Chef RPG is a foodie Stardew Valley where you brew your own drinks and try to keep the critics happy

Chef RPG is Stardew Valley but for restaurants instead of farms, the ‘plate’ side of the hypothetical ‘farm to plate’ bundle that Steam may one day sell. Even the set-up is similar to the farming game. You rock up all chef-like off the train, and you're soon greeted by your guide Hazel, yet another Boba-clutching robot. I might be misremembering Stardew. Fry yourself off a nice chunk of trai-loumi below.

The vibrant town shines with a bustling economy, featuring such indispensable stores as ‘Milk and Wheat’, and ‘Brada’. I can only assume the later is for spunking your meagre chef’s income on dazzling gifts to bribe potential friends into hanging out with you more.

Your daily activities in the world of Chef RPG are based around using hilariously improper equipment to gather ingredients, including but not limited to: scything mushrooms, shooting down bees’ nests with a bow, spearing crabs, hunting extremely rare and graceful looking deer with the same bow, and fishing. You’ll then put these ingredients to use in your custom restaurant, hosting dining experiences for the townsfolk and freshly bribed mates. Aside from running the restaurant, you’ll be designing menus and keeping things looking swish by plopping down furniture. There’s also farming and brewing, in case the nuclear submarine I assume you use for picking strawberries isn’t working that day.

Pixel Architect, of developer World 2 Studio, has been releasing a series of devlogs on YouTube over the past three years. Their latest is a deep dive into the role food critics and parties play in the game, as well as an overview of the restaurant. From time to time, the log explains, critics will visit your restaurant and write up newspaper reviews. You’ll also be able to hire out the restaurant for special events, where your guests will require certain types of cuisine and decor.

Being the ridiculous bowl of pretenti-o’s that I am, I of course had a period in my early twenties where I watched too many TV chefs and decided that I was actually a culinary genius, ala that ProZD sketch. What I quickly learned is that working in food service is one of the most mentally and physically taxing jobs I’ve ever held, and also that I wasn’t very good at frying eggs. Kudos to anyone who pulls this stuff off full time. Me? I’ll have to make do with living out my gastronomic fantasies in pixel form, when Chef RPG releases in early access September 12th, 2024.

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