Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe

This review is written just before the release of the "deluxe" content update. The game isn't perfect but this review will focus on what it does best, what I enjoyed most and not so much the negatives which I found to be mostly insignificant. This game was spectacular. It has a lovable cast of characters that display some nice, charming personalities. The characters are diverse and each have their unique flavour that isn't just another typical 1-trope character. Story is relatively simple and easy to follow but also quite enjoyable in its simplicity and straightforwardness. The progression follows Mina trying to join the Battle Chef Brigade and during the entrance exams she has to work for three mentors on various tasks as well as defeat her entrants in a cook off. It follows this progression for most of the chapters. Gameplay it is an addicting mix of match 3 and some light action platformer. You go out and explore the environment, fill up your pockets with ingredients from plants or from defeating monsters and bring these ingredients back to the kitchen for your dishes. The exploration is incredibly light, there are a few maps and each of them are small. This is not a metroidvania style game where you have free reign to explore. You are always going to be delivering ingredients back to the kitchen and the cook offs are timed. The combat is fine, not the best but pretty fun once you get the hang of it. The match 3 starts off very simple but progresses in complexity through the use of various cooking tools, sauces and other such items. It is, in a single word, fun. I want to also praise the game for its diversity, charm and general slice of life feel. Even when you don't get a whole lot of cutscenes or interactions between characters seeing them interact manages to evoke feelings of familiarity. The multiplayer and daily cook offs are also very addicting even for someone like myself who doesn't enjoy MP content much.

From my steam review: Battle Chef Brigade perfectly combines everything I like about indie games. An original and intriguing gameplay loop, a distinct art style and no unnecessary baggage in form of half-baked mechanics. Where the game really comes into its own, is the ability to customize your style of playing/cooking with a variety of ability enhancements, cooking gear, ready-to-go ingredients and skill books (e.g. serve a dish which contains the same ingredient 5x). The great thing is, that almost everything you do during a cooking match can be altered and adjusted to your personal preferences, from the way you gather ingredients (satchel slots, health, mana, fighting) to how you want to deal with poison or heavily damaged food gems. Unfortunately the games party piece (in my opinion) is also the point of my, albeit rather small, criticism. Every match has a theme ingredient and and every judge has a favourite combination of food gems (only red, blue and green etc.) and your load out for one match can be completely useless in another one. The problem with this is, that during story mode you don't know what the conditions for your next match are going to be and once the match is about to start, there is no opportunity to change your load out. The results of this are either reloading the game, or creating a "neutral" load out, which is useful in every match. But as I said, it really is a minor complaint and didn't impact my fun with the game. I have yet to play the daily challenges or local coop, but they won't have any impact on my opinion of this game.

1. Comfortable character animation and scenery. With the soundtrack it's a great experience doing the battle and the cooking; 2. The lines are interesting, humour popping out here and there. Also the voice acting is awesome; 3. All of the food really look tasty, and there are a variety to explore. The game can be recommended as a (literal) dining appetizer.

This game is a hidden gem. It seamlessly mixes action combat with match-four puzzles. The games art is pretty nice for what it is, the sound is meh and the story is silly but fun. Where it shines most though is in the game play. If you like puzzle games then this is a great buy. If you aren't big on puzzles or matching games then the action combat sequences are a nice break. All in all the game is a super fun indie title that most people will enjoy.

you pretty much have to start memorising all the ingredients later in the game and plan out which ones to get and which not. my problem with this is, that the game doesn't prepare you for this. it has a training mode for the first area in story mode, but not the other areas and there also isn't a bestiary, where you can look up ingredients. you get one mission, on which you are supposed to learn the ingredients before each battle, but the game doesn't tell you, that you're not just supposed to kill the monsters. so the game goes from too hard to easy once you know all the ingredients and how everything works.