Chef RPG Reviews

Playing the game with the aspect of being a chef feels like a breath of fresh air. It's fun and clearly unique from all the other cozy pixel rpg games out there. So far I've enjoyed getting to know most of the characters in the game as well as the cooking minigames. However if there's any suggestion or wishes I would say so far about the game is that I wish there's a bit more depth in each Character NPCs stories, as well as the different expressions they can make, and when it comes to the cooking aspect, maybe it could use a bit more games to make it challenging as if you're actually preparing each unique dish (BUT it doesn't compromise the original time it takes to finish them). Just my thoughts so far, some may or may not agree with this but that's entirely up to you! But overall, even if it's an early access game, this is absolutely amazing! I'm genuinely impressed by the details and amount of time and effort taken by the developers to make this. I'll can't wait for it's full release!! I LOVE IT!!

It wasn't made clear to me when I first found this game, so I'm saying it here: this is a Stardew like. It's different enough to not be a direct clone, but it is still all about farming and mining and foraging, the restaurant management aspect really feels secondary. It's fun as is, but there are a lot of UI clashes that make gameplay bumpy (can't use the cursor to interact when you unlock the ability to scan objects for information, as an example). It looks like the dev is making improvments still, so I assume that I'll be able to make this review more solid in a few months

the first time i watch the trailer i would say it have a lot of Stardew Valley vibe but when i played this game i would say it way too far from Stardew Valley and make me realize how good Stardew Valley is . I played this game for relaxing but it lack of soundtrack , i have to listen to 1 song so many time that make me boring , this game have so many thing to develope, i dont expect too much from a Early Acess game but in the future this game might be very good game if the developer put mo effort in this

The character sprites are super charming and I enjoyed the first few hours of running the restaurant, but I was disappointed in the flatness of the NPCs’ dialogue. As of June 2025 the relationship building advances very quickly. Since giving them gifts didn’t seem to be necessary, and I wasn’t interested in learning more about the NPCs, I ignored that mechanic completely. Most ingredients need to be purchased, which would not be a dealbreaker if it wasn’t such a grind to afford the game’s perks like ordering shipments from shops, or buying expensive upgrades. If the hunting/gathering had seasonal differences, I may have stuck it out a bit longer, but I found the gameplay to be repetitive and unsatisfying after the first season.

The game works fine, it's a decent story, but the minigames to cook are a pain in the butt. If you lack even a little bit of timing, you'll get a lower quality dish and make less money. I play cozy games because I don't have the reaction time for most games. And autocook doesn't help because you have to be good enough at the minigame to unlock it, so what's the point? I don't think i'll be continuing with this game.

Do I recommend this game? ABSOLUTELY. You're running a restaurant, gathering ingredients in the wilderness, hunting animals and fishing by the beach. But wait, you can also start an underground brewery empire or get into food science to enhance your food. There's also a whole lore, story on how did you end up on White Ash Harbour. If you can wait till Summer of 2026 for the full released, sure, but if you're itching to try out this game just get it already. There's a recent major update which fixed bugs, some good new quality of life features. I'm constantly in awe of the arts of every food, beverages and desserts whenever I discover a new recipe. Coming from someone who 100% the game and a huge foodie, if you love a cozy, restaurant sim with a story, quests and awards to chase (in game) this game is definitely for you.

I know this game is in early access, and I really tried to like it (hence the 7 hours played) but the game was boring and very monotonous. There were two big issues for me: 1. There is a severe discrepancy in the amount of money that things cost vs the amount of money you can make. Combined with how long things take to grow in the greenhouse, it makes this game just a bit too grindy for me (and i love me a grindy a game). The amount of time spent vs the reward you receive is just not worth it. 2. I couldn’t progress in the first chapter unless I had 3 chefs (including myself), but in order to get the chef I had to refresh the shop which costs money. I did one more day in the restaurant to make some money and when I did refresh the shop there was no chef to buy. So it was either open the restaurant AGAIN (and waste all the ingredients i just gathered or bought) or do daily quests until I get enough money to buy a chef. I did not want to keep skipping the whole day after completing one daily quest (which is the max you could do) OR waste all my ingredients to BY CHANCE get a chef. Maybe i was missing something here but I became too frustrated and gave up. To be honest the only thing i really liked about the game was the artwork. I probably won’t come back to it unless they address the above issues, make the cooking mini games more difficult, and add some quality of life stuff (a shopping list would be great, or a way to see how many ingredients you have when you are not in the restaurant). Also why are most of the NPCs so rude? Even if you are a stranger to me, why are you so rude?! It made me not care about the relationships with them at all.

If you like Stardew Valley you will 100% love this game. A great story backed with really fun game play. I hope in the future they can add a lot more content to the story and game play or even a sequel.

cook, farm, gather, hunt, fish, mine, decorate and run your own restaurant! there's so much to do and it's so much fun!! there's not much guidance so you kinda have to figure things out yourself and the characters are quite bland (and rude most dialogue tbh), but it doesn't really matter cause the gameplay is so good and the art is so pretty! <3

Thought long and hard about reviewing this one, as I have played it for many hours and find the gameplay loop addictive. However, every single time I've given up on a playthrough, it's been because of balancing issues and bugs. The bugs I can excuse in early access but the balancing issues have been tweaked several times and are still extremely irritating. You rely on powercells for every big upgrade but even after multiple tweaks getting more than three at a time is the work of many, many in-game days. The rush of getting a new recipe is amazing, but the daily grind of going to the library is deeply irritating (nothing like waiting several real life minutes for some NPC to move so you can actually click the shelf, only to get nothing, or a recipe you already have). The game doesn't want to be a farming sim (which is perfectly admirable) but then gives you farming in the most half-hearted, time consuming way (and guess what, sprinklers require power cells). The story itself is deeply baggy - you can zoom through the first parts in days and then I spent several in-game seasons having no story to progress because I didn't see the tiny note pinned to my door, where the opening times would be. The writing itself is ok (the dialogue) to poor (overall story) and the cut scenes are so slow that it's tedious. There are many under-utilised characters who I'm sure will be expanded, but have no importance or story right now, and there's a dating mechanic that seems to be there just because people will get mad if there isn't a dating mechanic. I was prepared to wait until release to review, but having seen the direction the game intends to go (it can't seem to decide if it wants to be a management sim, which I prefer, or a cooking game, and seems to be planning to please both sets of fans) I can't see it improving. I genuinely think this game would benefit from the developer listening less to the community - and actually deciding what they want the game to be, instead of trying to please everyone. I'm sure I'll come back to it because I enjoy mindlessly grindy games but right now, after another playthrough ending because of a bug (I'm practically married to the butcher but haven't seen a single Waygu steak in the entire game, when normally they appear after a decent amount of friendship) I'm not in the mood to give this game more of my time for a while.