One Stardew Valley Mechanic Seems Like the Basis for Haunted Chocolatier

With little news to go by, fans are still uncertain about just what might be in store for Haunted Chocolatier’s main premise, but there might be some hints to be found in ConcernedApe’s other hit. Stardew Valley has many excellent mechanics, and one in particular might be the key to Haunted Chocolatier’s success.

Almost no updates have been made public since Haunted Chocolatier‘s reveal. Some expect that it will share similarities with Stardew Valley while bringing new elements into the picture. As another life sim title by the same solo developer, it’s natural that players might expect some overlap. Features like yearly events and romanceable characters are practically unavoidable given their success in the past, but new elements are also likely to change the experience from the existing game. ConcernedApe has already confirmed that combat will play a larger role in Haunted Chocolatier, but other changes might be coming as well. As a game that focuses partially on creating goods to sell, Stardew Valley’s cooking mechanic is bound to be the basis of Haunted Chocolatier’s gameplay.

Stardew Valley’s Cooking Provides a Foundation for Haunted Chocolatier

Though sometimes overlooked, cooking is becoming a much more frequent element in games of all genres. Of course, there have always been games that focus around preparing or serving food, even since early arcade machines, but the level of detail and frequency of cooking mechanics has been evolving rapidly. This is in no small part thanks to games like Cooking Mama or Overcooked that brought food prep into the mainstream gaming market. While those games feature food as a focus, it has also begun to show up frequently as a side activity. Heavy hitters like Minecraft, Breath of the Wild, and, of course, Stardew Valley all have some type of mechanic where players can create dishes based on the ingredients at hand.

Life sim games in particular feature recipe creation almost across the board. This makes some sense as a large majority of life sims are also farming simulators, like Stardew Valley. While selling crops is typically the main goal of these games, giving players something else to do with them only increases their drive to grow better produce. While games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing have recipes and cooking included, their systems are fairly basic. Tales of the Shire’s cooking mechanic looks like it could be a standout in the genre, taking the spotlight by giving players more freedom over their dishes than any other game. With its heavy emphasis on creating chocolate to sell, Haunted Chocolatier should take Stardew Valley’s basic mechanic and enhance it to approach the level of detail in Tales of the Shire.

Haunted Chocolatier’s Cooking Mechanic Could Make or Break its Success

Haunted Chocolatier needs to differentiate itself from Stardew Valley in order to stand on its own two feet, and a robust cooking system is the perfect way to do that. Stardew Valley’s system works fine for its purposes, but that game is primarily centered around farming. Because Haunted Chocolatier is more about creating chocolate and selling it, it needs robust cooking mechanics to work well. Using Stardew Valley’s system as a basis is a start, but other sim games have proven there’s room for growth. Not to diminish Stardew Valley’s cooking — after all, its cookbook may inspire a sequel based on Haunted Chocolatier‘s success — but it simply isn’t enough for this game to keep it the way it works now.

The
Haunted Chocolatier
website’s last development update was on December 25, 2021, but ConcernedApe has shared some tidbits and images of the game on social media since then.

Branching out in game mechanics is a good thing. It leads to growth in the industry, which the life sim genre sorely needs. It’s no secret that life sim games have a heavy focus on farming, but some fans are beginning to feel fatigued by that. Haunted Chocolatier is the perfect game to break the farming sim overload by emphasizing a different lifestyle where cooking ingredients is more important than growing them. If the new mechanics work, Haunted Chocolatier might even set a new standard for the genre.