I have been moaning about the glut of mediocre games on Steam in the last–well, several months if not years. Steam Next Fest has become a drag. I’m not saying there aren’t good games in the Steam Next Fest; I am saying that it’s really hard to find that gem. That’s why I depend on groups likke Wholesome Games to give me a heads up on what’s new in cozy gaming. In this case, they had a trailer for a game called Creature Kitchen (The Rat Zone). I have included it down below. I don’t usually go for the crunchy pixel look, but there was something endearing about this one. I don’t know what it is, but I was drawn in.
Then, I found out it was a cooking game, and I was sold. I didn’t even need to know the story or anything else. Me cooking for different animals*? Hell yeah! There was a demo, so of course, I installed it. I didn’t have much of an idea what to expect, so I went in with an open mind. I did love the fact that the game had an eighties feel to it. It’s in first person, but for whatever reason, my nausea remains at a very low level. It’s manageable, and I only had to take a break once.
I can’t overstate how charming the game is. And how it leads you gently from point to point. For the most part, I had no problem figuring out what I was supposed to do. Only once did I get stuck, and it was a glitch in the system. Meaning, it was a fault of the game–not anything I’d done.
By the way, my biggest complaint–and it’s not even that big–is just a bunch of small QOL issues. Such as it doesn’t constantly save, and you can’t auto-save. Which means that you can lose a small bit of gameplay. Like, a minute or so. It’s not great, but I’m also not too pressed about it.
Another small complaint–the frying pan mechanic is really frustrating. You have to cook a piece of food on one side for a few seconds before flipping it to cook the other side. Much like you have to do in real life, yes, but you have to flip it at a certain angle that is counterintuitive to me. And if you don’t do it just right, then it falls out of the pan and into the fire. And you have to cook it again. As someone who has awful dexterity in my fingers, this is agony to me. And it doesn’t add anything to the gameplay experience.
I sympathize with devs who want to include mundane activities, especially in a cozy cooking game, but–by the way. THis has been called a creepy-looking cozy cooking simulator. I may be missing something, but it’s not creepy at all. I mean, there’s
*SPOILERS*
some paranormal activity, or rather, paranormal creatures, but there’s nothing creepy about them. Then again, I don’t get scared easily. I can’t think of a game that has actually made me scream or yelp. I don’t count jump scares as legit because it’s just my body involuntarily reacting. I’m not scared; I’m bored and somewhat scornful at the use of such a cheap gimmick. I’ve seen a video on why jump scares are valid, and I will say that they can be done well. The problem is that they so rarely are. Most of the time, they are just thrown into a game/movie for a cheap scare.
I should say it makes me impatient. That’s the word I was looking for. Impatient. But then again, I know I’m weird and don’t react like other people do.
Back to this game.
The loop is simple, but satisfying. I have to cook a dish for one of the wildlife around me (usually three to four ingredients), and then I have to serve it to them. There is a guidebook that once I get a Polaroid–oh, that’s a thing, too. There’s a Polaroid camera, and I have to take a picture of each wildlife. If I capture them (in a picture), the wildlife guidebook will tell me whan I need to cook for them. Something like, “____ needs three sandwiches.” And some of the names are hilarious. I won’t reveal them here because they’re better found on their own (some are in the trailer above), but, believe me, I smiled at the whimsy of more than one of them.
This is a gentle and easy way to pass the time. So far, there isn’t anything huge or earth-shattering in the game. I would estimate than I’m close to the end, but obviously, I can’t say for sure. It’s very satisfying to figure out what each creature needs (sometimes the guidebook is specific and sometimes it’s vague, but it’s never difficult).
I really like that once you find an ingredient, say, strawberry, you will then find an endless supply of them in the fridge or the pantry. That means you don’t have to keep hunting them down, which is a boon. I don’t like that for the fridge, you have to shut it and open it again to get different ingredients. Sometimes, you have to do it three or four times. Again, though, that’s a minor quibble.
In fact, most of the gripes that I have are so trivial, I feel almost embarrassed to mention them. They really are in the category of annoyances rather than actual issues. Like the fact that if you save and quit out, things aren’t where you put them. What I mean is I put a bunch of things on the kitchen table, including three colored cubes that were clearly a part of a puzzle. I didn’t find where to put them, so I put them on the table until I figured out what to do with them.
I quit out of the game for the day, and when I returned today, the cubes were gone. I was disgruntled, but to be fair, I found them fairly quickly–and the place where they were supposed to go. In retrospect, it made sense, but it also showed that I don’t think like normies do.
I want to stress that the puzzles aren’t hard–which I am glad for. It was just that I wasn’t thinking right and that I didn’t explore the area thoroughly.
When I’m playing a cozy game, I don’t want anything too difficult to tax my brain. I don’t play those games for difficulty. Hm. I’m done for now. More tomorrow.
*…And others. Heh.