Epic Chef

68%
Game Brain Score Based on 369 reviews
  • story
  • humor
  • grinding
Epic Chef Game Cover
Don’t let Epic Chef‘s title fool you. This isn’t simply a cooking sim – there’s much more to it than that.
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In "Epic Chef," embark on a journey to become a culinary master in the whimsical world of Ambrosia. Using a dynamic recipe creation system, combine ingredients with precision to create delicious and unique dishes. With life-sim and farming elements, interact with a cast of quirky characters and build your reputation as an elite chef.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

68%
Audience ScoreBased on 369 reviews
story76 positive mentions
grinding149 negative mentions
  • The game features a delightful blend of cooking, farming, and quirky humor, encouraging culinary creativity and experimentation with ingredients.
  • The storyline and characters are engaging, filled with witty dialogue and charm that enhance the overall experience.
  • The cooking mechanics are fun and challenging, providing a unique twist on traditional cooking games with a focus on ingredient synergies.
  • The game suffers from pacing issues, with lengthy dialogues and a slow start that can detract from the gameplay experience.
  • There are significant limitations in space expansion and ingredient variety, making the gameplay feel repetitive over time.
  • The save system is inconvenient, requiring players to sleep to save progress, which can lead to frustration if progress is lost.
  • story179 mentions

    The game's story is widely praised for its engaging and humorous narrative, featuring quirky characters and a charming underdog tale that keeps players entertained throughout. Many reviewers highlight the clever writing and comedic elements, which enhance the gameplay experience, although some note that the pacing can feel slow and the dialogue occasionally overly verbose. Overall, the combination of cooking, farming, and a well-crafted storyline makes it a standout title for those who appreciate story-driven games.

    • “A terrific cooking game with a hilarious story of an underdog overcoming challenges and becoming a chef!”
    • “You might not expect it from this game, but the story - the general plot - is gripping and well written.”
    • “The story is fun, absurd, and enjoyable.”
    • “Tldr: fairly unique cooking game mechanic with a surprisingly detailed storyline...which are both somewhat wasted through a game that is poorly paced and overly written.”
    • “Downsides, it's quite a bit less open world than others in the genre, there's less to do in terms of customizing anything, the humor is really wacky/madcap slapstick bad hāremumono humor, and the dialog is poorly written and goes on and on and on, and the plot is bad and takes up so much time.”
    • “The only thing that I'm not a fan of is the heavy storyline.”
  • humor167 mentions

    The humor in "Epic Chef" is widely praised for its quirky, irreverent charm, with many players finding the writing and dialogue consistently hilarious. The game combines cooking, farming, and whimsical storytelling, often leading to laugh-out-loud moments through its unique characters and unexpected situations. While some may find the humor subjective, it generally enhances the overall experience, making it a standout feature of the game.

    • “The interactions are filled with charm and humor, creating an immersive world where every character has their own personality and oddities.”
    • “This game had me laughing often with the lovable characters and goofy story that unfolds.”
    • “I loved the writing and humor, the characters were unique and enjoyable, charming art style and progression felt good like you always had something to work towards.”
  • grinding149 mentions

    The grinding aspect of "Epic Chef" has received mixed feedback from players. While some appreciate the blend of cooking and farming mechanics, noting that the humor and story keep the experience enjoyable, many find the farming and cooking battles can become tedious and overly time-consuming, especially as the game progresses. Overall, players suggest that while the game offers a fun and quirky experience, it could benefit from improvements to streamline the grinding elements.

    • “For me this game felt too long, especially because the cooking battles can sometimes take a good few attempts to win - each time you lose you need to re-farm your ingredients and this can get tedious.”
    • “Takes forever to walk anywhere, farming is slow and tedious.”
    • “This is a pretty moderately good grinding game (not as good as My Time at Portia) however it isn't for everyone since there is no way to auto-farm or even lightly mass farm basic ingredients in the mid-early game, so you do need a lot of patience to mindlessly mass farm things and store them in a lot of containers since each inventory slot only holds 1 of each item.”
  • gameplay101 mentions

    The gameplay features a unique cooking mechanic intertwined with a detailed storyline, offering enjoyable puzzle elements and humorous interactions. However, players note issues with pacing, limited ingredient variety, and a cumbersome saving system that detracts from the overall experience. While the mechanics can be fun and engaging, the execution often feels tedious and overly complex, making it a mixed bag for players.

