Haunted Chocolatier: Everything You Need to Know

If you’re familiar with the absolutely wonderful, adorable, and super cozy life and farming sim game Stardew Valley, then you should learn about Haunted Chocolatier. It’s a video game currently being developed by Stardew Valley developer Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe. So, in this guide, we cover everything we know so far about this upcoming game, from its potential release date and trailers to gameplay. So, without further delay, let’s jump right in.

Let’s start by taking a look at the Haunted Chocolatier itself. We have analyzed all the information we have on the game through various screenshots, the official website, the early gameplay trailer, X (formerly Twitter) posts by ConcernedApe, and a Screen Rant interview. Feel free to check out the sources listed here. Also, we will mention them throughout this post, so keep reading to find all the details below.

Haunted Chocolatier: How the World Looks

Haunted Chocolatier’s graphics look fairly similar to Stardew Valley’s. The game has a cute pixel art style with gorgeous color choices, eye-catching contrasts, and story-telling details. It reminds us of the beautiful, bright, and relaxing in-game appearance we all know and love. However, there are a few differences between the two games from ConcernedApe. We can see that the characters are a bit taller than in the game’s ancestor.

Moreover, the NPC dialogue boxes look different, with the character picture, name, and text having non-identical order. The game’s health bar, hot bar, and general decorations differ quite a bit from Stardew Valley. So, even though Eric has developed both games, he chose a different approach when it comes to certain art style decisions.

The world of the Haunted Chocolatier is split. There is a “normal” world, represented by a big town or a city, which is populated by lots of people. In the official trailer and some screenshots, we can see multiple buildings with different functions, such as a bakery, a science lab, and a weapon shop.

Besides those, the town contains NPC houses, which will, at least some of them, be accessible to the player.

This hasn’t been confirmed yet, but throughout all the revealed images and videos, the only season present in the town is winter. It’s possible that Haunted Chocolatier’s world permanently has a winter setting, though the seasons could also switch, just like in Stardew Valley.

The centerpiece of this world is of course the chocolate factory. It’s an enormous castle where the player is going to live. That old building has one more special secret, which leads us to the other world.

A big green door with a pine tree design all over, coupled with two giant deer wall decorations on either side is a portal to another magical dimension. That world includes its own environment, such as unique weather, which seems rather bright and warm, creatures, plants, and also NPCs.

This world is covered with hostile monsters, such as different-colored slimes, evil crows, bush creatures, and bee monsters. You can then fight and defeat them in multiple distinctive areas. Since the two worlds differ greatly, there is an unmissable contrast that will enable players to experience and enjoy two unique environments.

Haunted Chocolatier: Story

The main impression the developer wants Haunted Chocolatier to leave on players is the mystery. It’s a fairly strange, mystical, and magical game with lots of secrets for players to explore. Unlike the well-known Stardew Valley experience, where the entire story revolves around farming, Haunted Chocolatier, as the name suggests, focuses on making chocolate.

You’ll be collecting rare ingredients, mixing them, and making different types of chocolate products in this game. The plants and monsters in the magical world drop those ingredients, so players will have to regularly pay them a visit.

The castle where you make chocolate is haunted and occupied with cute spherical ghosts. They will also be your helpers and serve the customers who visit your shop to buy your chocolate. This is the only obvious way players can make money, so they can probably buy better ingredients to make even more delicious chocolate.

Furthermore, according to the ending of the official trailer, it’s possible that you will be the center of attention of the town’s folk. It seems like the news of you being the new chocolatier may be scary, or perhaps exciting, for them.

Similarly to Stardew Valley, you won’t be alone on your journey. At least some of the townspeople are interactable and possibly fairly important. You’ll be able to have friendships and relationships with them. So, apart from fighting monsters, making chocolate, and running a shop, you’ll have a nice and chill time with some NPCs.

Haunted Chocolatier: Characters

There will be plenty of NPCs in the Haunted Chocolatier. However, most of them, such as the ones walking on the streets of the town or the customers in your chocolate shop, seem like they are just passersby. We are not yet sure whether they will be even interactable. However, some relevant NPCs are shown in the trailer, and they have their own names, pictures, and personalities.

Also, you will be able to choose between a few answers you can give the NPCs, similarly to SV. So far, we know about the existence of the following NPCs in Haunted Chocolatier:

• Lily
• Maddie
• Burk
• Jett
• Dr. Tungsten
• Nigel

There may be more main characters in the game, but we only know the names of these characters at the moment.

Furthermore, we can see the home of some of the main characters in the trailer. On January 1, 2022, Eric posted on X (formerly Twitter) two in-game screenshots representing a big scary house and an abandoned bus with crops growing on the roof. Those could very well be homes of other NPCs players we will meet and get to know.

