In Kitchen Sync: Aloha!, you’ll step into the shoes of Kai or Kala, siblings determined to revive their family’s once-thriving restaurant. As you rebuild your culinary legacy, you’ll meet and recruit a vibrant team of chefs, each with their own signature skills, and master more than 30 unique kitchens. From lively food trucks to beachfront eateries, you’ll craft various dishes, charm tough critics, and transform competitors into allies.

If you’re interested in checking out this game, it’s already available on Steam and quite affordable. Plus, it’s compatible with the Steam Deck, making it perfect for anyone who wants to keep playing anytime, anywhere.

What inspired you to create Kitchen Sync: Aloha!, and what made you blend cozy cooking with RPG elements?

One of my goals founding Lemonpepper Games was to try and introduce gamers to cooking and a wider diversity of the world’s foods. My interest in cooking really first began when I watched a few Food Anime series, and after that, I thought, “why not games too?” I chose RPG as a genre anchor because I think they’re great games for driving emotional connections to characters, places, and themes. Mix the two together, and you get something like Kitchen Sync!

The game has a strong Hawaiian vibe, what drew you to this setting?

My mom’s family is from Hawaii so it’s a place that holds an important place in my life. It also has amazing food that I felt I could write about at the level of detail necessary to get someone interested in trying it. Combine that with cozy Hawaiian vibes, and the setting was my top choice.

How significant are relationships in the game? Can players pursue romance or even marriage?

Relationships drive Kitchen Sync’s narrative, whether they’re relationships to places, restaurants, family or friends. Mechanically, KSA’s relationships are represented by Support Bonds, a feature Fire Emblem fans in particular will recognize. Each pairing of characters gains Support levels starting with friendship at level C and full blown romance at level S, with each level bringing a special conversation, sometimes also unlocking side quests or abilities. 

While not every character pairing can reach an S level relationship, every pairing has at least one conversation. The main character of course can reach S level with anyone. No marriage in this game, the game’s narrative ends before then.

The mini-games look fun! Where did you find inspiration for their designs?

I tried to keep things simple but reflect some of the activities I associate with all my visits to Hawaii. Fishing is huge there for the locals, and Hiking has always been a big one for visitors. I added Swapmeets later on to give a different kind of feel and help the game economy a little bit.

You’ve included multiple difficulty modes, from Cozy to Hard Boiled. What was the reasoning behind this approach?

At first, there was a single difficulty mode, but I found balancing between hardcore management vets and cozy story readers a bit tough. So I let the player choose! I don’t believe KSA is meant to be a truly hard game on any difficulty, but for those who love min-maxing and want to be fully rewarded, Hard Boiled is the way to go. And if players just want to relax, cook, and enjoy the story, Cozy Mode has them covered.

With over 30 kitchens in the game, what was the vision behind this feature? And just how big is the in-game world?

Like most management sims, KSA started with a single kitchen. Originally you’d upgrade the restaurant slowly piece by piece. Someone gave me the suggestion at some point… if I’m putting the game in Hawaii, aren’t I kind of wasting the potential of the setting by just staying locked to that restaurant? I took the idea and ran with it, changing the game’s theme to running a restaurant then making kitchens from all the kinds of places you can enjoy on the island. 

It also helped me marry the genres of tactical RPG and kitchen simulator, both of which are level based and use map variety to keep the game fresh. The game loop moves from map to kitchen to dialogue, so the game world is really these levels themselves, but my goal was for the stories that take place around them to make the Island of Maikai still feel lived in.

Could you walk us through the cooking mechanics? How do they work, and what makes them unique?

The original pitch for KSA was “Overcooked meets Fire Emblem”. With that lens, you can probably see where some of the core mechanics came from. You play as the head chef of your pop-up restaurant. Your job is to direct a team of chefs around kitchen venues around the island and cook food for hungry customers. Each customer has HP (hunger points), food you cook has a quality number that removes that HP, and your goal is to remove everyone’s HP before running out of time.

Using that as a simple starting point, chefs and appliances have different abilities that might modify their speed, their quality, their interactions with certain foods, etc. Optimizing character abilities and kitchen layouts allows for a bunch of strategic depth, but so does figuring out how to position your chefs in the kitchen in ways that minimize wasted time and effort. 

I don’t think RPG HP/Damage or kitchen task management are novel mechanics on their own, but I think the blend is pretty unique and hope players will enjoy it!

The characters have a charming anime-inspired style. How many are there, and how much freedom do players have in interacting with them?

