TasteMaker
Last updated: 2025-08-17
- Enjoyable, polished, high potential management simulation
- Satisfying restaurant management experience
- Intuitive UI and charming aesthetics
- Game feels unfinished and shallow
- Significant bugs and glitches present
- Inefficient and problematic staff AI
Emotions
Players are disappointed by the game's perceived lack of depth, content, and replayability, often feeling it's unfinished or abandoned by the developers. This leads to a sense of unfulfilled potential, especially when compared to early access expectations or the game's price point. Specific issues like removed features, limited customization, and repetitive gameplay also contribute to this feeling.
Frustration stems primarily from various bugs, AI issues (especially with staff pathfinding and efficiency), and unintuitive or unfair game mechanics. Players also express annoyance with slow progression, micromanagement, and quality-of-life issues, which make the gameplay experience feel rigged or unmanageable at times.
Players feel satisfied with the game's core concept, its ability to run smoothly, and its overall value. The relaxing nature of the gameplay, the enjoyment derived from building and managing a restaurant efficiently, and the game's aesthetic appeal contribute to a positive experience. Many appreciate the game's current polished state and the ease of learning its mechanics.
Hope is driven by the game's potential for future growth, with players eagerly anticipating more content, updates, and features. The developer's active engagement and the possibility of improvements like modding support, new food options, and quality-of-life changes fuel this optimism for the game's long-term development.
Enjoyment comes from the game's overall fun, addictive, and chill gameplay experience, often highlighted by its appealing art style and music. Players enjoy the flexibility in restaurant design, the challenge of scenarios, and the satisfying feeling of scaling their restaurant, finding the game to be a pleasant and engaging management sim.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 55% · Negative 45%. Score: 45 / 100
Positives:
- Players find the game highly enjoyable, relaxing, and addictive, praising its core mechanics, art style, and overall polish, especially for an Early Access title. Many see significant potential for future growth and content, noting the developer's active engagement and quick bug fixes.
- The game is praised as a satisfying and casual restaurant management simulator. Players enjoy the building, expansion, and detailed employee management, appreciating the ability to customize and optimize their restaurant without strict failure conditions.
- The game's user interface is intuitive and clean, contributing to a smooth experience. Players also appreciate the charming art style, low system requirements, and useful features like UI customization and time controls.
- Players enjoy the ability to expand their restaurant with new floors and decorations. The addition of cats is a popular feature, and the sandbox mode provides a fun, stress-free experience. The absence of complex bills and taxes simplifies gameplay, making it a pleasant time sink.
Negatives:
- Players consistently report that the game feels incomplete, lacks depth, and offers very little content, leading to quick boredom. Many believe the game was abandoned by the developers, contributing to its unfinished state and poor value for money.
- The game is plagued by bugs and glitches, such as stuck equipment, dishes breaking frequently, and staff stopping work for no apparent reason. These technical issues significantly detract from the gameplay experience and make it frustrating.
- Staff management is problematic due to inefficient AI, lack of detailed stats, and limited control over their tasks and work areas. Issues like staff ignoring dirty dishes, breaking items, and being overwhelmed despite high numbers contribute to a frustrating gameplay experience.
- Gameplay often devolves into tedious waiting and micromanagement, with players having limited impact on core aspects like dish quality or ingredients. Simple actions like moving items or staff carrying only one plate at a time contribute to a slow and frustrating pace.
- Scenarios are criticized for being unchallenging, repetitive, and sometimes unfairly rigged against the player. They offer little incentive for progression and do not provide a distinct experience from the sandbox mode.
Gameplay:
- The game is a restaurant management simulation where players build, decorate, expand, and manage all aspects of their establishment, including staff, inventory, and pricing. It offers a comprehensive tycoon experience within the restaurant theme.
- Players desire more depth and diversity in employee management, including varied personalities, specialized roles (cooks, servers, cleaners), and a more dynamic system where employees might quit or earn tips. There's also a specific request for more diverse character models, including female and minority employees.
- Players are looking for more decorative options, furniture, and menu items (food and drinks) to enhance customization and variety within their restaurants. Specific suggestions include more recipes, drink options, and decorative elements like flowers and half walls.
- The game currently offers a tutorial, scenario mode with unlockable maps and clear goals, and a sandbox mode for free play. The existing content provides a decent amount of initial gameplay, with scenarios offering specific objectives.
- Players suggest quality-of-life improvements for building and object placement, such as multi-object selection, click-and-drag movement, and applying textures to entire rooms, to streamline the construction process.
Performance:
- Players report that the game generally has very few bugs, with most issues being minor and not significantly impacting gameplay. This suggests a relatively stable release.
- Feedback indicates that both the graphics and audio quality are acceptable, though not necessarily outstanding. They contribute adequately to the overall experience.
- The game is noted for its low system requirements, allowing it to run smoothly even on older or less powerful computers. This broadens accessibility for players.
Recommendations:
- Many players suggest that the game's current state does not justify its full price. They recommend purchasing it only when it's on sale, or waiting for future updates and content additions to improve its value proposition. Some express optimism for its potential if developers continue to support it.
- The game is recommended for players seeking a simple, relaxing, or casual restaurant management experience. It appeals to those who enjoy basic tycoon mechanics, a charming art style, or a nostalgic feel, especially if they are new to the genre or prefer less complex challenges.
- A small segment of feedback strongly advises against purchasing the game, with one suggestion to consider an alternative title, 'Recipe for Disaster,' which is perceived as having more depth and being superior.
Miscellaneous:
- Players consistently request more content, features, and general improvements, indicating a desire for deeper gameplay and a more complete experience. Many reviews suggest the game feels like an Early Access title that needs ongoing development.
- There's a strong demand for more detailed and interactive staff management, including leveling systems, specializations, uniform options, and better AI for tasks like dish collection.
- Players want more options and flexibility in decorating and designing their restaurants, including more decor items, varied building materials, and improved tools for placing objects and tiles.
- Players are looking for more diverse customer interactions, including different customer types, reasons for customer behavior, and ways to attract more patrons.
- Players suggest adding a day/night cycle and the ability to close the restaurant for renovations or other management tasks.
