I have played several demos this year, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I have played a few meaty games, too–well, at least one–and by the time I was done with it,I was exhausted. There have been several soulslikes this year, and I have been very reluctant to play them. Not only because I don’t actually like most soulslikes, but because many of them are just so intense.
Side note: I have been a fan of the Cook, Serve, Delicious! (Vertigo Gaming Inc.) series since the very first one. The sceond game, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! is my favorite, mostly because I could decorate my restaurants to my heart’s content. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! was fun and had a different premise, but failed completely in the third act. Still, it got me through the beginning of the pandemic (in Early Access), and I still think of it fondly.
When the fourth (and presumably last) game in the series came out in Early Access, I was disappointed that the gameplay had changed drastically. In the first three games, each dish you made had a list of ingredients that you had to memorize by the letter you used to signify that ingredient. Like M for mustard. But, be careful because the same letter can mean diffecrent ingredients in different recipes.
There was something immensely satisfying about memorizing different recipes and tapping them out as fast as possible. It wsa hard, yes, and after my medical crisis, impossible to get perfects. But still satisfying and fun to play.
This game?
*Deep sigh.*
It felt like a mobile game, honestly. Instead of typing letters, you just hit the arrow buttons. Seriously. It was repetitive and boring. Plus, the animations weren’t as good as in terms of making the food look delicious. While it was only four buttons to press, having to constantly press them in different orders made me ignore the visuals completely. Though, to be fair, I rarely looked at the food while playing the other games, either.
The game was officially released on July 31st. I had already uninstalled it, so I just reinstalled it to check it out. Apparently, the devs (no longer just one guy. Well, it was always more than him, but he was the primary. Now, it’s him and one other guy, I think. Plus a team backing them. Oh, by the way, they wiped my game from Eary Access. Once I started playing, I knew saw why, but it was still annoying.
Anyway, much to my chagrin, they added buttons, but in a mad way. They have things you have to do with both hands at the same time (like holding down the LB, then holding down the left arrow, and then releasing them both. But while holding them both down, having to tap A, B, Y, X with the right hand in succession). I have a hard enough time with QTEs with one hand. Add another hand to it, and there’s just no way I can do it.