There are 8 playable chefs, including the main character, who can team up and cook in the kitchen. Each character has a unique ability tree that can synergize with different strategies or other chefs, and have unique stories you can explore through support conversations. My goal was to give every character a sense of development throughout the story and ensure they had time in the spotlight. A level supports in particular come with unique side quests that explore character motivations and character development, and those are some of my proudest features.

Outside of your chef team, there’s also a supporting cast of other characters to meet who help move the story along and provide structure.

The Steam page highlights Steam Deck optimization. What specific tweaks did you make for handheld play?

Opting to target Steam Deck required a bunch of targeted work. The game had to work on a small 10:16 screen; the UI still had to be readable; I needed to add controller support, and a bunch of other things. The biggest one was playtesting, KSA isn’t a short game (estimating 25+ hours per story playthrough), and I played through the entire thing on the Deck before release. I think it was all worth it though. The game feels great on the deck, maybe because the games that inspired it were also handhelds.

What was the biggest challenge you faced during development?

For the product, it was figuring out how to get the genre mix of tactical RPG + cozy cooking management to blend just right. It was also tough to figure out how to talk about the game sometimes. Most gamers haven’t played games like this, so if I started a conversation with “It’s Overcooked mixed with Fire Emblem,” people would just look at me confused. I think coalescing the mechanics and pitch around “cozy cooking RPG” helped a great deal in solidifying the heart of the game.  Keep the vibes of a cozy cooking game, and the depth of an RPG.

The post What’s cooking in Kitchen Sync: Aloha? Matt Slemon dishes on what makes his game unique first appeared on IndieGames.

As one of the last shamanic chefs, Ito must use his combat and magical culinary skills to heal the dreams of the village inhabitants and protect them from a curse that has haunted them for generations. With the help of his spirit companion, Zee, Ito hunts magical creatures called Nomosi, which provide the ingredients needed to prepare delicious dishes inspired by Latin American cuisine.

Each villager has a unique story, from legendary heroes to eccentric merchants and local athletes, every character plays a role in uncovering the secrets hidden beneath the village’s surface. Additionally, the game features local co-op mode, allowing you to explore Zoz together, cook meals, and battle creatures to save the village.

Of course, you will also be able to cultivate their own farm, grow various vegetables, and solve puzzles while taking on challenging boss fights. To get a glimpse of what to expect from this title, be sure to check out the trailer below.  

The post Culinary RPG Adventure Town of Zoz Showcases First Gameplay Trailer first appeared on IndieGames.

At the core of the gameplay is the balance between physically demanding tray management and fast-paced customer service. You must carefully stack and carry dishes featuring meals like onigiri, sushi, ramen, and fortune cookies, all while under the watchful eye of a strict head chef. Every mistake, such as dropping a dish, results in reduced tips, an essential resource for upgrading skills, paying rent, and unlocking new abilities.

The Way of the Tray combines chaotic fun with a cozy atmosphere, making it appealing to fans of simulation games like Overcooked. The game is expected to launch on PC via Steam sometime this year. Additionally, a new trailer has provided a first look at the gameplay.

The post The Way of the Tray: Japanese Restaurant Simulator Launching on Steam Later This Year first appeared on IndieGames.

Magical Delicacy is a wholesome adventure set in the enchanting town of Grat. You play as Flora, a young witch who dreams of becoming a fully-fledged witch. To achieve her goal, Flora moves to Grat, a bustling harbor town filled with adventurers, townsfolk, and mysterious travelers. There, she opens her own shop, cooking magical meals and potions for the town’s diverse residents.

The game combines cooking, exploration, and light Metroidvania elements to create a unique and heartwarming experience. You’ll collect recipes and ingredients by trading, foraging, and growing vegetables in your garden. The cooking system is flexible and creative, allowing you to experiment and create dishes that meet even the most unusual requests. The game also features a linear story filled with witchy wonder and intrigue, alongside optional encounters and free-play opportunities.

The post Wholesome Cooking Adventure Magical Delicacy Is Coming to PlayStation in 2025 first appeared on IndieGames.

Chocolate Factory Simulator stands out from other simulator games. Unlike fast-paced or stressful simulators like Supermarket Simulator or Clothing Store Simulator, this game takes a slower, more detailed approach. Every action must be completed step by step, from pouring ingredients into a bowl and adding coal to the furnace, to hiring employees and customizing your chocolates just the way you want.

The gameplay follows a consistent loop: you receive a delivery order (which you can choose), select a recipe, and follow the steps to complete it. A helpful feature lets you pin the recipe to the corner of the screen as a reminder. With over 50 recipes and a five-star reputation system, the more you progress, the more content you unlock. The process includes everything from crystallization and tempering to shaping the chocolate in machines, wrapping it in boxes, and finally sending it off on an airship. While the process is long and takes time to master, once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it incredibly rewarding and cozy.

