Bone's Cafe
- October 29, 2022
- Acute Owl Studio
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam"Bone's Cafe" is a narrative-driven game where players manage a cozy cafe while uncovering the mysteries of a small town. Interact with quirky characters, serve up drinks and pastries, and decorate the cafe to create a welcoming atmosphere. The game features a unique blend of time management, puzzle-solving, and visual novel-style storytelling.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Bone's Cafe offers a unique blend of cooking and automation mechanics, allowing players to customize their cafe layout and menu while managing undead minions.
- The game features adorable graphics and a fun, dark twist on the cooking genre, making it enjoyable both solo and in co-op mode.
- Players appreciate the engaging gameplay loop, with many recipes to discover and a satisfying progression system that keeps the experience fresh.
- The controls can be clunky and unintuitive, especially on PC, with a lack of remapping options and some frustrating AI behavior from minions.
- Some recipes are poorly explained, leading to confusion and trial-and-error gameplay that can detract from the overall experience.
- The game may feel repetitive over time, with some players wishing for more depth and variety in challenges and gameplay mechanics.
- gameplay54 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by unique mechanics, such as programmable assistants and minion automation, which enhance the overall experience and provide a fair progression system. Players appreciate the engaging, fast-paced nature of the game, especially in cooperative modes, while some find it can feel grindy due to certain design choices. Overall, the gameplay loop is enjoyable and offers a mix of challenges that can be both relaxing and stressful, making it a standout in its genre.
“The gameplay is engaging and fast-paced, making it a blast to play.”
“The fun challenges and cooperative gameplay add a nice touch of variety.”
“The gameplay here is radically different, with a unique mechanic of programmable assistants that makes the game stand out.”
“Keeping it short, it's a really simple game with simple mechanics, yet can be demanding if chosen to be so by regulating the pace at which you play the game, regulating the amount of customers.”
“Gameplay loop is what you'd expect from this genre: cook, prep, serve, ... then serve the customer for other customers.”
“While there can be some tense moments due to the clock or other situations, overall I found the gameplay loop to be surprisingly relaxing.”
- music36 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its delightful and chill qualities, featuring a mostly lo-fi soundtrack that complements the cute graphics and overall vibe. While some players noted the repetitiveness of the loops, many found the sound effects and music to be enjoyable and fitting, enhancing the game's atmosphere. Overall, the soundtrack is described as upbeat, relaxing, and even available for listening on platforms like Bandcamp.
“The sound effects are delightful, and the music is fantastic.”
“Awesome upbeat relaxing music, a fun story, challenging strategy, freedom in how you set up your cafe, lots of different recipes to learn, super, super fun!”
“The music is laid back and chill, and the animations are charming and well done.”
“(just listen to your own music if you don't want to listen to the same loop repeatedly)”
“As usual in these factory-like games, the sounds of a completely automated system are music to my ears.”
“I sat in the main menu for 20 minutes just listening to the loading screen music.”
- story28 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as charming and entertaining, featuring light-hearted humor and a cute aesthetic that enhances the overall experience. While the narrative is engaging and serves as a good introduction to the gameplay challenges, some players noted that the story mode is relatively short and the controls could use improvement. Overall, the story adds a delightful layer to the game, complemented by consistent updates and enjoyable visuals.
“It's an incredibly charming game with an enthralling storyline.”
“Awesome upbeat relaxing music, a fun story, challenging strategy, freedom in how you set up your cafe, lots of different recipes to learn, super, super fun!”
“Innocent PG-13-ish aesthetic with really light storytelling basically made up of slightly funny one-liners.”
“Tldr; decent story mode, very poor PC controls, disappointing endgame.”
“The story is complete and updates were released as we played which greatly improved gameplay.”
- graphics26 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming and cutesy art style, featuring adorable characters and pixel art that contrasts with its darker themes. While some sprites are well-received, others are criticized for lacking detail, leading to mixed opinions on the overall visual presentation. Despite these critiques, many players appreciate the game's cute visuals and engaging gameplay, making it a delightful experience for fans of lighthearted aesthetics.
“What I really like about this game are the cute graphics, the simplicity of play, and the challenge.”
“The artwork isn't the game's strong suit - most sprites look fine on their own (though the front-facing mouse is a tragedy/comedy) but the big picture looks kind of meh in a way that is hard to describe.”
“Graphically, the game looks very cutesy, especially all the little characters roaming around—a nice contrast to the game’s otherwise gruesome themes of necromancy and cannibalism.”
“The graphics may seem basic, but there is a lot of gameplay and a whole lot of character.”
- humor18 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is characterized by its charming and light-hearted storytelling, featuring amusing one-liners and a unique premise that blends cooking with dark comedy, such as a necromancer enforcing cannibalism. Players appreciate the combination of fast-paced gameplay and chaotic local co-op, which enhances the comedic experience, making it both entertaining and engaging. The pixel art and overall aesthetic further complement the game's humorous tone, creating a delightful atmosphere for players.
“The artwork and humor are particularly noteworthy.”
“I love this game too much, the fast-paced style cooking sim as a necromancer who enforces cannibalism on their own customers is the best strategy to win, and it's hilarious.”
“Local co-op is painless to start, buttery smooth, and hilariously chaotic.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious and influenced by questionable design choices, particularly with daily tasks like programming cooks. However, many report that once they acclimate to the mechanics, the gameplay becomes enjoyable and engaging, leading them to continue farming for resources.
“It feels grindy because of weird design choices, but the gameplay once you get rolling is pretty fun for sure.”
“You have to program your cooks every day, which can be tedious and boring.”
“It is a little tedious at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is fun.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, particularly with its online co-op feature, which relies on a problematic Steam function that has been non-functional since launch. While the core gameplay concept is enjoyable, it is marred by bugs that affect the overall experience.
“Does not support online co-op (remote play together is a buggy Steam feature that hasn't worked since day one).”
“Fun basic if buggy programming concept that evolves with the campaign.”
