TasteMaker
- April 21, 2023
- Jelle Booij
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam"TasteMaker is a single-player strategy game with stunning visuals and hilarious elements. Build, manage, and expand your restaurant, creating a menu and atmosphere that keeps customers happy. However, the game is grindy, has bugs, and requires constant upkeep to keep your restaurant clean and employees productive."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a charming art style and runs smoothly, making it enjoyable to play.
- It offers a fun and simple restaurant management experience, allowing players to design and run their own establishments.
- The developer is responsive to feedback and regularly updates the game, showing commitment to its improvement.
- The game currently lacks depth and variety, with a limited menu and few customization options for decor and furniture.
- Players often encounter bugs, such as employees getting stuck or not performing tasks, which can disrupt gameplay.
- The gameplay can become repetitive quickly, with little incentive to continue once the initial scenarios are completed.
- gameplay230 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally praised for its simplicity and accessibility, allowing players to quickly grasp the mechanics, which are reminiscent of tycoon-style games. However, many reviewers note that the gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth, with calls for more complex mechanics and content to enhance long-term engagement. While the core gameplay loop is enjoyable and visually appealing, it is still considered unpolished and in need of refinement, particularly in balancing and additional features.
“The gameplay is very much a tycoon style - and I really appreciate how much personality the game has - it's very pretty to look at, detailed and a great visual style.”
“The core gameplay loop is great and I've enjoyed the one scenario I've played through so far - the challenges were just right for each difficulty level.”
“Gameplay is fluid, the graphic style is endearing, and I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment as my restaurant grows.”
“The gameplay gets repetitive very fast.”
“There are multiple issues as far as balance in the gameplay and frustrating ineptitude with the staff.”
“Just be aware of the fact that after ~10 hours of gameplay you will have seen pretty much all there is at its current state.”
- graphics124 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are generally praised for their clean, minimalist art style, which many find charming and aesthetically pleasing. While some users note small design oversights and a desire for more customization, the overall visual presentation is considered enjoyable and well-suited to the gameplay. The graphics run smoothly, contributing to a relaxing gaming experience, though some players feel the visuals could benefit from further refinement and detail.
“The art style of the game is so sleek and gorgeous, and the different game modes are so fun.”
“The graphics are cute, simple, and work for the style of the game.”
“I love the graphics; the pause/play/fast forward system is incredibly useful, and everything feels super well balanced.”
“Seems like a bad mixture between The Sims gameplay and Untitled Goose Game graphics.”
“The game is extremely basic, with extremely basic visuals. I'd say this is a 1-person dev team making this; if it's an actual team of more than one person, I think I'd burst out laughing.”
“Of course it needs some refinement in the UI, functionality, and general tarting up of the graphic design elements, but the gameplay is intriguing, draws you in, and the basic game mechanics feel really solid.”
- music80 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying the jazzy tunes and aesthetic vibe, while others criticize the lack of variety and ambient sounds. Many users express a desire for more music options, including background tracks for different settings and better volume control for music and sound effects. Overall, while the existing music is appreciated by some, there is a strong demand for enhancements and additional musical elements to enrich the gaming experience.
“It has jazzy music, gentle/subtle sound effects, and the art style is just so lovable.”
“S: the music is just amazing.”
“Music kicks on when you place the gramophone decoration and it is perfect for the pizza & mafia scenario; I would buy the original soundtrack of the in-game soundtrack.”
“There's only one song that plays, not even ambient kitchen sounds.”
“No music, no real explanations for customers to all of a sudden hate the place, just boring all around.”
“Another thing, the game doesn't actually have any ambient music unless you have the music player.”
- story38 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game lacks a traditional narrative, offering only six scenarios focused on achieving financial goals rather than a cohesive story. Players express a desire for more content, missions, and a structured storyline, as the current sandbox mode primarily allows for creative restaurant management without overarching objectives. While some enjoy the relaxed gameplay, many feel that the absence of a story limits the game's depth and engagement.
“Although the game does not operate with any storyline and may have certain minor bugs, it is still quite an enjoyable gaming experience.”
“I'm curious to see if there will be a story like in the classic Restaurant Empire or if it'll be entirely scenarios.”
“I think with some missions, it will be a great game.”
“There are 6 scenarios but no story; just get this amount of money for selling x items in a month.”
