Barone announced Haunted Chocolatier back in 2021, but amid ongoing work on his phenomenally successful Stardew Valley, progress on the follow-up has been slow going. Indeed, in June, Barone admitted to feeling somewhat embarrassed to have to keep on saying he was still working away on the game. “Feels kinda dumb posting this same thing over and over, but that’s the reality,” he said at the time.
In a new interview with GQ (thanks, Eurogamer), Barone touched on what to expect from Haunted Chocolatier when it eventually comes out, and it sounds more different from Stardew Valley than I had expected. It’s set in a more “metaphysical” locale, for a start, and in terms of gameplay it’s more of an action RPG.
“It is still what I call a town game,” Barone said, “But it’s more of an action RPG — the main focus is more about adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful. There are monsters, there are boss fights. It’s for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines. That’s what I do, honestly.”
“I hope they dont buil the day night cycle”
What?
*build.
Stardew valley has a day-night cycle that constrains what you can do in a given day. It makes sense given there are actions that happen on certain days like birthdays and festivals, and the seasons need to progress, and you need to grow your crops. But it also meant you couldn’t just spend all your time doing combat in the mines and skull cavern cause eventually you pass out due to lack of energy at 2am.