I just saw the first video with real images of Haunted Chocolatier and, I confess, I am climbing the walls. And I suppose (and hope) that some people will understand me knowing that we are talking about the current project of ConcernedApe, the creator of Stardew Valley, one of the most successful (and sensational) indie games of recent years. A game that I bought at the end of February, but in which I have already added about 200 hours, most of them playing online, with Anaïs and Jose, two friends, in a tremendous hook that we had just before summer, and that gave us moments unforgettable, like my wedding with Abigail and when I was the father of the adorable little Besuguita.
If you don’t know Stardew Valley, you should know that it is a seemingly very simple RPG, in which (among many other things) we will have to manage a farm. There is, due to its appearance, the erroneous belief that it was developed with RPG Maker, but it is enough to spend a few hours to verify that its complexity, which can also be seen in the first trailer for Haunted Chocolatier, seems to be off limits to what this popular RPG game creation environment offers.
Those who have known the history of Stardew Valley know that the dedication of Eric Barone, real name of ConcernedApe, has been absolute. The game has not stopped growing since the day of its launch, with support that seems incredible for a title created by a single person. Hearing Barone talk about Stardew Valley is something that, you may think I’m exaggerating, but it excites. However, at the end of January, its latest update was published, after ten years of uninterrupted work. Then it was time to start working on a new title, which today we know is Haunted Chocolatier.
Haunted Chocolatier, the haunted chocolatier, looks clearly inspired by Stardew ValleyAlthough from what we can deduce from these first images, it seems to have some specific and more complex mechanics than its predecessor, related to the elaborations that we will have to do with chocolate. And why chocolate? Well, as we can read on the official website of the game «I think a lot of people like chocolate«. It may sound like pretended humility, but knowing Barone a little, I see nothing but humility and honesty in his statement.
In the presentation of Haunted Chocolatier also we can read that with this game he intends to take a leap in ambition with respect to Stardew Valley, taking advantage of the learning of these years. The basic mechanics will consist of collecting ingredients, making chocolate and managing a chocolate shop. It happens, however, the same as with Stardew Valley, and is that an apparently very simple model, will undoubtedly be much more enriched with fantastic components, relationships with the NPCs of the game, many spaces to explore, and so on.
It is still early, obviously, to do an in-depth analysis of the Haunted Chocolatier proposal, but for those who have enjoyed Stardew Valley, this first contact is most attractive. The bad part is that, at the moment, there is no expected date of arrival on the market, and ConcernedApe will surely wait until the game has the right level to reach users who are already waiting for it with open hands.
