Chef RPG

okay, many things to unpack here, I am going to list my honest thoughts after playing 35 hours on this.
PROs:
1. game has a beautiful pixel arts and beautiful designs on the dishes/recipes, makes me wanna explore and acquire new recipes continuously.
2. interesting minigames to play to increase the quality of dishes makes the game less boring from the repetitive cooking mechanics and gives you a choice to skip the mini games.
3. gives players a comfortably pace to progress the game and options to continue the story line whenever they like.
4. interesting background music and environment (however the winter one was not my favorite, just me personally though).
5. as someone who has worked at a restaurant and kitchen, for the rhythm and busyness of it I think the game did a decent job on replicating that feeling for me.
6. I really enjoyed the end of season events and activities, and also the event special items you can get out of them.
CONs:
1. the game mechanics for running the restaurant is repetitive and will get tiresome after a while and also quite time consuming for them to achieve certain goals or buy certain things in the game.
2. three out of the four seasons has the same forage items and it kinda defeats the meaning of the seasons.
3. bugs and glitches will sometime appear (I get it, it's early access) and it's definitely needed attention on.
4. character moves at a same speed and does not have an option to run or anything.
5. I have spent a lot of times just traveling to different places and I think it is tiresome and very time consuming.
6. opening the teahouse as a second restaurant is a pretty boring idea, at least to me, if I couldn't run 2 places at the same time then it'd be just playing the same thing but at a different location.
Thoughts and improvements:
1. I think forage items should be increased and changes as the season changes, and of course more recipes are needed if we decide to add more forage items.
2. the game should be able to give the player the ability to fast travel and run as the game should also expand the map so the player can visit new cities, towns, or villages to acquire exclusive exotic ingredients to make certain exclusive and rare dishes.
3. npc relationship status progression should be more detailed so the player will be aware of where they are at with the NPC they want to deepen the relationship with.
4. locations of the forages should make more sense, for example, fishing at the lake should catch different kind of fish than sea caught fish.
5. the research facilities building mechanics should change, it does not make any sense for the player to be able to only have one of the three.
so these are the ones I can think but I think would definitely make this game a lot more interesting.

i do enjoy this game and this game has so much potential but i do believe there are some things that need to be fixed. the system with decor value is way too difficult- even after buying full legendary chairs, tables, decorations etc i still have a negative decor value. there is no way to get a positive decor value without placing random items all over the store. after paying $20 for the game i would like to decorate my restaurant how i want.

Very fun business/harvesting/hunting sim, sometimes even more enjoyable than the classics like Stardew Valley for me. Gorgeous food pixel art, decent game systems, and engaging storyline. The great stuff have already been mentioned many many times in the reviews, and they are all true- its a fantastic game with a lot of talent, effort, and passion involved, so I wont spend hefty paragraphs rewriting whats already been phrased in every way possible.
HOWEVER, the one thing i simply cannot get over is how unpleasant 70 percent of the NPCs are. Yes, i understand we are strangers, and we will get warmer as we get to know each other so on and so forth, but a lot of the interactions feel borderline hateful, taken too far from banter or sass. Further on, i do know some character's appeal is their rude to nice, or melting the ice queen type arc. That's fine, and i assume that what Valentina/Bianca(who is basically the same person) is. But the issue lies where everyone at some point treats MC like ♥♥♥♥. For example, Mae Lou, the e-sports loving farmer asks you to chuck anything you gift her that isnt coffee into the field. Her artist sister, pisses all over your takes on art (pedestrian!) and tells you to drop the word interesting from your vocabulary. And then swindles 5 quartz and a meal out of you. Thelio, my arch nemesis, makes you run around mining in caves, collecting wheat, paying Bianca, milling his flour, and saving his ass from a very angry boss. This saint of a man, so thankful for your service, gives you the only thing comparable to the hours of your life you spent milling his flour- destructive criticism, He says, wow thanks! In exchange, let me tell you a secret: your restaurant is missing something. And that's it. He tells you your restaurant sucks ass. And he doesnt even know why. That is what a fair exchange sounds like to Thelio. Then Milo basically calls your fit ugly multiple times, despite sporting the most outrageous leopard print fur coat while selling white tanks or lumpy sweaters in his store.
The guttural reactions from NPCs to your gifts are genuinely so painful. Anything that is not the one (1) category of item they deem acceptable is dragged to filth, for the audacity of presenting a fish to a fisherman who often boasts about his love for fish. It is terribly unpleasant to gift presents if you do not look up a guide, or figure out their one singular interest beforehand.
Again, i understand snarkiness can be a part of a characters charm. But there is a fine line between sassy and a shocking lack of manners. The way they treat MC is abominable, and although getting to know them better assuredly makes them nicer, I do not want to know someone who treats a stranger terribly better. Hostility is not interesting.
Here are some (unwarranted, i know) suggestions i think might improve the current situation:
-Give character more gift categories they like; Having favourites, neutral categories and a few things they truly do not like will make dialogue more varied and interesting. It also gives more depth to some characters instead of being known as 'the hat guy'.
-Scale the hearts with the main quest, or have the main quest give you some friendship points. It is very strange to have someone tell you 'thank god you are here to save White Ash Harbour, and you are such a wonderful chef!' in the main quest yesterday to 'ew you look ugly buy some real clothes' today.
-A character arc is not always necessarily 'They were mean, now they are nice'. Are they just being nice to me, now that I've gifted them presents? Does this mean they are still a deeply rude person in general? I love an enemies to lovers story as much as anyone, but having the majority of the town being against you when your background is not one of animosity is really demotivating and unhelpful to the cause of helping rebuild the town. MC can help bring out the hidden traits of the NPCs, maybe bravery in a cowardly person or the love of nature in a shut-in. It doesnt HAVE to always be you guys werent nice to each other but now you are. That is a very shallow take on relationships.
-LET ME DATE KOAAAAAAAA PLEASSEEEEEEEE

