CHEF: A Restaurant Tycoon Preview for Steam

Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game is not just any restaurant tycoon game out there and the developers, Inner Void, know its future potential, “Developed by Italians for lasagna lovers everywhere.” With the beta version of Chef recently released since December 6th and nine patches that have updated to fix bugs since then, Inner Void are taking their gamers seriously by fixing the bugs and issues that appear in the game. The game is not perfect; however, it has potential to be an amazing tycoon game if Inner Void continues to listen to their gamers. Through this process, they plan to release the full version 12 months after the beta release.

Since Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game is only an Early Access version, it does have several bugs and issues it needs improvement on. I will begin with the technical issues. Personally, I did not experience too many bugs in the game, but there were times where I had difficulty moving around. To start off, I thought it was strange how there was a way to zoom in on the keyboard but no way to zoom out. The only way to zoom out was if I was using a mouse. There might as well be a zoom out control if there is a zoom in one. Another issue I had was lag time even when I had the restaurant in pause. Going through different menus and settings was annoying when it took five to ten seconds for it to load and a couple more seconds depending on what you were clicking. Also, the chef tutorial man that you can click and drag to different menus would sometimes freeze or not work when it worked before the restaurant was considered open. In an earlier version, I hated when my game crashed and three days of in-game progress was never saved. However, in their recent update, the developers added an autosave feature which saves in the beginning of the day and after lunch (thank you Inner Void).

There are several things I want to suggest to the publishers on what they can add to Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game as they continue working on it for the next year. I wish there was an option to change the style of the music while playing the game in the restaurant. I think it would add ambiance for the player, especially when they are trying to make a specific restaurant for the game. I think it will also allow for the player to play around with more settings that do not affect the game directly but simply allow the players to have fun. For the recipe maker, I think there should be a list of ingredients the starter in-game recipes use as a template. Although I personally enjoyed messing around with the ingredients, not every person would enjoy trying to figure out their first recipe cold despite the tutorial and somewhat guidance of the flavor charts on the side. Lastly, this may be a silly suggestion, but it reminds me of older tycoon games like Seaworld Adventures Parks Tycoon (the first tycoon game I ever played as a child) and allow the player to take a customer and see their perspective in the restaurant. I think it gives the player a better idea on what they want to improve on if they can see a customer’s perspective making it useful for future gameplay. Overall, Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game still needs a lot of input that I cannot suggest all in one go, but based on Inner Voice’s attention to Steam reviews and bug reports, they seem to be keeping an eye out for mistakes that are fixable.

Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game, even only in its developing stage, has a lot of potential to be an amazing tycoon game based on everything else that is going for it (obviously not the bugs). To begin, the aesthetics of the game are adorable. Everyone in the game look like chibi characters from a Japanese manga due to their big heads and tiny bodies (chibi is a Japanese slang word for small). The artwork is well made and you can see the effort the artists put for different items. Also, the game mechanics as a tycoon are fun and even somewhat realistic. The recipe editor actually follows a realistic recipe process for ingredients, which makes it more challenging but also fun to create something that is actually tasty to customers. There is a review system your restaurant gets and your customers leave reviews to help see who you are attracting to the restaurant and what they are saying about it. You can change the prices on the menu and make decisions for your restaurant that helps boost ratings.

What makes this game really fun is the wittiness and funniness the game holds. The tutorial options are hilarious and original. The customer reviews are sometimes funny as well, my favorite one was a three star review left by someone who stated her caps lock was broken and she wasn’t shouting so please read it in a normal voice. You can tell the developers of the game really enjoyed creating this game and it helps the player enjoy the game with them. The sarcasm and wittiness overall was one of its best strengths of this game overall, and I hope it continues to be funny, if not more, when the final version releases.

Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game is still in its Early Access stage so do not expect perfection, but I highly recommend playing it if you want to help the developers with the direction of this game. So far, it has major potential to be an amazing game as long Inner Voice continues to listen to their chefs who just want to have the best experience.

Check Out the Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game Launch Trailer:

Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon is available for PC via Steam Early Access.