Metallic Red by Riaz Moola
A meditative, gentle sci-fi game dealing with esoteric themes. I was really impressed by the simple but very effective text styling and the detailed, thoughtful prose, especially in the cooking and gardening ‘minigames’. I also enjoyed the sections where the main character browses different computer tabs, which were a great way to develop the world of this setting and establish a strong atmosphere. I was tickled by the planet overgrown with swiss chard- I love a good chard so I would love to go hang out there. The ending was also very touching.
Eikas by Lauren O'Donoghue
‘Eikas’, a communal feast celebration help in honor of the Epicurean philosophy, lends its name to this perfectly charming and captivating slice-of-life game. You play as the new chef of a communal food hall in a fantasy village; the setting reminds me of Studio Ghibli films. Your assistant is a magical bat creature. With his help, you need to plan and serve multiple village feasts over the course of a month while the village council decides whether to keep you on for the long term.
This is an RPG-style cooking simulator with a REALLY impressive amount of depth. Every single recipe you can cook (and there are a LOT) has its own little blurb, and it makes the food sound delicious! You can visit multiple locations in the town, buy or forage ingredients, decorate the food hall by growing flowers, do mini quests from a message board, read books with background lore, and more. None of the individual game systems are particularly complex, but taken as a whole, this is an RPG with impressive depth that encourages you to slow down and take note of the little things- the beautiful descriptions of nature, the quirky sense of humor. The implementation is fantastic as well, with a number of helpful features for helping the player keep track of what they’re doing and what ingredients they have. There’s even a notepad feature that I really loved, and used a lot to plan out my meals. During my experience playing the game, I never encountered any glitches or typos either, which speaks to an impressive amount of polish and playtesting.
My favorite part is that you can befriend a handful of NPCs who are all impressively well-sketched characters. It’s hard to decide which one is my favorite, but all of them feel like complex, dynamic people with their own worldviews, hopes and dreams, and favorite meals. When the historian opened up about his background, I’ll admit I got pretty misty-eyed. If this game were much, much longer, I would relish the opportunity to spend more time with these lovable characters, especially the aforementioned bat creature!
My only complaints are the difficulty and the achievement system. While a gentle pastoral fantasy doesn’t need to be difficult, I found it a bit TOO easy to finish each character’s storyline, max out my approval in town, cook four-star meals, buy every book, and so on. By the last ten or so days, I had completed every side story and had enough money to buy all the ingredients I needed, so I just sort of clicked around to fill time until the day ended. The pacing was great early in the game when I had a bunch of different quests, but by the end it had slowed down a lot. If there were a bit more time pressure or trade-off with the decisions you make, I think it could add some more excitement to what should be a particularly tense last few days.
Also, I wish that you could see your achievements once you reach the ending screen! Possibly also with a list of all the possible achievements, to encourage the player to try again and unlock them all.
Overall, I had a lovely time playing Eikas and have already recommended it to some friends. This game feels like eating my dad’s famous chicken soup with matzo balls on a cold winter day… nourishing and heartwarming.