Summary
Stardew Valley’s spiritual successorHaunted Chocolatier, while still shrouded in mystery, seems like a promising take on the ‘cozy’ genre. It’s no secret thatHaunted Chocolatierwill be entering an oversaturated market, as low-stakes games built around farming and social sim mechanics are a dime a dozen these days, but it can stand out by leaning into its unique premise and ConcernedApe’s standout quirks.
WhileHaunted Chocolatierwould do well to reprise many ofStardew’s strongest systems and features, it should also strive to improve upon some of its less stellar ones. One such lackluster inclusion is the Community Center, Jojacorp dichotomy.Stardew Valleyessentially allows players to walk an ‘evil’ path, selling out Pelican Town to Joja Corp, which transforms the Community Center, a pillar of the village, into a bland, soulless retail warehouse. Taking this path, rather than supporting the community and running Joja out of town, sends a strong message about destructive corporate greed, but it’s also a bit uninteresting, arguably squandering its full potential. This is whereHaunted Chocolatiercan take some notes fromAnimal Crossing, making its version of Joja Corp better.
AJoja equivalent inHaunted Chocolatierhas not been confirmed, but with how much potential such a system has, both narratively and mechanically, it doesn’t seem unlikely.
How Haunted Chocolatier Can Make the Corporate Route Interesting
Haunted Chocolatier Can Take Some Notes from Animal Crossing’s Happy Home Paradise
InStardew Valley, players can essentially just pay Joja 140,000g to renovate the Community Center, completely cutting off its long-running activity chain. This makes earning Community Center rewards much easier, as they can now simply be bought instead of earned with specific materials and crops, but it’s definitely less rewarding. Moreover, the Joja route doesn’t change much about the game beyond the Community Center quest, so there’s little reason to actually engage with it unless a player hascertainStardew Valleymods installed, or just wants to shake things up on a second playthrough.
Animal Crossing’sHappy Home ParadiseDLC, an offshoot of theHappy Home Designer3DS game, gives players an extra degree of control over their island, letting them redesign villagers' homes and removing some of the restrictions inherent inAnimal Crossing’s vanilla home design loop. SinceStardew Valley’s Joja Corp is all about asserting controland expanding influence, perhapsHaunted Chocolatiercould feature a dark adaptation ofHappy Home Paradise’s mechanics, letting players design the homes and buildings of their town, albeit in a less consensual, more intrusive manner. This would makeChocolatier’s ‘evil’ path more mechanically interesting and rewarding thanStardew’s, while also deepening its message.
A More Interesting Joja-Esque Path in Haunted Chocolatier Will Be a Balancing Act
If players could directly exercise their control overHaunted Chocolatier’s villagers via a path of corruption and power, it would encourage alternate playthroughs while simultaneously hammering home critical themes of corporate overreach. At the same time, the game should take care not to make this route too rewarding, as this could undermine any sort of anti-corporate commentary. TheJoja route makesStardew Valleyless enjoyablein some ways, but this is by design: there shouldn’t be anything fun about helping a huge, heartless company take over a small town.
Haunted Chocolatiercould still make a similarly evil path interesting without diminishing its core themes. For instance, perhaps the player-character’s increased control over their town could directly impact their relationship with various NPCs, locking them out of certain quests or romance arcs. This would go a long way towardenhancingHaunted Chocolatier’s replay value, as the anti-community story route would yield a number of meaningful changes while still adding a satisfying new dimension to the gameplay.
Haunted Chocolatier
WHERE TO PLAY
Haunted Chocolatier is an upcoming adventure game from Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe (Eric Barone). The game is currently set to feature a lush explorable world, chocolate making and cooking, a spooky theme, and more. There is currently no release date or time period for the game.
