Admittedly, the moment I saw an advertisement for Lemon Cake, I was intrigued. time management games are normally stressful for me, but Lemon Cake’s cute, cozy vibes caught my attention. I wasn’t disappointed either, Lemon Cake has a cute aesthetic and a well-thought-out gameplay loop. In fact, it is probably one of the more decent Time Management games on Switch.

In Lemon Cake, you play as a baker who acquires an abandoned bakery, only to discover that it is haunted by the ghost of the former owner. Luckily, Miss BonBon is a kind ghost and offers to teach you how to restore the bakery to its former glory. What seems like a simple idea, quickly becomes more complicated, however.

The general premise is simple, you make recipes for customers as they come in, serving them, and getting money to upgrade the café. However, as you enhance the café, you’ll unlock new ingredients and helpful upgrades. Some of these upgrades make your life easier like display cabinets, which let you store pre-made baked goods for people to purchase instead of sitting down and eating.

Other upgrades make things more complex. For example, if you want to make pastries with chocolate, it will require you to get a Cacao tree. This tree will need to be watered to produce Cocoa, which you’ll need to do during your workday. If you need milk, you’ll have to tend to a cow, which will need to be brushed while your café is open. Each new ingredient adds something to do, so you’ll have to be careful about what recipes you use, and how you manage your time.

As I mentioned earlier, as you progress you’ll also get things that make your job easier. Until then, you’ll be kept on your toes by having to clean up messes, tend to your various ingredients, and even keeping the ovens stocked with firewood. The happier your customers are, the more money you’ll make, so getting a good workflow going is important.

The tutorial leaves a bit to be desired, as it is fairly sparse. However, if you’re willing to take your time with it, you’ll figure things out. As you do things in the bakery each day, you’ll slowly level up, unlocking new recipes that will make you more money once you can afford to use them. It is interesting trying to juggle what recipes are fastest, while also trying to make the most money as efficiently as possible.

I wouldn’t say Lemon Cake is the best time management game I’ve seen, but it has a lot of positive aspects. On top of that, I’d say it has a lot of content to it that could keep die-hard time management fans interested for a while. I could even see it being a fun game to play on car trips or commutes, considering you could do a few days in the bakery, then close the game and go about your day.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Lemon Cake was provided by SOEDESCO for this review.

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Lemon Cake

$29.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Colorful Aesthetic
• Engaging Gameplay
• Lots of Things to Do

Cons

• Limited Tutorial
• Controls are a Little Slow to React