Combine quick-time cooking with management elements

Dec 5, 2022 13:15 GMT  ·  By

It takes four precise cuts to fillet a sole, achieved by quickly pushing directional buttons four times. Once I have this piece of fish, I need to get a frying pan and two types of fat so that I can quickly put together a cooked piece, which I follow up by boiling some green beans.

A quick use of my chef sense ability allows me to perfectly season them. I put the dish together at the plating station. I even try to see if I have ideas on how to make it more aesthetically pleasing, but it’s too simple for much improvement.

I then move on to my salad, using some knife work to quickly prepare the ingredients. The clients seem happy, even if the execution is not perfect, but I fear that more complex dishes might overwhelm my video game cooking skills.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator is developed by Cyanide and published by Nacon. I played a preview version of it on the PC. The full title is set to arrive on February 2, 2023, and will be available on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and S, and older devices from Microsoft and Sony.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
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As the name implies, the idea is to create a successful restaurant by handling all the core activities associated with one. The game makes getting a Michelin star the big objective but putting together a smooth-running operation is a reward in itself. The writing in the game is focused on solid instructions and the narrative does not impress.

The gameplay is focused on cooking, which involves quite a few steps for even the most basic of recipes. Meat needs to be exposed to heat, vegetables have to be chopped, sauces require constant stirring, and more. Chefs move between stations and various freezers to get all the components and implements they need.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator asks the player to perform all these actions using a variety of quick-time events. Execute all the steps of a recipe perfectly, including seasoning, to get an A technical grading.

But to truly create something special you need to get deep into the plating. Here gamers can use each of the individual cooked elements of a dish in their own way, trying to create a unique dish that will satisfy discerning customers.

Players are also able to enter a design mode. This gives them options both for the kitchen, with the aim of making it more efficient, and the dining room. When not directly cooking, it is also important to make sure the storeroom is well supplied. Using a good team also contributes to a restaurant’s success.

The game’s ideas are good but actual cooking takes a little too long. After a few hours of play, I was ready to try and make some of the dishes in the real world rather than activate a QTE again.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator is a decent-looking game, with a style that doesn’t aim for full realism. The worst part is that the cooked food is often unappetizing, which is very weird given the theme. The interface is intelligible while the sound design is unimpressive.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
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Conclusion

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator tries to combine a very classic cooking sim with management elements. Its design can appeal to anyone who has a passion for cooking but does not have the resources to actually run a restaurant in the real world.

Putting the dishes together is somewhat interesting the first few times but it can quickly become tiresome, pushing the same keys, and making the same gestures. Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator has some good ideas but needs to add flavor to its mechanics to deliver a solid gaming experience when it launches.

A preview code was provided by the publisher.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator Screenshots (16 Images)

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator key art
Chef Life: A Restaurant SimulatorChef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
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