While Haunted Chocolatier is being considered by many as a Stardew Valley sequel, the connections between the two video games are a bit extra difficult than that.
Haunted Chocolatier is the second main venture from solo developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, following up on the main success of his first sport, Stardew Valley.
The title will see gamers taking on a haunted mansion the place they’ll open a confectionary store, spending their days gathering substances, battling monsters, creating relationships with fellow townspeople, and (in fact) making chocolate.
Haunted Chocolatier Stardew Valley Connections Explained
Haunted Chocolatier isn’t technically a sequel to Stardew Valley, though it could look the half.
The upcoming title from solo developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone shall be his first main launch since Stardew debuted in 2016. While it isn’t Stardew Valley 2 by identify, the two video games share some key connections.
Both titles appear to be structured equally, with gamers settling right into a gameplay loop of gathering sources, crafting items with mentioned sources, after which promoting these items. They are like Minecraft if gamers may then earn money on the diamond pickaxes they made in-game.
However, as an alternative of operating a farm in Haunted Chocolatier, gamers will arrange store in a haunted mansion, crafting and promoting chocolate with the assist of the spirits that inhabit the home.
Barone immediately addressed the similarities and variations between his two video games in an FAQ on his official web site, clarifying how his upcoming venture will differ from the one which put him on the map.
In that back-and-forth with followers, he wrote, “In some ways” gameplay between the two shall be comparable, however in different methods, it won’t be:
Q: “Is the gameplay similar to ‘Stardew Valley?'”
A: “In some ways, yes, but in many ways, no. Like ‘Stardew Valley,’ ‘Haunted Chocolatier’ is another ‘town game,’ where you move to a new town and try your hand at a new way of living. You’ll get to know the townspeople, achieve your goals and make progress in many ways. All of that is similar to ‘Stardew Valley.'”
He posited that whereas Stardew was a extra laid-back Harvest Moon-esque expertise, Haunted Chocolatier shall be “more of an action-RPG:”
“However, the core gameplay and theming are quite a bit different. ‘Haunted Chocolatier’ is more of an action-RPG compared to ‘Stardew Valley.’ And instead of a farm being the focal point of your endeavors, it’s a chocolate shop.”
This could be seen in the sport’s solely trailer thus far, displaying off a way more fantastical world than that of Stardew, with a heavier concentrate on fight and exploration (one thing that was solely a small a part of the Stardew Valley expertise).
Another widespread purpose followers appear to suppose the chocolate-making RPG is a direct Stardew sequel is the two titles’ comparable look. Both video games function this beautiful trendy pixel artwork look that harkens again to 16-bit classics like Chrono Trigger, the unique Harvest Moon, and Earthbound.
This is just the results of the sport being labored on by the identical particular person, utilizing comparable instruments and expertise to craft each titles. However, regardless of the comparable look, each video games (maybe surprisingly) don’t use the identical engine below the hood.
Barone wrote in that very same Q&A that Haunted Chocolatier is utilizing “a new engine” from Stardew Valley, nevertheless it does use a few of the identical code:
Q: “Is it the same engine as ‘Stardew Valley?'”
A: “No, it’s a new engine written in C#/Monogame… however there are some areas where I can reuse code from ‘Stardew Valley,’ so that is nice.”
Sadly, it nonetheless could also be a while earlier than followers get the likelihood to expertise these variations first-hand.
Despite the sport being first revealed again in 2021, there nonetheless appears to be loads of work left to be finished. Barone himself lately talked about taking a break on improvement, which means the can shall be stored getting kicked down the street for no matter eventual launch he could have deliberate.
In a December 2024 weblog submit on the sport’s website, Barone shared, “I haven’t been able to work on Haunted Chocolatier in a while,” as he had shifted his focus to the huge 1.6 replace to Stardew Valley:
“I know it’s been a while since I last posted here. As you may already know, I haven’t been able to work on ‘Haunted Chocolatier’ in a while. This is because I started working on new stuff for the ‘Stardew Valley’ 1.6 update. The 1.6 update was originally planned to be a technical, ‘under the hood’ update to expand ‘Stardew’s’ modding capabilities, done by others so that I could focus on ‘Haunted Chocolatier.’ But then I got involved, adding a little bit of new content to the update, and it kind of snowballed into a pretty substantial amount of new content. And even after 1.6 came out on PC, I have been heavily involved with bug fixing, porting, and more. This has all pulled me away from ‘Haunted Chocolatier’ development.”
Hopefully, this back-and-forth improvement between Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier will profit each video games, as Barone can take what he has realized from every to make the different higher.
Haunted Chocolatier has no recognized public launch date.