    • “It adds a nice layer of storytelling to the gameplay that makes it more than just cooking.”
    • “Enjoyable gameplay that has a nice puzzle gimmick based on the ingredients you pick.”
    • “The gameplay is fun, and I like creating effective combos to battle through tricky food combat encounters, but the real soul of this game is in its characters.”
    • “However, the limited space and lack of ingredient variety can make the gameplay feel a bit cramped and repetitive.”
    • “It also feels like it takes a bit too long to get into the main gameplay loop.”
    • “Unfortunately, while the cooking and farming mechanics are simple enough to grasp, the bloated nature of the game makes every task feel more arduous than it needs to be.”
  • graphics62 mentions

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming and cute art style that many players find appealing, though opinions vary, with some describing the visuals as simple or even unattractive. While the overall aesthetic is praised for its uniqueness and suitability to the gameplay, there are notable issues such as frame rate drops and inconsistencies in aspect ratio during cutscenes. Despite these drawbacks, the graphics are generally considered to complement the game's humor and mechanics effectively.

    • “The bright and cute graphic style is also right up my alley.”
    • “The graphics are very pleasing and the gameplay progresses at a fairly steady pace as you go through the story.”
    • “The humour in the game is just fantastic; the graphics get the job done and suit the gameplay perfectly.”
    • “Let it be said, this game is ugly, the character models are so off-putting and the graphics are meh even if they are stylized.”
    • “Still have some graphic issues; if you are playing this game in 16:9, then you will notice those issues, like some cutscene effects only appearing in square aspect ratio instead of 16:9. Sometimes the background doesn't even fit with the 16:9 screen, it just shows some blue screen in the corner because the background in those cutscenes doesn't fit!”
    • “My rig meets or even exceeds the recommended system requirements of the game, but still in some scenes, the frame rate decreases a lot. Setting the graphic settings to low solves this problem.”
  • music10 mentions

    The music in the game is generally well-received, described as upbeat and fun, with a standout main theme that is considered bombastic. However, some reviewers noted technical limitations, such as diegetic background music and awkward camera angles, which detracted from the overall experience. While the music complements the charming art style, it stops short of being truly exceptional.

    • “The art style is charming and the music/sound fit perfectly.”
    • “The music is quite good too, although I wouldn't call it stellar - except maybe the main theme, it's freaking bombastic.”
    • “The music is upbeat and fun too.”
    • “Tech limits are everywhere (background music always played diegetically, probably didn't figure out how to play music; click to interact when standing at location, probably didn't figure out how to get what player is looking at; awkward static camera angles sometimes... just what are you hiding??)”
  • optimization8 mentions

    The game is described as having charming elements and clever writing, but it suffers from significant optimization issues, leading to a lack of polish. Players appreciate the complex mechanics of dish preparation, which invite strategic problem-solving, yet the overall performance remains poorly optimized.

    • “I find the complex moving parts of each dish ingredient to be the real core of what attracts me to the game - I like puzzling and finding out optimized solutions from everything available.”
    • “It's cute, has some clever writing, but lacks a lot of polish and feels very poorly optimized.”
    • “The software is also very poorly optimized.”
    • “Poorly optimized.”
  • stability8 mentions

    The game's stability has been criticized for being clunky and buggy, with users reporting various glitches, such as objects getting stuck together and issues with monitor size compatibility. Despite these problems, many players noted that the overall performance and graphics are impressive, suggesting that while stability issues exist, they do not significantly detract from the overall experience.

    • “Overall, the graphics are fantastic and the game runs great.”
    • “The game runs smoothly without any major issues, making for a fantastic experience.”
    • “The stability of the game is impressive, allowing for seamless gameplay.”
    • “Clunky, buggy, and didn't support my monitor size.”
    • “Feels like it was made and kind of just left with a bunch of tiny glitches.”
    • “Weird glitches as well on the farm where objects are stuck inside each other.”
  • replayability4 mentions

    Overall, the game has limited replayability, particularly for players who complete it quickly. While some enjoy the experience, many reviewers feel it lacks substantial reasons to revisit after finishing.

    • “If you're the type that enjoys taking your time, the game offers a lot of replay value with its various paths and choices.”
    • “The game has enough variety in its mechanics and storylines to keep players coming back for more.”
    • “Each playthrough feels fresh due to the different strategies and outcomes you can explore.”
    • “If you're the type that completes games quickly, this one may not have much replay value for you.”
  • character development2 mentions

    The character development in the game is praised for its exceptional writing and depth, which enhances the overall world-building experience, making it stand out even within the crafting genre.

    • “Shockingly good writing, character development, and world-building for a crafting game.”
  • emotional2 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its heartfelt sociopolitical commentary woven into conversations, which resonates deeply with players and adds a layer of significance to the narrative.

    • “Strangely enough, a lot of the conversations contain some quite heartfelt sociopolitical commentary.”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is consistently praised for its polished art style and cohesive theme, contributing to an overall appealing experience.

    • “The art style, game atmosphere, and theme are beautifully polished.”
    • “The art style, game atmosphere, and theme create an immersive experience.”
    • “The game's atmosphere is captivating and enhances the overall experience.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

73% average critic score

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Play time

33hMedian play time
33hAverage play time
33-33hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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