Have you imagined what the perfect cooking simulator would look like? What if there was a game that was heavily inspired by Stardew Valley’s art style and story, but on top of being a farmer you are also a traveling chef? Let me introduce you to Chef RPG.
The story starts with you arriving in a seaside town, one that used to be a popular tourist destination. You are now tasked to revive a once shining restaurant named “Le Sequoia”. As you explore the town, you meet unique and quirky locals, and discover the secrets of White Ash Harbor. You have the chance to help the town be a stunning spot for people to visit again. All of this while you get to decide what kind of chef YOU want to be.
This is the basic premise of Chef RPG, a pixel art game that has been in development for more than three years. It’s a game that was inspired by Stardew Valley, Eastward and Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape. It launched a Kickstarter back in 2021 and got a massive funding of $126,000 dollars. It will be released on PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch.
Here are 10 things you need to know about Chef RPG and why it’s worth your time.
1. Experience Being a Chef First Hand
Being a chef and a manager of your own restaurant is not a brand new concept in gaming. Games like Cooking Mama, or Traveller’s Rest have done it already. Chef RPG offers the same features as these games, but more.
In this game, there are 200+ recipes to collect with cooking mini games that go along with each one. Additionally you get to customize your own restaurant, from tables and chairs, to stoves, and ovens.
What sets Chef RPG apart though is their vision to make you the chef you want to be. They have five different restaurant operation modes, where each one has its own pros and cons.
- Restaurant: Appetizers and mains will always be ordered, and additional earnings from main courses
- Social House: Additional orders for drinks and satisfaction for customers
- Pub: additional orders for drinks, and earnings
- Teahouse: additional earnings, and beverage speed
- Confectionary: Additional cooking speed and orders for desserts
2. Hunt For Your Own Ingredients!
One of Chef RPG’s unique mechanics will be collecting your own ingredients, and that includes hunting for your own meat. Snippets of this have been shown on their trailer, and their Kickstarter.
Gordon Ramsay mentioned in one of his shows that many chefs collect their ingredients in the wild. This idea became a huge part of the game’s core concepts. While the main feature of the game will be managing the restaurant, the creator wanted that mechanic to tie in flawlessly with hunting and foraging to create a holistic experience.
With this, you get to see the process of your dish from start to finish.
3. You Get to Manage Your Own Staff
Chef RPG has a system built specifically for its staff feature. Other games of the same genre would only have the same NPC doing the same job. This makes the experience feel artificial. Chef RPG goes beyond this.
In this game you can customize your own staff, from their skin color to their clothes. You also have the ability to assign them on which restaurants of yours they would work on. On top of this, each chef and waiter has their own skills which you can level up by giving them more tasks. The creator also mentioned a gacha system where you have the chance to roll a legendary worker, with phenomenal stats.
4. A Potential for Co-op?
Unfortunately, co-op will not be available by the launch date of September 2023. The creator said that they want to focus on improving the single player experience as much as possible. The good news is that the team is open in implementing this feature in the future.
5. The Creator is a Well-Seasoned Architect
Make sure to take your time and appreciate every single building in this game because you might miss something extraordinary. The creator knows how to express the building’s story through its design due to his years of experience as an architect. The walls have unique colors due to aging, the stairs are well-integrated, and you can easily feel the vibe of the building with just one look.
The creator has joined numerous architect contests online. This gave him valuable experience in designing, making him more flexible and creative throughout the years. Players can easily follow the art process of his work on his YouTube. There are videos on how he created a bath house inspired by Spirited Away, a house on a waterfall, and many more.
6. Multiple Narratives to Discover
The world of Chef RPG gives you a lot of freedom to explore, but it also gives a linear narrative to discover what kind of chef you wanna become. Based on its Kickstarter, Chef RPG will have a main storyline where your decision will affect your identity.
Do you wanna be the best hunter around? A social person? Or perhaps a 5 star chef? These are just some of the options the game offers. The more you play the game, the more skill points you’ll earn as the game has its own skill tree.
There is also the story of the main characters. You would encounter their quests which could potentially raise their affection for you. There is already a dev post in Kickstarter where the creator shows the UI design for the character’s relationship status with you. Every character has a memorable personality so be sure not to miss them.
7. Enjoy the Gorgeous Art
Chef RPG’s pixel art can stand against other popular games in the similar genre. The coloring and shading of the game’s buildings is something to look out for. The creator also made sure to add small details and shadings to every character, even the nameless NPCs, to ensure great quality for the players.
In addition to this, every single character portrait feels unique in this game. One of the favorites is Hasel who is an android that works in a bubble tea restaurant. Aylin is another memorable one. She’s also an android but has features of a Japanese geisha. That is only two of the many characters this game has to offer. There are 24 character portraits in the Kickstarter and it is up to you to find out more about them.
8. The Alpha Version is Out!
The alpha version of Chef RPG was released back in April 7, 2023. This is an exclusive content for the backers of the Kickstarter back in 2021. This will greatly improve the development of the game as the dev team will receive tons of feedback and reports of bugs. Soon enough the beta release will go public and everyone, including you, will see a better version of the game.
As shown in the image above, a lot of the features are already available. One example is the hunting feature. Players would discover that there are two kinds of hunting minigames they can play to gather meat for their restaurant. Quests from important characters are also ready for players to progress their storylines.
But we all know that the most exciting part would be the grand opening of Le Sequoia itself. Thankfully, backers already have the option to purchase appliances and decorate the restaurant however they like. Recipes can now also be collected. Once they’re ready, they can play the cooking minigames and serve dishes to their customers.
9. A Well-Designed World
Everything in Chef RPG’s world has a backstory, from Le Sequoia to the bath house. There is a lot to do with every section of the map. There is White Ash Harbour where you’ll meet most of the NPCs, and there is also the swamps where you can hunt .
White Ash Harbor also feels alive due to the animated signs of the stores. The creator said that the place is inspired by Akihabara at night where their neon animated signs shine. It is also inspired by the seaside towns in Canada where the mist covers the majority of the place. You could barely see what’s in front of you. The creator gave the harbor the same vibe.
10. To be Released on Multiple Languages
According to Chef RPG’s Kickstarter page they will release the game in English first. One of the creator’s goals is to make the restaurant and the town feel real rather than a simulated environment. To make this possible, there are a lot of dialogues and texts prompted by the NPCs such as commenting on your clothes or your actions.
Once the game is fully released and the team has more time on their hands, the game will be localized in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Korean. This makes it accessible for a wider audience. According to the timeline in Chef RPG’s Kickstarter page, the full release will be around September 2023.
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