Sometimes Toast Is O.K. Review (PC)

It almost feels as if I’m watching the aftermath of a HowToBasic episode, only I’m not the wedging a foot into a bidet to “build the perfect Big Mac”; rather, I’m jackknifing around a kitchen and flipping slices of bread at inanimate objects to appease the cabinet demons. Similar to watching it, I don’t know if I’m enjoying the comic relief, or if the mess is just a bit too much for me to fathom. Even still, Sometimes Toast Is O.K. is telling me that applying context is irrelevant, and that sometimes, if the time is right, something as simple as a slice of bread and a chaotic kitchen is enough to make an appetizing feast for the senses. I don’t know if I believe it — but it certainly has me on tenterhooks, weirdly.

To call Sometimes Toast Is O.K. a full-fledged video game probably wouldn’t be an accurate description, for it is, if anything, a point-and-click sandbox that lacks the breadth of a narrative-driven endeavor, and falls short in just about any area that doesn’t boast a high carbohydrate intake. Oh, it’s a game, at least to some extent. But it isn’t the sort of game that could hold a candle against the likes of I Am Bread. No, this is a slightly soggier affair—a journey that, while still in receipt of the same subject matter, chooses to remove the lavish benefits of an open world experience and instead opt for a simpler, uncooked kitchen delight.

If you’ve made it this far, then congratulations — you probably could have made your own two slices of toast by now. But if you would rather stick around with us for a second round, then buckle in — things are about to get a little weird.

We’re Toast

Sometimes Toast Is O.K. is the same sort of eye-rolling gimmick as the likes of I Am Bread; it has the same basic appeal, and, true to its word, it has the same subject matter as its adversaries’ culinary sandboxes. Here, though, you don’t pour your heart and soul into manually flipping a slice of bread around a kitchen in search of a toaster, but instead you aimlessly click on areas of a kitchen whilst—or at least I think you do—figure out how to rustle up a few slices of toast. Suffice it to say here, then, that it isn’t your traditional Michelin-like cooking sim; poached eggs and apricot aren’t on the menu, but burnt toast and cabinet demons, on the other hand, are surprisingly more commonplace than a curse word in a Gordon Ramsay documentary. Take from that what you will, folks.

The game is simple: click on objects around the kitchen, and witness certain events unfold as you gradually progress toward a certain goal—a primal desire to have the perfect breakfast. Naturally, the more you click, and the more you discover, the more the culinary delights and oddities begin to take shape. It’s your job, in short, to complete the scene and, with the power of an itchy trigger finger, unlock the secrets of the kitchen whilst working to achieve a ludicrously simple task. And yes, this is a video game, albeit a silly one that doesn’t contain much more than the bread and butter of a point-and-click sandbox. But I don’t think that’s important. Or at least, I don’t think that it needs to be important. Like I said — a gimmick.

Feeding the Demons

If you’re wondering whether or not there’s a point to all of this, then I honestly hate to break it to you — but there isn’t. Truth be told, there isn’t much for you to nibble at here other than a loaded kitchenette, a block of utensils, and—if you can believe it—a loaf of bread that just so happens to spur random events to happen. There are objectives to complete, as are there secrets of the kitchen to unlock. That said, there isn’t much else for you to do other than burn toast and, with the power of the almighty cursor, add kindling to the fire by causing chaos within the kitchen. Toast is but a centerpiece, but wreaking havoc, weirdly, is the aim of the game. Well, that’s what I’m taking away from it, anyway.

There isn’t much to take note of from a visual and audio standpoint, I’ll admit. It’s a pretty small game with a limited amount of set pieces and areas to explore, and so, while it is perfectly capable of producing plenty of interactive markers and comical events, the game as a whole doesn’t grant you much of an opportunity to experience much more than what it sets out on the table at the first hurdle.

Verdict

As it turns out, Sometimes Toast Is O.K. is okay. Of course, I can’t quite bring myself to argue that it’s better than the traditional cooking sim, or even that it works as a better appetizer than most, if not all of the rivaling culinary traditions in the cookbook. Having said that, for a short point-and-click bite that’s warm on the eyes and incredibly easy to stomach, I’d say that it is definitely worth the few dollars that it asks for. It isn’t a natural-born delicacy by birthright, but it is a quirky banquet of moving pieces that, although still not enough to satisfy the hunger of a ravenous crowd, can offer its bite-sized demographic a chance to whet their appetite for something more comically charged and, well, stupidly entertaining.

With all due respect to the creators, Sometimes Toast Is O.K. isn’t a naturally good game; it’s flush with holes and pointless fixtures, and it doesn’t probed much more than the basic ingredients of a generic point-and-click idler. Nevertheless, if you happen to enjoy silly concepts and homely comforts that don’t take themselves too seriously, then it’s highly likely that you’ll enjoy breaking a few eggs in this chaotic kitchen. If, however, you’re hungry for something with more protein, so to speak, then you’re probably going to be sorely disappointed with just how little of a punch Sometimes Toast Is O.K. serves alongside its indie platter.