The cozy gaming genre has seen a massive resurgence in recent years, with fans picking up cute life simulators and playing obsessively. Two extremely popular games in this genre areAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandStardew Valley, both giving players the chance to start a new, virtual life in a growing community full of NPCs.Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis the latest in a long line of predecessors from Nintendo, but it maintains the same formula as the originalAnimal Crossingfor the Gamecube.
Stardew Valleyfeatures a heavier focus on farming and exploration thanAnimal Crossing, which is predominantly centered around community building and friendship.Stardew Valleyis incredibly popular, despite being solo developer ConcernedApe’s first and only game thus far, and fans were thrilled at the announcement of his upcoming project,Haunted Chocolatier, set to be related but not a sequel toStardew Valley. The choice to create asimilar but new game asStardew Valley’s successoris an interesting one, and the treatment would work extremely well for anAnimal Crossingspin-off game.
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Haunted Chocolatier’s Different Approach
Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone announcedHaunted Chocolatieralongside a gameplay trailer in 2021, and it was immediately evident that it would not be aStardew Valleyclone.Haunted Chocolatierfeatures similar retro-style pixel artwork in the world and characters, as well as other popularStardewelements like romance with NPCs and similar-looking combat. ConcernedApe has confirmed thatHaunted Chocolatieris not a sequel toStardew Valley, but the games will be connectedin some way.
Haunted Chocolatier, likeStardew Valley, is a life simulator to some degree, but is instead being described as a supernatural, horror-themed RPG life sim.Players inHaunted Chocolatierwill manage a chocolate shopthat caters to both ghostly and living customers, and trailers show what appears to be an increased emphasis on combat, even potentially including boss battles. WhileStardew Valleyfocused on farming and community growth, combat and commerce were secondary elements of gameplay.Haunted Chocolatierwill likely reverse that formula and require players to prioritize their candy business and exploration of the world.
Changing the Animal Crossing Formula
Animal Crossinggames continue to be extremely successful, featuring a tried-and-true formula that repeats in every main game in the series. Players move to a new, adorable town inhabited by talking animal residents. Through working for Tom Nook, fishing, catching bugs, and helping neighbors, players can upgrade their homes and improve the community that they now call home. While the series has evolved over time by adding new NPCs, additional daily tasks, and more responsibilities for players, the gameplay can become somewhat stale, especially for fans that are less interested in 100 percent completion or extreme island makeovers.
Haunted Chocolatierisn’t out yet, but is already proving that it is possible to take an extremely beloved game and create a follow-up that isn’t a clone. By retaining many beloved elements from the original game, the spirit and fan base of the series can be preserved. ForAnimal Crossing, the possibilities are endless.Animal Crossing: New Horizonstook a step in theright direction with the Happy Home Paradise DLC, creating an entirely new game mode that put players in charge of an interior design business. This same approach could be applied to other minor aspects ofNew Horizons, resultingin a spin-off that focuses on island exploration with Dodo Airlines and provides more action-adventure style gameplay that tasks players with rescuing lost villagers. Another option would be a game that puts players in charge of an event-planning company, requiring them to work with photographer Harvey and other popular NPCs.
WhileAnimal Crossinghas never released a main series game that breaks the familiar mold, the franchise does havespin-offs likeAnimal Crossing: Pocket CampandHappy Home Designer. These show that a new approach toAnimal Crossingis within the realm of possibility, and ifHaunted Chocolatieris as popular asStardew Valley, Nintendo may take note.
Haunted Chocolatieris currently in development.
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