Haunted Chocolatier, Eric Barone’s highly anticipated follow-up toStardew Valley, is still quite far away. With so little revealed about the game, and givenStardew Valley’s undeniable cultural influence,Haunted Chocolatiertheories and speculation have run rampant, with many wondering just how different it will be from its wholesome, starry-eyed predecessor, and how many significant departures Barone will make with its design.
Haunted Chocolatierwill only be Barone’s second feature-length gaming project, making it even harder to know what to expect from it; this sort of follow-up game from him has no precedent.
Luckily,Haunted Chocolatiercould certainly ask for a worse jumping-off point thanStardew. The seminal 2016 farming simulator has a wealth of satisfying and engaging design choices that feel ripe for evolution in this quasi-sequel, not the least of which being its social-and relationship-simulation mechanics. Players can romance andmarry just about any single NPC inStardew, and each romance subplot reveals nuanced and emotionally poignant information about both the chosen partner and Pelican Town’s broader culture. Needless to say, these romance stories are expected to return inChocolatier, and while they would be great even if left fundamentally unchanged, they could also benefit from taking notes from other classic RPGs.
Haunted Chocolatier’s Romance System Could Be More Immersive by Learning from Mass Effect
No One Seems to Care About Your Choice of Partner in Stardew Valley
One of the greatest weaknesses ofStardew Valley’s romance mechanics, from a role-playing and world-building standpoint, is how isolated they feel from the rest of the experience. Not only will the relationship cease to develop once the end goal of marriage is achieved (a flawStardew Valleyshares with several other romance-laden RPGs), but no other character seems to take note of any romantic developments.
This makes the game world feel far less reactive and, ultimately, more artificial. The benefit ofromance systems in the likes ofStardew Valley, aside from buttressing role-playing, is that romantic endeavors can open up unique narrative pathways. It’s interesting to see how an NPC will react to being courted, for example, and it’s equally interesting to see how those around them react. The distance between the player’s romantic endeavors and the rest ofStardew’s world thus has the unfortunate effect of trivializing such subplots, and this is somethingHaunted Chocolatiershould seek to remedy, assuming it features a similar system.
In Mass Effect, Other NPCs Will Comment On Your Relationship
There are a number of ways that third-party NPCs will react to theplayer’s amorous behavior throughout theMass Effectseries. The most common, and logical, way this unfolds is when Shepard is romancing two or more characters at once: the relevant parties will, at a certain point, directly question Shepard’s loyalty to them, requesting or outright demanding they staunch their relationship with the other paramours. But even platonic characters can take note of the player’s relationship status, teasing or supporting Shepard in accordance with their personality. These external narrative factors makeMass Effect’s romances more plausible and dynamic.
Of course, theMass Effectstory is fundamentally different fromStardew Valley’s, and will likely be just as different fromHaunted Chocolatier’s. The dramatic structure of a game likeMass Effectallows for more curated and therefore reactive dialog scenarios, whereas thelife-sim nature ofHaunted Chocolatiermay have too many variables, and too much player freedom, to feature a similar level of dynamism. But still, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the game to, for instance, confront a player who is romancing several NPCs through a pointed dialog exchange. Similarly, hearing from the romance partner’s friends or family members, perhaps even having them play a role in certain romantic events or milestones, seems feasible and beneficial for the overall experience.
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.
