izigame.me

4/5 Stars
Magical Delicacy is a wonderfully crafted game with one of the best OSTs that I've listened to in a long time, beautiful artwork and deep character stories.
However, it is also one thing: not for everybody.
At it's core, it's a metrovania. You have a map and NPCs that are all over the place, secret passageways, a lot of upgrades that you need to find to get to new places, and you'll need a lot of backtracking.
I got lost in my first ten hours more than I can count. If you're someone who is capable of organising your map, great. If not, you'll end up running around searching for that one specific ingridient for a long time.
Your inventory is limited (you can upgrade it later), and, most importantly, you're not getting spoon feed what you have to do. This game is not hard, there's no life bar (I love this game for this feature alone!!!), but you need to actually think.
You need to read the dialog, and sometimes even the item descriptions to know what to do (hint: marmelade), and common sense. I actually enjoyed cooking, and making new receipes.
Don't get too attached to ingredients, you can find or buy them again. Have some fun ;)
It took me ages until I figured out how receipes work, how to create new things, how to combine stuff... The first ten hours were a learning experience, but then it made 'click', and even thought there were times when I didn't know what to do, I just roamed around, collected ingridients, and spoke to people. I love their stories, this place feels alive.
Hints that I'll give, because figuring them out was tedious:
- You can craft stuff without receipes, they are a "guide", not your rules.
- Seasoning is your friend for flavors, even multiple to achieve your goal.
- Talk to NPCs regularly for new quests
- If you have the keepssake to let you know that there's something hidden, don't ignore it, try everything to find it. (Don't forget that you can skip through certain floors)
- You can switch keepssakes in your home
- Gardening is your friend for ingridients you need on a regular basis/are hard to get
- arrange your home so that it makes sense
- buy the extra storage asap + the machines
- don't hoard money, buy the things you need!
- take a breath, sit down and listen to the music ;)
Why only 4 out of 5 stars?
- I felt like the stories of certain characters where left hanging in the middle. I wanted more
- I wanted an ending-ending. I feel like the game should have reseted you to the last place you where before the last event takes place, so that the last ending feels like one.
- Some characters could give you more hints, especially when you need to find something...
- Sometimes the magical powers wouldn't activate if you'd just fast traveled somewhere, and there was at least one bug (couldn't pick up the chest of a character). The other bugs could easily be fixed by leaving the place and then returning, but there were hardly any.
- You got to love management games, because you'll need to be on top of your ingredient game!
All in all: I couldn't stop playing, and I loved my time there. The characters, the stories, the music made me want to keep playing.
It was a great experience, there is the potetional for more, and I want to learn about the fates of all the characters.
Please give me a DLC or a part two.
Don't get discouraged if you're stuck: take breath, sit somewhere, and then travel to all the places. You'll find your answer. Take your time, at it's core that's what the game is all about. Just... Experience, and you'll love the game.
If you want clear instructions, a top-notch management, a non-metrovenia play style... Play something else.
If you want the unknown, brain power, a bit of the chaos that is daily life, and a lot of "figure it out, you can do it", this is your game.