To keep things interesting, orders often include special requests, like adding strawberries, nuts, or coffee. These need to be prepared in a specific way according to the customer’s preferences and incorporated into the recipe. This is where some math comes into play. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds! A slider helps you measure the right amount of chocolate, simplifying small batches.

There's a lot to learn, but the more you play, the more fun it becomes

However, for larger batches (above 100 grams), you’ll need to calculate manually, which can be tricky. It’s easy to make mistakes since the game is very strict about using the exact ingredient amounts. While figuring out the numbers can be frustrating at times, mastering this process makes the game all the more satisfying. Mastering the mechanics of the game makes handling multiple orders and larger quantities easier, but it also slightly lengthens the process.

The good news is that the game has no time limits, so you’re free to take things at your own pace. The tutorial is quite lengthy and provides plenty of tasks to guide you. It’s highly recommended to follow the instructions closely, as straying from them can sometimes cause bugs that block your progress. The in-game shop allows you to purchase ingredients for both new and old recipes and upgrade your factory machines. Upgrades make the machines more efficient, but you’ll also need to maintain them, using a wrench to tighten screws and make repairs.

As you progress, the game can become overwhelming due to the sheer number of things to manage. However, it’s impressive how much attention the developers paid to detail. That said, I found the robot helper to be mostly unnecessary. While it can assist with tasks like picking up objects, its overall usefulness feels limited. Even so, experimenting with the game’s mechanics and learning how everything works is both engaging and rewarding. Soon you will also be able to automate processes, but again, that is all within your control.

Mathematics is key in this game

As mentioned, this is a slow-burn game. It starts slow and stays slow, but it’s surprisingly enjoyable. The visuals are beautiful, blending a cartoony style with modern elements that work perfectly together. The music is well-designed and enhances the unique atmosphere. Additionally, you can customize your factory’s look by adding furniture, plants, wall paint, and flooring, making the space truly your own.

However, I wasn’t a big fan of the animations. The way ingredients are poured looks a bit silly, and the fact that you can easily mess it up because you have to carefully control the amount adds an unnecessary challenge. This process could have been simplified, watching 20g of cocoa powder slowly pour into a bowl while trying to monitor the exact measurement feels overly tedious. The same goes for using the stove, waiting for things to cool down and heat up repeatedly is more annoying than fun. That said, some players might enjoy these details, but it’s clear you can’t please everyone.

Once you unlock the critics, the game becomes much more engaging. Critics expect perfection, so crafting flawless recipes is essential. Another interesting aspect is the ability to move between different floors, like your office or the basement, which adds depth to how you approach tasks. I also loved the customization options, designing your own chocolates, adding text, choosing box wrappers, and personalizing everything makes the experience feel unique.

Ending thoughts

Another mechanic worth mentioning is the events. These can be both helpful and frustrating. Events reset after some time, and new ones are introduced. For example, certain events might make coal or ingredients temporarily out of stock, forcing you to wait until the event ends. On the flip side, some events offer discounts on ingredients or speed up delivery times, which can be a big help.

While these events play a significant role in the game, they can also feel overwhelming. With so much already happening in the game, keeping track of events adds yet another layer of complexity. This can detract from the fun, especially when you’re constantly navigating through menus or flipping through the recipe encyclopedia to manage everything.

In conclusion, if you have the time and patience to slowly learn and master the game, Chocolate Factory Simulator is a great choice. The incredible level of detail is impressive, but it’s not very user-friendly. There’s a lot to manage, and it can feel overwhelming, so if you’re looking for something easier to handle, this might not be the game for you. Still, I would definitely recommend it for fans of the genre, it’s unique, charming, and offers plenty of fun for those who enjoy a slow-paced, detailed experience.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.6

The post Chocolate Factory Simulator – A slower but detailed simulator for fans of the genre first appeared on IndieGames.

You step into the shoes of Tonio, a passionate chef determined to restore his family’s pizzeria to its former glory. Armed with Grandpa’s treasured cookbook, Tonio must navigate the challenges of running a restaurant while staying true to traditional Italian recipes. Alongside him is Alfonso, his well-meaning but comically lazy cousin, whose antics add both humor and unpredictability to the daily grind. T

You can unlock family recipes, manage ingredients, and keep customers happy to maintain a competitive edge. The city’s vibrant energy is reflected in its rivalries, where competitors will go to great lengths to sabotage success. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s mishaps and the occasional chaos of side quests bring lighthearted moments that keep the experience engaging and fun.