I really like this game! the mood is great the writing is great and fully recommend it after playing a little over 15 hours so far. The game's art is beautiful (especially the food) and I found many of the townsfolk to be very interesting.
The flashback elements were also very compelling, it was a strong idea to allow game play in them to make the moment feel more important very very entertaining decision please give more of that!
However, I think I will stop playing and wait for some updates to come out before really diving into it. There is 5 things so far that I am really hoping will be implemented. (Yes, I know it's early access there will be much more to come in terms of deeper content these are simply mechanical and aesthetic changes I hope and wish for.)
1. Night music and placement change of the date and time tracker and item bar.
- I genuinely would get confused what in game time it is when I came back after a break at what time it was because my discord overlay was on top of the clock in the top right. Now, I know that I could have just edited my settings whenever I played this game, but I think that allowing players to have more editing freedom will be more enjoyable in the long run. This would also be helpful to apply to the item and tool bar, let the player choose if they want to have it on the bottom, top, or side.
2. Please let me cook faster as I increase my cooking skill, put ingredients back in the fridge.
- I really do love cooking in video games, and I was looking forward to how the cooking mini games would change or the food itself would evolve (I was expecting something akin to Dave the Diver or the renowned classic Cooking mama) but after tripping my cooking stat, but I couldn't tell the difference. Then I got stuck multiple times waiting to cook while my 2 other chefs where working. It would be nice to either cook faster, or with more complexity or place the ingredients back in the fridge while I wait.
3. Let me make food for my quests, for eating, and to give as a gift for other people.
-I was really surprised when the only time I was able to cook in the game was only to make a profit (Bulletin quest or just opening the restaurant). I felt like for a game that is celebrating being a chef should allow much more of the spotlight to be on creating the food and the joy of that process personally or sharing with others. I would love a difficult mini game to make the perfect dish for a picky eater. I would love it even more to give that special meal to a person who would really love it. In fact, I think it would be more meaningful to make friendships, story lines, or quests harder to achieve in the game in tandem to how your cooking skill/abilities are.
IE:
"you can only meet the cyborg mermaid when you make the sweetest fish meal possible"
"make a meal to help Hasel remember her past"
etc
4. Give me more Android lore, and SCI-FY food please.
- I was instantly hooked when I saw there was the ability to be an android in the game and for high tech to be a part of the games concept. But when I wanted to learn more there wasn't much content to explore. (In fairness this very well could be from how much I had not yet played the game.) I wanted to read about the history inventors or legendary breakthroughs, find blueprints for possible high tech cooking appliances, or at the very least know why Androids exist in this world and can eat normal food. Just like we have two characters who represent drastic differences in eating (Nabitha and Pomarine) I think there could be representation of the "New" vs "Natural" even incorporating LELSH who is the biggest proponent of advanced tech can be more involved in the story.
and last but not least,
5. Please, please, please... let my hired chefs and waiters have a personality and let me manually upgrade them.
-If I am spending a lot of time in the kitchen, I want whoever is in the kitchen with me to be interesting. Even if its small details it really builds into the role playing of the world and game which is again, a Chef RPG. Hunting, gathering and socializing is fun, but I want cooking and being a chef to be why I continue to play the game. Please, as you continue to develop the cooking process, consider the people who would be apart of that and why hiring them becomes more than just a production boost. let them be gross-cranky-strange or serious, just something that builds into the role play.
Again, I really enjoy this game so far and I sincerely believe that this game's concept is unique and fun. I am very excited to see how it is going to evolve and would recommend it right now, and for the potential game that it will become. Good job to all the programmers, developers, and artists it really is a great game.
p.s. I noticed that the feminine body type has a butt animation, I think you should include this option for the masculine one and alternatively add a no booty option for the fem one.

