Haunted Chocolatier Should Have as Many Creative Races as Stardew Valley

gamerant.com:

Stardew Valley is one of the biggest indie success stories yet. Created by Eric «ConcernedApe» Barone and released in 2016, the Harvest Moon-inspired farming/life simulator has sold over 20 million copies as of March 2022. It has released for nearly every modern platform and dropped additional waves of content, including Update 1.5's Ginger Island. That success has afforded Barone the opportunity to explore other ventures, such as the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier.

ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier was announced in October 2021. Despite having a similar aesthetic to Stardew, it swaps the focus from farming to making chocolate with ingredients gathered through more involved combat. Players are also able to run their own shop, all while getting to know the local residents of their hometown. Yet the anticipated game could go much further than that by leaning more into Stardew Valley's fantasy elements, such as the variety of races found around Pelican Town.

ConcernedApe's Stardew Valley Changed The Narrative of Solo-Developed Games

Stardew Valley's grounded opening hours hide a lot of its deeper worldbuilding. There are signs of Barone's sense of humor early on, such as skeletons filling cubicles in the headquarters of Stardew's Amazon-esque megacorporation Joja, or the main character's grandpa having an absurdely designed bed. Yet players will spend much of their time exploring the small community of Pelican Town, starting up their farm, and schmoozing with eligable bachelors and bachelorettes — all of whom are human.

The first sign that something deeper is happening underneath the surface comes when players unlock the Community Center, which acts as a set of tasks to complete that improve various parts of Pelican Town. Unless