Space Chef for the Nintendo Switch is a space-based RPG which at its core is all about food.

The game is presented with a colourful and vibrant cartoon aesthetic

The game has you gathering resources or growing them to cook and fulfil your delivery orders from various aliens as you travel between planets each with unique, ecosystem, culinary requests and farming opportunities.

The game presents itself as a cosy game and having played many a cosy game, I felt that the frustrations with the combat system gently pushes it out of this category.

The game is presented with a colourful and vibrant cartoon aesthetic. You can customise your character, so it works for either sex. At its start you are congratulated by your elderly relative for setting up your own restaurant and she asks you fulfil your first order.

Most of the steps are easy enough, but the games first weakness appears in its combat. With no jump or dodge and only an imprecise control of your character, combat seems a bit unsatisfying as it feels more like running back and forth in the hope that you will hit something.

Cook and fulfil your delivery orders as you travel between planets

Piloting your spacecraft is also not precise, though I am guessing here that the developers were harkening back to that age old game, Asteroids., and creating some nostalgia. Overall, the game goes for a playful aesthetic and if you're able to get over the quirks in the controls, its does have a lot of humour to offer.

Getting out into the wider galaxy affords you more customers, whose orders must be fulfilled in the requisite time, take too long and you lose the order. Recipes become increasingly complex as you move through the game, but the timings and mechanics are well explained.

Sound design and music complement the relaxed vibe nicely. The soundtrack is light and whimsical, fading into the background without becoming repetitive or distracting. Sound effects - sizzling pans, bubbling pots, and happy customer reactions - add personality and help reinforce the game’s cozy atmosphere.

The game fits the Switch well as something you would occasionally pick up to play for half an hour.

7

Charles Packer