"Gordon Ramsay meets Animal Crossing on espresso"
Started the game to relax.
5 minutes in:
Stole herbs from a bush
Fished up a boot
Accidentally deep-fried my only source of income
Now I own a restaurant, date a blacksmith, and cry every time someone orders soup. WHY IS THE SOUP SO COMPLICATED.
Chef RPG didn’t just feed me — it seasoned my soul.
Would I recommend it?
Only if you're ready to battle culinary demons and forget what sleep is.
Game’s a whole 5-star fever dream. Bon appétit, losers.

I like the game a lot so far because it scratches that itch of being like Stardew Valley and Fields of Mistria but cooking focused. I just wish we had even more cooking quests and less farming quests. Something like catering parties for npcs in the restaurant and needing to satisfy conditions for successful completion. I think that would be fun!

This game is so fun, however, you can definitely tell that some things still need fixing. I was lucky enough to start playing after the recent update so here are my thoughts.
Hunting & Cooking
- Hunting was very difficult at first, which made earning money more difficult in the beginning. I would have to dedicate entire days to hunting, at times I wanted to give up but I needed the money.
- Once you get used to the hunting mechanics it gets a lot easier. You can even upgrade your weapon eventually (which I have), I think with the upgrade it makes your weapon too OP and hunting becomes way too easy, so does earning money which makes the game less challenging once you've reached that point. (Money is easy to earn, everything else becomes easier to buy and upgrade.)
- You have to play mini games to cook a recipe, however, you can unlock autocook (what I prefer) which makes cooking less tedious. (You can turn this on and off!)
Characters & story
- Characters have their own unique personalities, and there's a good main story going on. There isn't much dialogue that goes on with the characters outside of main quests. NPCs are also kinda mean for some reason.
- Have yet to try develop romantic relationships with any characters. I feel like you don't really know them that well side from the dialogue you get when purchasing from their stores or during events. The dialogue you get from just chatting with them doesn't tell you much about them.
Recipes
- You unlock recipes as you play, which gives you more dishes to cook in your restaurant. I upgraded my skill tree to make getting recipes easier, however, I found that I was getting recipes really frequently which worries me in collecting recipes too quickly.
Seasons
- There are different seasons in the game (I haven't gotten to winter yet) but the foraging and hunting items are the same, so I don't know what seasons do aside from events and general vibe.
Bugs & other stuff
- When you're hunting and animals run over or off cliffs. Meaning, you have to run to where the stairs are to reach them in another level. This just gives the vibe of unfinished, but that is to be expected. I will say, once I've upgraded my weapon animals were way easier to hunt so I've stopped having this issue.
- There are typos in the text when dining guests eat at your restaurant.
- Dining guests will complain the food isn't here when they're ALREADY EATING.
- No ability to run, you can fast travel home though. But sometimes, you will have to run to the other end of town and it's kind of annoying.
- The first day of the game, I died 3 times due to stamina depletion but it gets better!
Overall:
This review is based on the hours I've played and doesn't mean that I've explored every aspect of the game. But as for my thoughts so far it's really fun, and I enjoy it a lot. You can tell that some things aren't finished or need fixing, but it's still enjoyable nonetheless. The art is beautiful, the design of the world is great, and I'm enjoying the story a lot. There are also quite a bit of shops to visit and explore! Currently just trying to pace myself so I don't finish the main acts too quickly but it's really addictive. I'm looking forward to what's next!