Haunted Chocolatier's Combat Is Being Remade 'From Scratch' Compared To Stardew Valley

Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) says that combat in his new game, Haunted Chocolatier, is being made from scratch - as opposed to being directly copied from Stardew Valley.

"Haunted Chocolatier has a greater focus on combat, so it needs to be very fun, satisfying, and engaging, while also appropriately fitting into the big picture," says Barone in a recent blog post. "You can rest assured that 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 accompanying footage 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 those shown off 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 still change before the game is finished. If you followed the development of Stardew Valley, this will be familiar."

Haunted Chocolatier: stunning an enemy allows for a quick attack pic.twitter.com/FQznMeBVb2

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 30, 2021

Although 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 upon their preferred playstyle. "Many attacks can be blocked with a shield, and in most cases, blocking an attack causes the enemy to become 'stunned'. While an enemy is stunned, you can attack them much faster, as seen above," says Barone.

"The shield/stun mechanic rewards more cautious, patient players who wait for a window of opportunity. But you don’t have to play like this, you could just as well charge in aggressively, and if you can pull it off, you’ll defeat enemies more quickly that way. There will be other off-hand items besides shields that will compliment different play styles."

While it looks like the game's combat is moving forward nicely, it could still be a long while before fans are able to get to grips with it themselves. Similar to Stardew Valley, Barone says that he won't be releasing Haunted Chocolatier until he's "personally satisfied that it’s very fun and compelling, in every aspect." With that in mind, Haunted Chocolatier still has no current release window officially confirmed. Although that might put a few worried expressions on the faces of fans, Barone did offer some reassurance, stating that the game is "on the right track so far".

Haunted Chocolatier was revealed recently, and will be the next game from the developer of Stardew Valley. If more Stardew was what you were hoping for instead of 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 him on Twitter.