Summary
Haunted Chocolatier, a spiritual successor to the excellentStardew Valley, is already looking incredibly promising. The game’s unique premise and charming art design, alongside developer ConcernedApe’s sterling reputation thanks to the success ofStardew Valley, have helped inspire confidence inHaunted Chocolatier, despite very little being actually known about the project.Ideally, ConcernedApe will useHaunted Chocolatierto expand and polish some ofStardew’s fundamentals, including customization.
It looks likeHaunted Chocolatierwill share someStardew ValleyDNA, even if the two aren’t directly connected. Aside from the general tone and pixelated art style, the gameplay pillars of business management, continual progression, and integrated dungeon-crawling are present in both titles. On top of this, it looks likeHaunted Chocolatieris taking a similar approach to its narrative and slice-of-life aspects, with the player-character choosing a simpler life in a small town after becoming tired of living in a city. Assuming the building blocks ofStardew Valleyare the same ones that compriseHaunted Chocolatier, the latter could take steps to enhance the various elements of customization found in the former.
Haunted Chocolatier Should Take Stardew Valley’s Customization to the Next Level
Stardew Valleylets players start a family, expand their household, and operate a multifaceted, independent business. In short, the game serves as a chance to create a miniature virtual world, and personalization naturally plays a major role in this overall structure.Stardewprovides players with a great deal of freedom when it comes to decorating their homes, dressing their avatar, and organizing their farm layout, butHaunted Chocolatiercould still kick things up a notch.
How Haunted Chocolatier Can Improve Stardew Valley’s Character Customization
Home and farm customization may be impressive and robust inStardew Valley, but character customization options are somewhat lacking by comparison. Details such as body type and height can’t be altered, and there aren’t many options for more distinct hairstyles or physical features, either. Of course, much of this can be attributed to the simple,retro art style ofStardew Valley, which limits how much detail can be displayed by the game’s sprites, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement.
Haunted Chocolatiercould allow for more freedom when it comes to the size and shape of the player character, helping the protagonist of the game appear more visually distinct from the NPCs. In the same vein, the game should open the door to out-there character designs, leaning into the fantastical elements of its premise through more bizarre and dramatic character creation options.Haunted Chocolatier’s supernatural emphasiscould perhaps even allow players to make non-human avatars.
Haunted Chocolatier Should Build Up Stardew Valley’s Home Customization
More robust character creation tools would no doubt be a welcome addition, but further fleshing out the already extensive home personalization mechanics ofStardew Valleyis arguably more important.Stardew Valleyplayers could enhance their houses with some extra rooms, paint jobs, and wallpapers, butthis progression can feel a bit linear with not much room for creative expression. To remedy this,Haunted Chocolatiercould take some notes from crafting or survival games likeMinecraftby letting players add rooms, annexes, or other components to their homes and shops manually, leading tohome customization similar toStardew Valley’s while setting the stage for more creative and truly original house designs.
It can be hard to imagine how the already fantastic personalization options ofStardew Valleycould be improved upon, butHaunted Chocolatiercould certainly do it. With the addition of features like the storefront and the apparent focus on the supernatural, ConcernedApe has the chance to makeHaunted Chocolatiera game that offers the same charm and satisfying, low-stakes gameplay loop ofStardew Valley, while offering even more freedom to players.
Haunted Chocolatier
WHERE TO PLAY
Haunted Chocolatier is an upcoming adventure game from Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe (Eric Barone). The game is currently set to feature a lush explorable world, chocolate making and cooking, a spooky theme, and more. There is currently no release date or time period for the game.
