There are some games on the market that look objectively bad, but still wind up being oddly compelling and enjoyable. It is a strange phenomenon that doesn’t happen to me often, but sometimes when I take a gamble, I run into these weird, janky little gems. Epic Chef is a good example of a game that hardly works on paper but somehow manages to have some charm.

You play as Zest, a young man who finds himself living in an abandoned villa in the city of Ambrosia, a town that revolves around food. You’ll have to contend with the Culinarim, a group that regulates food duels between chefs, as well as trying to restore your new home to its former glory. There is a cast of colorful characters and a rather hilarious story.

Epic Chef is a life simulation game of sorts. There is a day/night cycle, though it is more linear than you might expect. For a while at least, you’re largely constrained to the storyline, stuck doing various quests. This isn’t like Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons, where they give you a large amount of freedom. Granted, there is some freedom to farm, gather ingredients, and do side quests, but the progression is somewhat linear.

Cooking is a big part of your time in Epic Chef. Cooking comes down to mixing up to three ingredients together in order to maximize the three major stats for a dish. There is vigor, spirituality, and sophistication. Each ingredient synergizes with other ingredients, and different ingredients have different amounts of each stat. You’ll have to maximize the aroma of your dish, as well as make sure not to let things burn.

During cooking duels, you’ll have to outwit your opponent by using the right mix of ingredients, along with specialized sauces, to appeal to the judge. Sometimes this turns into just as much of a puzzle as the cooking itself since you’re having to learn to deal with what the judge does and doesn’t like.

There is foraging, building, chopping, fishing, and a few other mechanics as well, but most of the first few hours will be spent cooking, farming, and interacting with NPCs. There are a few quests that are bugged, and a few of the loading screens are longer than they should be, but the game is strangely appealing. This is despite the fact that the farming isn’t as in-depth as some other games, and the day/night cycle can be somewhat restrictive.

There is also magic and a few other elements, including raising animals. However, it will likely take you a while to get there, since there is a fair bit of back and forth. Despite the bugs, I did a bit of investigating and discovered that the developers are fairly active with patches and bug fixes, so hopefully, some of the issues with quests will be resolved in time.

The art style has a voxel/cube-esque vibe to it, but it has a certain charm that I wouldn’t have expected. Honestly, Epic Chef is a game that feels somehow less involved than other games in the genre but also feels uniquely engaging. Even though I found myself frustrated with some of the back and forth, I still found myself oddly compelled to keep playing.

That’s the crux of it really. Epic Chef is fun, even for all of its eccentricities and annoyances, like some repeatable quests not recording in your quest log. While it may not capture the same magic as Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons, its focused narrative and cooking-focused gameplay is a different, yet no less valuable experience.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Epic Chef was provided by Team17 for this review.

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Epic Chef

$24.99 USD

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Fun Cooking Mechanics
• Simple Controls
• Funny Dialogue and Story
• Unique Characters

Cons

• A Few Quest Bugs
• Long Loading Times
• Lots of Back and Forth