“Although the game does not operate with any storyline and may have certain minor bugs, it is still quite an enjoyable fair gaming experience.”
“The basic mechanics are all there, but it lacks content, items, and missions.”
- stability28 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 86 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be quite buggy, with numerous glitches affecting gameplay, such as customers not entering restaurants and staff failing to perform tasks. While some users acknowledge that these issues are typical for an early access title, the overall experience feels incomplete and can lead to performance problems, including CPU overload and freezing. Despite these challenges, the simulation aspect is praised, suggesting potential for improvement as the game develops.
“If you are up for an early and pretty bug-free game, go for this. If you want to hold out, this is one to keep an eye on.”
“It's buggy and feels incomplete, but the simulation is on point!”
“So many glitches, the customers won't enter the restaurant.”
“After a certain point, it starts to overload your CPU and constantly freezes (presumably because there's so much going on on screen).”
- humor26 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding joy in its quirky mechanics and amusing scenarios, such as funny character interactions and absurd situations like a human-sized cat and a food-stealing rat. The game's simplistic visuals and basic premise add to its charm, while humorous elements like customers using toilets and the existence of February 31 contribute to its comedic appeal. Overall, players describe it as a fun and entertaining experience filled with laugh-out-loud moments.
“It's funny and a lot of fun to get into.”
“For one, I find it hilarious that February 31 exists as a day in this game.”
“Employees will clean the toilets while there are customers on the toilet (please don't remove, it's very funny).”
- grinding24 mentions
- 4 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and unfun, with many players feeling it lacks balance and a clear path to success. Users express frustration over the manual restocking process and the overall simplicity of gameplay, suggesting that significant improvements are needed to enhance the experience. Overall, the grinding mechanics contribute to a sense of unfinished gameplay that detracts from enjoyment.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“It's supremely unfun and grindy, and I no longer have any optimism its state will improve, given the last time it was updated.”
“I can't recommend this game in its current state - far too unbalanced and grindy.”
“Instead, all you end up with is a tedious game that doesn't have a clear path to success, because it neither follows real-life logic, nor any sort of sensible in-game logic.”
- replayability18 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players find it enjoyable and capable of high replay value due to its core mechanics, others criticize it for being bland and repetitive with limited content. Many reviewers suggest that the game has potential for improvement with future updates, which could enhance its replayability by adding more variety and features. Currently, it seems best to wait for further development before fully committing.
“The game's main component of designing and running a restaurant is very fun and replayability is high.”
“Could have a lot of replay value with some more variation and detail to allow you to create unique and distinct restaurants each time you play.”
“It's day one and I can see myself throwing quite a few more hours into this game with its high replay value.”
“Really bland with not much personality or replayability, in my opinion. Wait until it's out of early access to play.”
“There's zero replay value.”
“Have potential with more features to be added, although I foresee it'll be quite repetitive and the replayability might be a bit low. At this point in time, I can't really recommend it, even though I'd love to.”
- optimization18 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
Overall, the game runs smoothly at launch, but players have reported performance issues and bugs as they expand their restaurants, particularly in sandbox mode. There are concerns about stuttering and high resource usage, prompting hopes for future optimization updates to enhance performance and reduce strain on systems.
“As it is, the game is complete and runs smoothly.”
“So, I hope there are some optimization updates so it will start to run like it isn't Cyberpunk.”
“After the campaign is over though, the sandbox only kept me interested for a few hours, and then I felt like I had reached the ceiling of what the game was capable of - I had a large restaurant with lots of employees and customers, and I started seeing performance issues and bugs.”
“I am very interested to see future developments for this game and hopefully optimizations so it doesn't run my computer like a space heater.”
“So, I hope there are some optimization updates that will make it run like it isn't Cyberpunk.”
- monetization8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is characterized by the absence of ads, which some players find limiting as they struggle to attract more customers despite high ratings. Users suggest the introduction of an advertising feature that could allow them to pay for increased traffic, indicating a desire for more options to enhance customer influx. Overall, while the game shows potential, the current monetization model may hinder player progress.
“Maybe add an advertisement feature to drum up extra business (to your benefit or detriment!).”
“- advertising to increase traffic at a price”
“Another thing is I hope there will be a way to invite more customers, like ads or things that attract them; other than that, the game shows promise.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its abundant wholesomeness, evoking strong emotional responses and creating a heartwarming experience for players.
“But it's got wholesomeness in spades.”
