Haunted Chocolatier is an upcoming game from ConcernedApe, who is best known for his single-handed work on the cult classic game, Stardew Valley. The popular farming sim that renewed the love for that particular niche with its delightful pixel art and simple but engaging gameplay. The same delighted passion can be expected this next game, a game with the same basic ideas, except it’s not turnips you’re shoving into the earth. No, it’s a bubbling, boiling vat of chocolate and a rather concerning amount of undead…experiences.

So, What Is This?

Haunted Chocolatier is just what it sounds like, promising to live up to the legacy of its big brother, Stardew.  Not much is known about the game as of yet, but since its announcement date on October 8th, 2021, a few posts have been released. We know for sure that the basic gameplay loop will be the expected norm: finding ingredients, making the chocolate, and selling it out of your store! This is already a cute, charming, neat concept of a game, tied off with a bow, right?

Though we don’t know for sure what ConcernedApe has promised, there’s far more than just that, with a robust combat system rebuilt from the ground up, adding the use of a shield.  The artwork is repolished as well, keeping up the same style of Stardew, just polished up and deeper in textures.  While not mentioned in detail, romancing and building up relations will be a core feature of this game.

The Vision as We Know It

Haunted Chocolatier as a concept could go lots of different routes, and ConcernedApe was quick to inform his readers that he had no wish to make this a darker theme that he wants “I intend for this game to be positive, uplifting, and life-affirming..” where he goes on to make the comparison that Stardew is like the sun and haunted chocolatier is like the moon, different energies’ but both are vitally important. He’s also taking his time on this game, making some critical developmental changes that he’s learned from working on Stardew.

There will be no early access or crowdfunding, as he explains it, avoiding the pressure of having a timeline set out for the game will make it easier for him not to rush content, especially when he still is working on Stardew and is “Having trouble letting it go.” The news on this game will be slow, and so will work, which is perfectly fine as it means we will get a whole game right at the start of release.

With That All Said

I have a lot of love for the peaceful ease that comes with these kinds of games. There’s something nice about getting to just focus on the simple day-to-day building up your own little life, making something human without the need for drama-fueled plotlines. Not everything has to be about the end of the world, right?

The idea of getting to put out your fresh chocolate treats in a display window, cooling them down, adding fancy ingredients, perhaps even molds to create custom creations. That just sounds nice. Though we do not know when Haunted Chocolatier will be ready we do know it’ll make Casper settle down with his own candy shop.