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Space Chef is the gaming equivalent of a comfort meal - simple, satisfying, and best enjoyed when you don't want anything too challenging. I've played this charming title over the past few days, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
You're an aspiring chef armed with nothing but your grandma's old cookbook and a beat-up space trailer that barely qualifies as roadworthy, let alone spaceworthy. Your mission: explore the Horseshoe Nebula, gather alien ingredients, cook cosmic cuisine, and become the galaxy's premier chef while uncovering the mystery of your missing grandmother. Oh, and take down an evil intergalactic burger chain called Galactic Burger, because apparently even space capitalism needs disrupting.
The gameplay is not so complicated, but it offers a satisfying loop. Cooking is how you earn reputation, and coins that you can spend on developing your home, kitchen and various tools for combat and cooking.
The starting meals are really simple, with minimal ingredients and quick assembly. As you advance further, other recipes may require more time, as you search for rarer ingredients in remote locations. The process of cooking itself is engaging more than I was expecting. I actually found myself getting invested in the quality of my meals, not just for the purpose of higher coin payout, but simply because it was satisfying to watch my reputation grow little by little.
I also liked the idea of making your kitchen feel like it was your own. The game allows you to customise your space with new equipment and decorations. It’s more inviting the more you invest in it.
You can create themed zones, add new floors, and gradually transform your cramped trailer into a proper galactic restaurant. The game clearly draws inspiration from cozy games like Animal Crossing and Unpacking, where half the fun is making the space feel like yours.
Collecting resources isn't very taxing either, as you can always find some new places where you can acquire your materials and ingredients that you need. I was usually preoccupied with what I wanted to do with the ingredients I'd just collected, or if I had enough materials to further upgrade my kitchen.
Visually, Space Chef nails that heartwarming hand-drawn art aesthetic that radiates character. Animations are simplistic, but are charming in how they capture every subtle movement of your character, whether you're cutting space onions or skewing tentacles.
Environments, whether they are the different places in space or the interiors of your trailer, are cosy, setting up a perfect vibe for a cooking game - The warm glow of your home, especially when you’re cooking up a meal at night,
The soundtrack, too, is a pleasant accompaniment to your adventures. Much of the audio is synthesisers and some jazz, which feels calming while you are trying to finish your recipes.
Final Thoughts
Space Chef never forces you to do stuff you don't want, nor does it throw all the content at you all at once. I found fun drifting from planet to planet, gathering ingredients and going back to my cozy kitchen to make some meals. Space Chef is a very simple game, and at some point, I was just listening to the ambient soundtrack while cooking and forgetting that there was more to do. It’s not perfect by any means: repetition and the game's pace can sometimes get annoying, but then, that’s something you should expect from a game like that.
The Good
Relaxing gameplay loop- Fun cooking and crafting mechanics
- Exploration adds depth to the typical cooking sim
- Great sense of humour and personality
The Bad
Some repetitions after longer playing sessions- Minor UI clutter issues when managing recipes
