Stardew Valley follow-up Haunted Chocolatier is set to have boss battles.
In a livestream interview with composing software Reason Studios, Stardew creator Eric Barone showed off some of the music from the forthcoming game (thanks PC Gamer).
That included a track called “beeboss”, complete with buzzing melodies.
“Not all of Haunted Chocolatier is this upbeat salsa music. That’s actually an oddball,” said Barone, offering to play another piece called Pristine Snow that’s more in-line with Stardew’s ambient tracks with its gentle piano and sombre oboe melody.
“Most of the music in the game will probably sound like this,” he said. “A sort of mysterious, sombre, snowy feel. This is supposed to sound like a mysterious night in the snow.”
Barone also described the music overall as “darker” than Stardew and he’s using more synthesisers this time around.
This is the first time the music for Haunted Chocolatier has been heard, offering more hints as to what the gameplay will be like beyond what Barone has already stated.
A previous blog post already confirmed the game will have a greater focus on combat compared with Stardew.
Barone isn’t worried about following the success of Stardew, though.
When asked on the Reason livestream about “sophomore slump” Barone replied: “I can relate to some degree with working on Haunted Chocolatier, which is a game that’s very much in Stardew Valley’s shadow at this point and will be compared to it.”
“I can’t help but think about Stardew Valley when I’m making this game. It’ll manifest in ways like ‘Oh, I can’t do this. It’s too much like Stardew Valley.’ But then a lot of the things in Stardew Valley are the way they are because it just makes sense. It would be foolish to do it any other way.”
“Lately I’ve just kinda been like ‘you know what, screw it,'” he continued. “If that means a lot of stuff in Stardew Valley was perfect and it doesn’t need to be changed, then I’m just gonna do it the same way and not worry about it. If people say it’s cut and paste Stardew Valley, well so be it. What did you expect? Did you expect me to make a sports game or a racing game? This is just what I do.”
Check out the full livestream below.
