Concerned Ape's newest game in development is getting a lot of attention thanks to his success with Stardew Valley. While Haunted Chocolatier is definitely a new concept, the game appears to share a lot of similarities with Stardew and it's not just the pixel art style. So far, much of the game's playstyle looks like it's borrowing heavily from Stardew Valley's. Just how similar are these two games and will Haunted Chocolatier be different enough to stand alone and be successful? Concerned Ape has been putting out information about gameplay that may contain clues.
Haunted Chocolatier doesn't have a release date yet as it's still in early development, but it promises the charm and level of story fans of Stardew have come to love. Players will have the pleasure of creating their own chocolatey sweets with the help of ghosties and selling them at their chocolate shop in a quaint little town with a dark but cozy vibe.
There's not much, but just enough gameplay footage and other information released by Concerned Ape in his new Haunted Chocolatier blog. One of the big takeaways so far about the gameplay is how combat and fantasy will be more front and center this time. Concerned Ape has stated that "if Stardew Valley mostly channeled the energy of the sun, Haunted Chocolatier channels the energy of the moon," meaning that the two are quite different in their style. Stardew is mostly grounded in that it's about running a farm and country living, where Haunted Chocolatier will be more fantastical with mystery, ghosts, and what appears to be a magical portal in a haunted castle the player will use to teleport and fight monsters.
How this portal connects to the town and the ghosts hasn't been revealed, but what we do know is that this appears to be how players get to areas to fight monsters. This part of the game, while looking like Stardew Valley combat, is actually more in-depth and has a classic overhead SNES action feel to it. Think Secret of Mana or Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It's still being built up but so far there are new things like shields to block attacks and stun enemies and Concerned Ape has said that there will be other off-hand items available. This likely means dual-wielding and casting may be an option, which would be a huge leg-up on Stardew's combat.
Concerned Ape has said that crafting and selling chocolate will also be part of the main gameplay loop. However, crafting will likely be more important than in Stardew, but also more focused on chocolate. If you've seen the trailer, then you know the player will be spending time making new chocolates to sell in the shop either through experimentation or by learning recipes from villagers most likely. It will probably be a cross between Stardew's cooking and crafting and act similarly. The trailer showed the player befriending villagers so there are also likely things like friendship and Heart Events too, but it will be interesting to see how marriage would work considering the game's fantastical nature.
The last part of the gameplay loop is selling items, which is totally new to the game. Like other shop-oriented games, there is also a function to upgrade the store and change the style which while Stardew has for the farmhouse, may operate differently considering the player lives in a castle. Hopefully, there will be as many or more options as Stardew's furniture with plenty of spooky décor to choose from. Since it's a store there will also be helpers although they're in the form of ghosts. Stardew never had a need for complicated AI like that so it will be interesting to see how Concerned Ape handles the little ghost workers.
0 Comments