Highlights
- Haunted Chocolatier brings unique gameplay opportunities by combining immersive mechanics with a spooky chocolate-making premise.
- Departing from Stardew Valley's farming, the game will focus on creating confections in a chocolate shop, adding a fresh twist.
- Introducing cooking minigames and item quality based on player skill can set Haunted Chocolatier apart and enhance its immersive experience.
Haunted Chocolatier's premise gives it a chance to introduce some immersive mechanics that can give the game a lot of interesting gameplay opportunities. While Haunted Chocolatier can largely work off of aspects of Stardew Valley that proved successful, it will also need to establish its own identity. The new setting and business have already set the game in the right direction in that regard. However, the gameplay will still need a few unique quirks of its own to do. In fact, there is already one option that could give Haunted Chocolatier a leg up in that department.
There's good reason for Haunted Chocolatier not to replicate Stardew Valley's approach in a few areas. Of course, there are some things that probably won't come up at all. After all, the protagonist of Haunted Chocolatier probably won't have a farm, so most of the farming mechanics likely won't be repeated. However, it looks like the friendship mechanic, and possibly romances, will be coming back. Considering what a big role they played in making Stardew Valley so memorable, that shouldn't be a surprise. Any other new ideas that Haunted Chocolatier can use to shake up the formula will be interesting to see in future updates.
Haunted Chocolatier Has the Ingredients For a New Kind of Reputation System
ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier might be able to create a brand new type of reputation system, boosting its appeal to RPG fans.
Cooking in Haunted Chocolatier Could Be Helped By Additional Interactivity
Haunted Chocolatier's Shop Will Be Different From Stardew Valley's Farm
As one of the game's defining features, the chocolate shop in Haunted Chocolatier will be something that players will become highly familiar with. Rather than growing and selling crops and goods as they did in Stardew Valley, players will be making their own confections and selling them in their shops. This alone will likely produce a different vibe when it comes to the player's daily activities since the townsfolk will actively be coming to them for their services. Hopefully, this will make the player feel like an important part of the community due to the demand for their shop's goods.
A Minigame Can Spice Up Haunted Chocolatier's Dessert-Making
The most obvious direction to go with the chocolate shop would be adding business management in Haunted Chocolatier, but it also raises potential for another new feature. By letting the player perform brief minigames in the chocolate-making process, it could make the process more immersive. Making sweets is far removed from planting and picking crops, and it would take a different approach. While the game probably won't make players play through every step in the process, a minigame or two could make the process more interesting. After all, as a chocolatier, the protagonist would be expected to have such skills at their disposal.
Stardew Valley already had a fishing minigame, so minigames based on in-game tasks aren't out of the question.
Haunted Chocolatier Can Have Its Own Take on Item Quality
There is a second reason to add cooking minigames to Haunted Chocolatier. Just like how Stardew Valley had crop quality that determined the value of its crops, Haunted Chocolatier can also have sweets of varying quality. Unlike the rather random crop quality, the quality of chocolates and other desserts could be determined by how precisely the player performs the minigame. If this route is taken, the minigames would need to be challenging enough to prevent easy perfect scores, but not so long that they slow down gameplay. However, it could be a good way to help Haunted Chocolatier further differentiate itself from its predecessor.
Adding an extra minigame to the player's main source of income would do plenty to help set Haunted Chocolatier apart from Stardew Valley. Adding a little more intricacy to the process of making chocolates would also add some extra variety to the gameplay. Baking and preparing sweets are both delicate processes in real life, and it would make sense if the game also reflected that in some way. Doing so through a minigame seems like a valid option, and it could make Haunted Chocolatier's gameplay loop a more immersive experience.
Haunted Chocolatier
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.
