Haunted Chocolatier’s combat is remade ‘from scratch’ compared to Stardew Valley

Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) says that the combat in his new game, Haunted Chocolatier, is made from scratch, rather than directly copied from Stardew Valley.

“Haunted Chocolatier has a greater focus on combat, so it needs to be a lot of fun, satisfying, and engaging, and at the same time fit properly into the bigger picture,” says Barone in a recent blog post. “You can be sure I’m not ‘copying and pasting’ Stardew’s combat. On the contrary, almost everything in Haunted Chocolatier, including the combat, is completely coded (and drawn) from scratch.”

The blog post also features some attached images showing the game’s combat in action, which can be seen in the tweet below. Barone notes that some of the animations are different from what is shown in the game’s reveal trailer. “That’s because I’m still working on everything, and it’s all a work in progress,” he explains. “Everything seen so far could change before the game ends. If you followed the development of Stardew Valley, this will look familiar.”

Haunted Chocolatier – Stunning an enemy allows a quick attack pic.twitter.com/FQznMeBVb2

– ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 30, 2021

Although the elements of combat could still be set to change before the game is released, Barone has said that players will be able to approach combat situations in different ways depending on their preferred playstyle. “Many attacks can be blocked with a shield, and in most cases, blocking an attack leaves the enemy ‘stunned’. While an enemy is stunned, you can attack them much faster, as seen above,” says Barone.

“The shield / stun mechanic rewards the most cautious and patient players who wait for a window of opportunity. But you don’t have to play like this, you can also charge aggressively, and if you can pull it off, you ‘ll defeat enemies more quickly that way. There will be other elements of the secondary hand in addition to the shields that will complement the different styles of play. “

While the game’s combat appears to be progressing very well, it could still be a long time before fans can take on it on their own. As in Stardew Valley, Barone says that he will not release Haunted Chocolatier until he is “personally satisfied that it is very fun and attractive, in all respects.” With that in mind, Haunted Chocolatier does not yet have an officially confirmed current release window. While that might put some worried expressions on fans’ faces, Barone offered some reassurance, stating that the game is “on the right track so far.”

Haunted Chocolatier was recently revealed and will be the next game from the Stardew Valley developer. If what you were hoping for was more Stardew rather than a new game, then you may be well catered for in the Stardew Valley board game that was announced earlier this year.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow it on Twitter.