Haunted Chocolatier: A Dark and Mysterious Action RPG Sim From Stardew Valley Creator
The creators of Stardew Valley have largely stuck to the pattern that works, simply updating their base game over the years. That will be changing, though, as their upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, reveals more and more details. While the game is still a life sim in some capacity, there are plenty of new twists and turns that Corncerned Ape is bringing to the new game, which has been shrouded in mystery since its announcement back in 2021. At first, it simply appears like a spooky Stardew, but according to the creators, it has a lot more depth than it would seem.
Haunted Chocolatier Offers Part Sim, Part Halloween, Part RPG
Eric “Concerned Ape” Barone, creator of Stardew Valley, has not spoken much about his upcoming new game venture, Haunted Chocolatier. The game was originally revealed in 2021 and was understood to be similar to Stardew Valley, but with a ghostly appearance and haunted storyline. While it is indeed a dark and mysterious game with a gameplay base of life simulation, Barone lets fans know that there is a lot more depth to the game than meets the eye.
While Barone admits that Haunted Chocolatier should still be broadly considered a life simulation, that does not take away from the other elements he had previously teased. Unlike Stardew Valley, the game will be far more action RPG-focused, with more reliance on combat and mechanics that are entirely independent of their older game. A previous interview also mentioned that Concerned Ape was inspired a bit by Diablo 2 when thinking out the game, although perhaps the changes are not quite as drastic as they seem.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Barone shared some of his thoughts on the game. “I will just say generally that it is a life sim game, and it is similar to Stardew Valley in many ways … it’s the kind of game I like making. I’m really interested in Haunted Chocolatier to really crank up the imagination and the creativity. I want to go all out with doing weird and interesting things. I love giving people memorable experiences.”
In other words, Haunted Chocolatier will be Stardew Valley on the surface and an action RPG underneath the layers. “I view [Stardew Valley] as sunny and bright and lush, and Haunted Chocolatier is more dark and mysterious. Not evil dark, but just like mysterious dark, and a little bit paranormal, you know, things that, you’re not sure what this is all about,” Barone said. It will be interesting to see where he takes all of these mysteries in the new game.
Final Thoughts
We are still many years away from a Haunted Chocolatier release, and Concerned Ape does not seem particularly worried about that. By his own admission, money is not his goal, he just wants to have fun and make enjoyable games. There is a game website that gives updates on the game, but there is not much outside of periodic developer updates. The hope is perhaps that this new life-sim turned RPG comes out in 2027, but a lot rides on the work needed to update Stardew Valley in the interim. If the success of Stardew is any indication, Haunted Chocolatier should be another fantastic, enjoyable, nostalgic game.
