Magical Bakery Review (PC)

I don’t know about you, but I’m a real sucker for a bit of strawberry shortbread with a side serving of sage and sandalwood. I have a sweet tooth for the magical infusions of enchanted pastries, it seems. And that’s a bit of a double-edged sword, really; it’s a fixation that comes with numerous health benefits, though it’s also an obsessive pursuit that is inconveniently lauded as an expensive way to numb the cravings, so to speak.  But, in Magical Bakery, I couldn’t care less about the financial burden that orbits the glutinous pastime. In this world, the ingredients are plentiful, as are the special effects that envelope themselves into each and every cake, pastry, and loaf of glimmering bread that consume the shelves of my booming bakery. In this kitchen, I can bake till my heart’s content, and I can eat whatever tickles my stomach’s deepest desires.

It’s my first day behind the counter, and the line is bursting out the door. I have a few customers, all of whom have the same craving—a relentless hunger for a pastry that will elevate their appetite and satisfy their looming demands. And, as luck would have it, that’s a speciality that I can provide; I have the elixirs and ingredients to create health-boosting products that not only generate happiness, but also warm the souls of those who so desperately need a boost to their wellbeing. Thanks to a sprinkle of magic, I can turn what would otherwise be a tasteless confection into a palatable experience for the senses — and this is merely the beginning of a revolutionary art that yearns to be developed into something extraordinary.

Sugar & Spice

Magical Bakery is exactly what it says it is on the cake tin: a culinary adventure in which you, the aspiring baker with a generous fixation on creating traditional recipes with “special” flavors of a magical exposition, have the opportunity to build, evolve, and ultimately transform the humble roots of a shack-like depository into a bustling bakery for the world to essentially drool over. But, there’s a catch: the treats that you rustle up in this shop aren’t of the ordinary kind; in fact, they don’t seem to possess any traditional qualities at all. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, then just know this: you are, more or less, a magic-wielding culinary genius with a wooden spoon and the all-round pizzazz of a bubbling cauldron.

To put you in the picture, you are, in a true sense of the word, a baker. And because you’re a baker with a rather unusual palate, you essentially have the ability to fuse the regular components of an otherwise ordinary recipe with an array of special ingredients—bibs and bobs that just so happen to have the power to alter moods, conceive friendships, and warm up even the coldest of hearts. That’s where the magical aspect comes in; magic is, of course, the one thing that fuels the fires in this particular oven. And it’s with said magic that you can effectively cook immensely flavorful foods, and in turn form everlasting bonds with those who choose to call your bakery a home away from home.

Cakes & Cauldrons

The setting for Magical Bakery isn’t all that different from the likes of which we’ve seen countless times before. The storyline, too, isn’t all that unusual; in fact, it’s all rather paint-by-numbers—a structure that doesn’t often require the power of clairvoyance to comprehend. In a simple manner of speaking, the game sees you taking control of a newly established bakery—a warm and evidently witchy hole in which you can not only learn to master the culinary arts, but also experiment with quirky flavors and recipes, and not to mention the decorative elements of the bakery itself. There’s crafting, conversing, and of course, baking. Go figure.

It goes like this: the Academy of Magical Bakers has entrusted its most loyal baker with the keys to a cozy spot out in the quaint and beautiful neighborhood. Your goal in this journey, however, isn’t as simple as picking up the slack and reaping the benefits of an award-winning business model; on the contrary, it’s a little more complicated than that. Unfortunately for you, there’s a prestigious witch who isn’t quite ready to let the bakery go just yet. And there’s something even more troubling: the examiner expects to visit your shop every Sunday to analyze your progress and keep track of your work as a fledgling cake artist. But not to worry — this isn’t that sort of game. And by that, I mean, you aren’t likely to struggle in making ends meet or satisfying the witch’s wishes.

Whimsical Creations

Magical Bakery isn’t a difficult game by any stretch. Saying that, the campaign does feature a fair amount of intermediate trials, a lot of which often require you to juggle financial transactions, solve unfinished recipes, and, more importantly, complete exams at the end of each in-game week. Nevertheless, with a significant amount of tutorials and helping hands to aid your development over the course of your career, the actual process of building a booming bakery isn’t conceptually difficult, nor is it ever made to feel monotonous or unsatisfying. It helps, too, that the game allows you to flex your creative skills in a variety of areas—decoration, interior design, and character customization, being three of the most notable things in its surprisingly fruitful melting pot of ingredients.

At its core, Magical Bakery has an irresistibly cozy aesthetic, and not to mention a whole bunch of wholesome interactions that make the whole idea of managing a popular bakery feel less intimidating. In addition to it featuring some beginner-friendly ideas and mechanics, the game also comes equipped with a surprising amount of content for you to unpack and explore, too — a lot of which is gracefully designed to be digestible and accessible for even those with limited experience in the business simulation field. And I honestly can’t find a reason as to why I should fault any of these things. Sure, a lot of its primary components are built to emulate a lot of other games, but the fact that Magical Bakery at least manages to give each of these things some level of flair and quality makes it all the more worthy of being commemorated.

Verdict

There’s a tremendous amount to love about Magical Bakery and its elegant bouquet of vibrant locales, recipes, and mini-games, I’ll say that much. With that said, the thing that surprises me the most about Magical Bakery is the amount of detail in the cooking process itself. Suffice it to say that, as far as entry-level cooking simulators go, SUPERLUMEN’s pot of wizardly creations has the hallmark appeal of a substantially larger and more complex IP. And sure, while it could certainly do with a few minor tweaks to its existing UI—upgrade menus, for the most part, that often prevent you from progressing further into the campaign due to the occasional technical glitch—the breadth of the game itself is still an absolute blast to play. And that’s putting it mildly.

If, by some random coincidence, you have recently left the cake-drizzled quarters of Lemon Cake—yet another business simulation game that utilizes a rags-to-riches formula with a few pastry infusions—then chances are you’ll enjoy just about everything that makes up this magical number. Perhaps, even, it might resonate with those of you who spent countless hours scraping through the pages of Cooking Mama back in the early noughties. Either way, the case still remains: if you’re a die-hard fan of sweet endeavors that just so happen to take full advantage of magical trademarks and other witchy doohickeys, then you’re probably going to love licking the spoon of this sweet and irresistibly wholesome nectar. Love baking? Look no further, folks.