Means again at PAX East 2023, I sat down with writer Xseed Video games to check out this little upcoming sport known as Cuisineer, all a couple of lady named Pom who got here again from adventuring the world over to open her mother and father’ restaurant. Loving the demo, I eagerly awaited being about to play the complete launch and was capable of persuade my editor to let me write the Cuisineer assessment. However does the entire sport reside as much as its promise?
Cuisineer Overview – Again to Fundamentals
Cuisineer tells the story of Pom, a younger catgirl(?) who returns to her hometown of Paell (named after the dish Paella) to run Potato Palace, her mother and father’ restaurant, after they’ve determined to make a journey world wide. She then has to contend along with her mother and father’ money owed, the enterprise of working a restaurant, and gathering all her elements, in addition to a plethora of sidequests for villagers to be able to unlock extra recipes.
The setup of Cusineer is cute, and working a café whereas gathering elements is a strong idea that’s been executed nicely earlier than (see Little Dragon’s Café). Sadly, whereas Cuisineer places quite a lot of consideration into small particulars just like the proliferation of pan-Asian delicacies, the theming of weapons and results, and character design, it fails to nail the large stuff.
Operating the café is tedious, however you have to be there to serve prospects as there is no such thing as a solution to run it on autopilot, sadly. There’s no ability wanted for cooking, however you’re always working across the café taking suggestions from prospects and cooking dishes, a lot in order that it began to really feel like Diner Sprint at one level.
The café can be oddly formed, which simply throws an additional wrench in once you’re attempting to arrange cooking stations and tables. And, in case you’re attempting to avoid wasting sure elements to the aspect since you’re seeking to fulfill a sidequest, powerful nuggets. There’s no solution to actually refuse a buyer’s request, however in case you don’t serve them they get indignant and go away, after taking over desk house for somebody who may truly be paying.
Dungeon Delving Issue
Combating within the dungeons is how Pom gathers meals elements to serve on the café. For instance, hen enemies will drop eggs and pale meat. Sadly, enemy proliferation is unbalanced and it turns into a case of simply grinding dungeons for days on finish to get uncommon elements from uncommon enemies.
Combating can be oddly within the favour of the enemies, somewhat than Pom. Your weapon begins off with 10 assault and after you set vital cash and sources into it, you get… a weapon with 11 assault. Equipment like gloves and boots solely offer you an extra 5HP apiece, and once more it takes an inordinate sum of money and sources to stage any of those up, that means it’s straightforward to get overwhelmed once you’re dealing with a horde of enemies, armed solely with a spatula and 110HP.
You can also’t stage up Pom herself, and her stock storage is extraordinarily restricted. You’ll be able to carry three therapeutic gadgets with you within the dungeon at most, and also you begin solely with the ability to carry one. Therapeutic gadgets are literally Boba tea, which is a cute gimmick and a nod to the meals theme, however as soon as once more you want an excessively great amount of sources to unlock teas that heal greater than 35HP at a time.
You’ll have to ship sure cooked dishes to unlock completely different teas, however that necessitates upgrading your store a number of instances to have the house in your cooking gear, to not point out grinding for elements, in addition to happening sidequests to unlock recipes. All of this additionally requires the cash put in to unlock house for extra therapeutic gadgets in addition to extra backpack house for elements. It’s a ache within the butt to even unlock ONE extra Boba tea, by no means thoughts all of them.
On the constructive aspect, Cusineer is a really cute sport. The paintings is cute, the character designs are recent and the monsters are numerous. There are many adorning choices in your restaurant, however there’s probably not any level to them. The assorted townsfolk that Pom meets and interacts with all have their very own designs, however they lack any form of verdant personalities.
Actually, Cuisineer is a research in wasted potential. From the food-themed villagers to naming the battle system results after flavors like Candy and Spicy, there’s rather a lot that Cuisineer might have taken and run inside its design and setup. Sadly, the tedious Diner Sprint-esque café working, unbalanced battle system, and intense drain of sources that upgrading nearly something requires places a fast dampener on even probably the most hardcore foodie’s enthusiasm. Whereas I might hesitate to name Cuisineer an out-and-out “dangerous” sport, I used to be left with the bitter style of disappointment in my mouth.
Cuisineer was reviewed on PC with a duplicate offered by the writer over the course of 8 hours of gameplay – all screenshots had been taken in the course of the means of assessment.
