Culina: Hands in the Kitchen Reviews

I love the concept - I really do. The issue was I personally couldn't immerse myself 100% because the only option is to be a male protagonist. In saying that, it's a good game it really is - worth trying.

As a fan of indie/sim VN's, I purchased this game as soon as I saw it. However, it feels repetitive and not worth the $20 I paid..

The story is pretty good to the point. The writing feels good, and the art is nice 'n clean. I enjoyed the restaurant management part. Though, it's on the pretty simple side so don't except it to be deep. The only thing I don't have a real opinion is the price point. First or so visual novel I've played so don't know.

I don't normally play these types of games but this one caught my eye. I bought it on a whim and can honestly say I don't regret the purchase. I'm only about 3 hours in so far on my first playthrough but the game has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Some things worth mentioning: Nice overall aesthetic. The UI, text boxes, menus, etc all have nice clean lines. For a game that requires a lot of text reading, it never becomes an eyesore. Very nice character design. I personally like the more realistic approach they took as opposed to some of the outrageous over the top visual designs of other games. The sim restaurant has some depth to it (more than I expected). Ranging from a variety of ingredients to unlock, to increasing your seating capacity, adding aditional menu options, advertising to attract different kinds of customers, etc all while balancing cost-performance to make a profit at the end of the week. The weekly goals make it somewhat challenging and this is what sets the game apart from other visual novels in that there is more here than simply clicking "next" from start to finish. Nice dialogue. The story is well-written and never comes off as goofy or immature (thus far at least). Nekopara this is NOT. The protagonist is completely relatable to (a credit to the writers). Overall, a solid effort from this developer and one I would recommend.

It's a fun game, but it seems largely unpolished and way overcharged. I got five hours or so of play out of it, completed Dante's route, and realized I'd probably never play again. Good idea, mediocre execution. You're better off paying less for a much more finished product.

This game is, quite frankly, impossible. It is unbalanced, and dull to boot. Even if you start off with the moneybags code, you will still lose more than you make. Ingredients cost an arm and a leg, and your parents take so much money from you after that that you may as well start selling your kidneys too. It really prevents you from enjoying the recipe creation at all, since you have to sweat over the cost of every single ingredient and usually have to default to the cheapest options possible. Which still isn't enough to help you scrape up enough to keep your head above water. There's a dating sim aspect to the game, but you have no time to enjoy it in the struggle to just survive. I like cooking in games. I like dating sims. But this game fails at both.

This game is not great. It is easy to find simple recipies that will maximise your income and there is little incentive to increase your skills or search for more advanced recipes. After 8 hours, the game ends abruptly with a minimalistic scenario. I would pay $5 for an afternoon of fun, not $20.