Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe released a new teaser image for his upcoming game Haunted Chocolatier. ConcernedApe announced Haunted Chocolatier with a gameplay trailer in 2021, but the new title does not have a set release date yet.
Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone is best known as the creator of the hit indie farming sim Stardew Valley. Inspired by the Harvest Moon series, ConcernedApe started working on Stardew Valley in 2012, shortly after graduating from the University of Washington. The game launched to massive success in 2016, remaining a solo project until 2017, when Barone brought on a second developer to assist him. Ported to multiple platforms, Stardew Valley sold over 20 million copies as of May 2022 and enjoys many positive reviews, with Metacritic scores in the high 80s.
As the name implies, Haunted Chocolatier tasks the player with managing a confectionery shop in a town inhabited by both living residents and the undead. ConcernedApe released a new teaser for the game on March 2, sharing some concept art on Twitter. The image showed off numerous sketches of Haunted Chocolatier's possibly supernatural candies, much to the excitement and amusement of ConcernedApe's fans.
Haunted Chocolatier's candy designs are varied, though a few common elements stick out. This includes a lot of faces, which some commenters found quite endearing. Cinelinx managing editor Katy Barber has a particular kinship with the face of one chocolate, with whoever runs the Opera GX Twitter account expressing similar feelings towards another confectionery. And while many of these faces are cute smiles, they certainly look like the kind of treats that might have something supernatural going on with them. A hand-shaped candy in the center-right has a particularly ghostlike visage, and one can't help but get Lovecraft vibes from a pair of tentacle-shaped treats.
Haunted Chocolatier carries over Stardew Valley's charming retro-inspired pixel art and NPC romance. Players will collect ingredients to make a variety of chocolate confections while interacting with the local townspeople. Players will manage their shop with the assistance of friendly spirits and can customize it to suit their personal tastes as supernatural candy makers.
However, Haunted Chocolatier also adds to Stardew Valley's formula with the introduction of isometric action-RPG combat. Based on the gameplay trailer from 2020, the latter seems quite reminiscent of the old top-down Zelda games. Nostalgia has always been an essential part of Stardew Valley's appeal, and it appears that ConcernedApe is expanding his pool of retro inspiration. His fans will no doubt be waiting eagerly for more news on when the horror-themed RPG life sim Haunted Chocolatier launches on PC.
Haunted Chocolatier is in development for PC.