The post Pizza Slice delivers a New York pizzeria simulator infused with Italian charm first appeared on IndieGames.

In this game, players will take on the role of Combat Chefs who cook up food-based monsters, called GladiEATers, to compete in thrilling turn-based battles in the grand CALosseum. Players can chop, fry, boil, or bake their way to victory, using different strategies to create powerful culinary warriors. With eight Combat Chefs to choose from, each battle begins in the kitchen, where players race against the clock to prepare their GladiEATers before entering the arena.

In the single-player campaign, players face a series of duels against other Combat Chefs, unlocking new characters and progressing through the story. As the competition heats up, unexpected events may change the game’s mechanics, and players may even find themselves venturing beyond the stadium’s walls.

In addition to single-player mode, GladiEATers will offer online multiplayer, allowing players to compete in ranked matches or challenge their friends.

The post Kwalee Partners with MilkBubblesGames for New Turn-Based Battler - GladiEATers first appeared on IndieGames.

The project is the brainchild of Noah, a former architectural designer and the creator of the YouTube channel Pixel Architect, which has 175,000 subscribers. Noah has primarily developed the game solo, with part-time team members assisting with art, animation, writing, and music. In development for four years, the game was successfully funded on Kickstarter in December 2021. The newly unveiled trailer showcases gameplay, completely overhauled art, and offers a glimpse into the main story of Chef RPG.

Chef RPG draws inspiration from Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape and games like Stardew Valley, Restaurant City, and Habbo Hotel. It reinvents the cooking genre with a focus on open-world exploration and ingredient gathering, blending in social and slice-of-life gameplay elements. In this open-ended RPG, you can master culinary arts to create delicious dishes, become adventurous chefs hunting for rare ingredients, or grow their business through charisma and marketing by forming networks of friends.

This title features over 240 recipes and hundreds of furniture pieces to decorate the restaurants. The game includes nine cooking minigames for dish preparation, a skill tree with 40 unlockable skills, and 36 research skills across six food research facilities. You will manage two restaurants and follow a main storyline with over a dozen multi-phase quests. You can also befriend and romance more than 20 major characters and obtain ingredients through shopping, foraging, hunting, fishing, farming, brewing, and more.

The post The open-world restaurant management game, Chef RPG, will be available in Early Access starting this September first appeared on IndieGames.

In the game, we will begin our journey as a young witch, Flora, who arrives in the town of Grat with the aim of developing her magical skills and preparing various delicacies for the citizens. We will travel around the city to find ingredients from shops, explore food and grow it in our garden. We will then use these ingredients to create true wonders in our kitchen, which can also be upgraded with various tools. It is therefore important to fulfill the orders of hungry citizens with their dishes, to discover new ways of traveling and to absorb the unique and magical atmosphere that Grat brings us.

Key features of Magical Delicacy include:

• Collect new recipes and ingredients through trade, questing, growing vegetables in your garden, and exploring throughout the town of Grat.
• Learn an extensive cooking system, allowing for flexible creative choices to fulfill even the oddest orders.
• Build the kitchen of your dreams by commissioning new equipment to help you create even more delicious dishes.
• Experience a wholesome linear story filled with witchy wonder and intrigue, with many optional encounters and free play opportunities.
• Traverse a 2D platformer inspired by Metroidvanias, gain new abilities, reach new areas, and unlock shortcuts.

The post Magical Delicacy is also coming to Nintendo Switch, releases mid-July first appeared on IndieGames.

In the game, we will begin our journey as a young witch, Flora, who arrives in the town of Grat with the aim of developing her magical skills and preparing various delicacies for the citizens. We will travel around the city to find ingredients from shops, explore food and grow it in our garden. We will then use these ingredients to create true wonders in our kitchen, which can also be upgraded with various tools. It is therefore important to fulfill the orders of hungry citizens with their dishes, to discover new ways of traveling and to absorb the unique and magical atmosphere that Grat brings us.

Key features of Magical Delicacy include:

• Collect new recipes and ingredients through trade, questing, growing vegetables in your garden, and exploring throughout the town of Grat.
• Learn an extensive cooking system, allowing for flexible creative choices to fulfill even the oddest orders.
• Build the kitchen of your dreams by commissioning new equipment to help you create even more delicious dishes.
• Experience a wholesome linear story filled with witchy wonder and intrigue, with many optional encounters and free play opportunities.
• Traverse a 2D platformer inspired by Metroidvanias, gain new abilities, reach new areas, and unlock shortcuts.

The post Metroidvania meets cooking in Magical Delicacy first appeared on IndieGames.