The Chef’s Shift Review (PC)

Typing games are a lot like pineapple on pizza — it’s a love-hate thing that neither of two factions will ever see eye to eye on. It’s one of those things—the sort of combination you wouldn’t hesitate to discard in a local dumpster fire, but at the same time, a delicacy that, once bitten into, often elicits a questionable desire to rethink your past decisions and consume even more of it. The same applies in The Chef’s Shift, a typing game that almost immediately cuts the cord between yourself and the other tools in your arsenal, and then shovels numerous bits of jargon down your throat and asks that you regurgitate them into words, or actions, if you will. There isn’t a mouse for you to use — only mice to chase, as it turns out. And not with a mousetrap, but—you guessed it—with more words.

On the one hand, you could argue that The Chef’s Shift is an easy game, as it doesn’t require you to master the art of cooking, per se, but type simple commands into a bar to make magical things happen. But, this is sort of where a small hiccup bolts into the system. Like in a real world environment, guests here can be a little impatient, and it isn’t uncommon for them to refuse to dine out somewhere that doesn’t make quick turnarounds and deliver piping hot delicacies on a silver platter. In other words, people hate sluggish hands, and therefore, those who wish to pursue a career in food production should heed my warning before plunging into The Chef’s Shift. Take it from me — this one isn’t suited for anxious bakers or tender loving mitts.

Alphabetti Spaghetti

When I said The Chef’s Shift was a typing game, I wasn’t purposely cloaking it with another genre. Oh, fledgling chefs, this isn’t your usual button-mashing prompt blaster; it’s a game that literally uses your keyboard to spearhead everything in the kitchen, from the menu to the cuisine, the cooking to the finishing touches. If you want to stop the game, then surprise surprise, you have to tell the game to turn off the stove with your keyboard. And the same goes for just about everything else that you do in The Chef’s Shift. Fancy using your mouse to navigate the world? Tough — that’s a felony, friend. Try it, and you might just lose a shot at acquiring a Michelin Star. Because that’s how all great restaurants earn their stripes — by being wizards with keyboards, didn’t you know?

The Chef’s Shift is broken up into six scenarios, with each one offering a specific cuisine for you to master, patrons to serve, and various curveballs to overcome. It starts out relatively simple — with a few choice words, a pronounceable dish, and a ragtag band of guests who couldn’t care less if they eat fresh food or whatever you have smothered on the back end of your utensil. Like a lot of word-based games, you progress through these initial phases by manually inserting your actions and ingredients into a text box, and then obtaining hearts in exchange for other rewards. The faster you type, the greater the reward — and so on and so forth. And after that, it more or less becomes an uphill struggle to assert dominance over the world of fine dining.

Typing for Tips

There is a strategic element to The Chef’s Shift, though I would necessarily coin it as being a tough one to learn. In most cases, you have letters and words appear on the screen, after which you have to be selective with your ingredients and actions in order to rack up more hearts. Don’t get me wrong, it does have a few tricky modifiers and a small litter of challenges to solve. For example, some restaurants have NPCs who require the VIP treatment, whereas other restaurants have environmental hazard assessments that must be carried out in order for you to progress. And there’s a solid variety here, too, with each of the six locations housing a substantial amount of tasks to perform, eccentric diners to feed, and recipes to rustle up.

The Chef’s Shift does have a storyline, funnily enough. And not just a predictable storyline that tells the same generic tale of an aspiring cook trying to make ends meet in the kitchen, but one that bears a few more teeth, so to speak, with a surprising amount of twists and turns for you to unravel along the way. And sure, while it may look harmless and candy-coated, the fact of the matter is, the plot does actually touch base on some underlying issues of a criminal sort—a theme that it explores in an appropriate manner with plausible, albeit often comical dialogue.

The fact that the game doesn’t need a plot to be good is sort of like finding a cherry on top of a good cake. It doesn’t need the embellishment to be palatable, yet I’m glad that it’s there; it adds substance to the experience, and not to mention an original ingredient that helps it differentiate itself from other cooking-centric typing games.

Verdict

The Chef’s Shift is a tremendous amount of fun, even if it does require a flexible hand and a knack for dicing up words in an efficient manner. Learning curve cast aside, the game delves deep into a compelling story that’s teeming with memorable characters and sticky dialogue—two things that ultimately elevate what could otherwise be a very, very basic concept. The gameplay is simple, I’ll admit, but with a band of NPCs, six unique restaurants and an entire menu of carefully crafted ingredients to keep you hacking away at the iceberg, it’s certainly an easy one to digest.

For the sake of making it easier to swallow, I will say this: if chaotically fast-paced typing and liminal mini-games à la Cooking Mama are your cup of tea, then you’re sure to find more than enough to stomach in this rolling ball of alphabet spaghetti. It can be a tough nut to crack, but with a satisfying amount of rewards for you to unlock and novelty upgrades to pursue en route to sous chef stardom, you will most certainly have a whale of a time hitting said nut with the back end of your keyboard.