Also, some eagle-eyed readers will notice that the scary old house is situated in a cold and snowy environment, whereas the bus appears to be in a warm forest. So, yes, we can assume that players will get to meet NPCs in both worlds. Those people’s stories will differ greatly and perhaps we can learn some useful information regarding how the world got split.

Haunted Chocolatier: Gameplay

There are a few relevant gameplay features we can spot in the official trailer. But, the first thing we should mention is the fact that you will be able to customize your character. We can see lots of different player designs with unique hairstyles, clothes, skin colors, etc. in the trailer. So, there’ll be something for everyone to relate to and enjoy.

Making Chocolate

The primary feature of the story and gameplay is, well, making chocolate. You will have to roam the magical world (the bright but scary one) in search of the various ingredients. Perhaps, you will be able to use the coins you earn to buy them, so players have multiple options.

In the screenshot below, we can see how the process of creating chocolate is going to work. Players will have a book containing different chocolate recipes that you can browse.

Every recipe will include a name and a picture of the product, as well as all the necessary ingredients to make it. Moreover, you’ll also be able to know immediately if the product is worth making as its selling value is shown in the recipe book.

Unlike Stardew Valley, where all the cooking and crafting recipes can be created instantly, you will need to wait a certain amount of time before the product is available. Additionally, you can see the effects products have when you consume them and the product’s description below.

ConcernedApe posted an interesting screenshot on X back in 2021, showing the ghosts working in some lab. Maybe they’re mixing ingredients and creating chocolate or some other products? Tell us what your guess is in the comments!

Running the Chocolate Shop

As to why we’re making chocolate in the first place, players will have their chocolate shop, where customers can buy the delicious products. The players will be able to rearrange the furniture, choose where the chocolate is displayed, and decorate the entire shop however they like.

Some of those actions will require coins, too. Moreover, there are a few stages and sizes of the chocolate shop. So, we presume there’ll be an NPC like Robin in Stardew Valley, that’s going to require some resources for upgrading your shop.

Combat

In contrast to Stardew Valley, the combat in Haunted Chocolatier is going to be one of the primary aspects. “Haunted Chocolatier is more of an action RPG compared to Stardew Valley,” Eric stated in an official FAQ on the website. The developer was greatly inspired by playing Diablo and wanted to make a game “that was like the mines in Stardew Valley, but fully fleshed out and done really well,” as revealed in the Screen Rant interview.

You will have a main weapon in the main hand but also have some other equipment in the off-hand. In the trailer, we can see the player holding a stick as the main weapon, a shield in the off-hand, and also a bow with several arrows as the ranged weapon.

The developer mentioned other off-hand equipment pieces that are going to suit different combat styles. There is also footage of the player using these weapons against the enemies and everything looks rather smooth. The transition between using the different equipment is seamless, quick, and fairly satisfying.

Moreover, there are going to be bosses in Haunted Chocolatier. One of them is a bee boss shown in the screenshot below on the ConcernedApe X post. The player is visible running around in a cave or inside a bee hive, while a giant bee is preparing an attack. We can’t wait to see what other bosses will be added to the game.

Crafting and Upgrading

One of the main characters in the screenshots and the trailer is Burk. He mentioned that he was at the furnace all morning in one of the scenes. Also, his entire house looks like a smithing station with swords, shields, armor, and ingots scattered all around. He is possibly a blacksmith or even a weaponsmith who could make or upgrade different equipment pieces and weapons for you.

Gifting Presents to NPCs

Haunted Chocolatier will include similar friendship and relationship mechanics that Stardew Valley has. You’ll be able to give them gifts and probably level up your friendship. Also, we can see that the wrapped present appears on the far right side of the hot bar. So you’ll maybe have to make the present first before giving it to an NPC.

Haunted Chocolatier: Release Date

The release date has not been announced just yet. According to the FAQ page on the official website, Eric stated: “I can’t commit to a release date yet. It’s still relatively early in development, and I want to be able to work in peace without the pressure of a release date, or even an estimated release date.” We have some clues that could lead us to a possible conclusion, though.

Eric started the development of this game in 2020. For reference, he needed about four and a half years to complete Stardew Valley. Therefore, we can assume that Haunted Chocolatier will come out sometime in 2024. However, in the Screen Rant interview, Eric said this is quite a big game, and he has a very ambitious vision for it.

Also, the development of Stardew Valley updates has slowed down the development of the Haunted Chocolatier. So, unfortunately, we may need to wait for a while for the game’s release.

However, we have some clues that can help us guess the release date of Haunted Chocolatier. As we have already mentioned, the main world is covered with snow and there are even some Christmas-y decorations around. Is it possible that this game may be released during the holidays? We can’t say for sure just yet. What is your guess? Tell us in the comments below!

Haunted Chocolatier: Trailers

So, as we mentioned throughout this article, there are plenty of sources about the info on Haunted Chocolatier. Those include an amazing and well-put official early gameplay trailer. You can find it on ConcernedApe’s YouTube channel.