‘Stardew Valley’ creator announces new game ‘Haunted Chocolatier’
After dedicating 10 years of his life to Stardew Valley, creator Eric Barone, aka "ConcernedApe," has unveiled a brand new game titled Haunted Chocolatier with some very promising gameplay footage.
The upcoming RPG simulation game, where characters play a chocolatier living in a haunted castle, features the same 16-bit SNES style as the hit farming and lifestyle sim.
Like Stardew Valley, Haunted Chocolatier is another "town game," where players move to a new town and try their hand at a new way of living, according to the website’s FAQ page.
"In this game, you will play as a chocolatier living in a haunted castle. In order to thrive in your new role, you will have to gather rare ingredients, make delicious chocolates, and sell them in a chocolate shop," explained Barone in a blog on the game’s new website.
While players will have to get to know the townspeople, achieve goals and make progress in many ways, the core gameplay and theme are different from Stardew.
“In Stardew Valley, the focus was more humble: living off the land, growing food, and connecting to the people and nature around you. However, with my next game, I wanted to explore more fantastical possibilities… experiences that take you beyond the ordinary. That’s where magical haunted ghost chocolate comes in,” explained Barone.
Barone, who started working on the new game a little over a year ago in 2020, shared some initial screenshots and early gameplay footage, with a video showing the characters heading out into into a town, the castle, a mountain and other scenarios like gathering ingredients, making chocolate, and running a chocolate shop.
some screenshots pic.twitter.com/pJXurwwGXM
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 21, 2021
Haunted Chocolatier will be single-player only, with no plans for multiplayer. The game will "100 percent" come to PC, though Barone has "every intention of bringing it to the other major platforms as well."
Like the initial development of Stardew Valley, Barone is working on Haunted Chocolatier solely on his own, with plans to self-publish the title. No release date or release window has been set, as the game is still in the early development stages.