactly how the system will work yet. And I expect to approach some things differently this time around.”
As the game continues development, fans can probably expect to learn more about this in the months, or even years, to come. All good sequels/follow-ups, whether in terms of following in development, spiritual, or direct, improve upon their predecessors, so it makes sense a different approach for romance would be applied toHaunted Chocolatier. At the end of the day, though, that cottagecore cozy life approach seems to remain intact, as players will be making chocolates in a haunted castle with a town full of the living to form relationships with.
