Think about your favorite recipe that to this day, you can still remember? Is it something such as the seasoning that may go on the food or the special ingredients that went into making it? Maybe it was the way it was cooked or maybe it was from one of your favorite vacation spots. We all have our favorites and sometimes those recipes may become lost overtime only to wish to taste it just one last time. So does developer Schell Games show us what it’s like to make some recipes that may have been lost over time? Let’s find out with Lost Recipes for the Quest/Quest 2.
Lost Recipes is a relaxing virtual cooking simulator where you will master the recipes in authentic kitchens throughout history, discover unique ingredients, and cooking techniques as you take a historical journey through cooking all while trying to hone your cooking skills. So before you begin throwing ingredients into the mix, there are a few things that you will want to do to prepare for your time in the kitchen. First, make sure your controllers have enough life as you don’t want to drop anything because you forgot to make charge them or replace the batteries. And second, this is a relaxing experience, so no need to rush, just enjoy. With that said, let’s continue…
In Lost Recipes, you are a Ghost Chef ready for training. You will cook for ghosts who long for the sights and smells of their old favorite dishes. Your goal is simple, recreate these tasty dishes in their authentic kitchens with precision, not speed and earn a high star rating to move on to the next recipe. Starting out is pretty simple enough you are given the recipe you will make with different stations around the kitchen where you will make each part of the recipe. Of course, you start out simple and then each different recipe becomes more challenging than the last as you try and get everything just right.
Each of the different kitchens from the different cultures of Ancient Greece, Song Dynasty China, and the Yucatan Peninsula, have a different ghost chef that wants you to make those special recipes from these cultures and it became really interesting to see not only the different ingredients that made up these recipes but also hearing the real-life actual voices of people who are from these cultures that somehow made it a more immersive experience.
You will be doing things like chopping meat, pouring water so it can boil, to even throwing wood to make a fire all so you can get everything just right. But you have to watch everything as there could be times where you may leave food cooking too long and it can become burnt or maybe the fire starts to burn out. Everything needs to be as precise as possible, so again the emphasis is not to rush. Even if something doesn’t go your way, there is no need to worry as the ghost chef shows encouragement and wants to keep trying. Remember, just take your time, try to get everything just right as best as you can, and just enjoy your time in the kitchen.
With each recipe, you do have certain objectives that will help you accomplish the goal when you start to unlock recipe after recipe and start to get the hang of everything, you will be graded from one to fives stars of each one. Some of the recipes will require you to cut meat or add tablespoons of salt and the game doesn’t hold you to the exact quantity. It gives you some space and allows you to make it your own. When I first started out, the lowest I had was three stars, but then I started getting four and five stars and it just felt good as I didn’t feel rushed or need to rush.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. Each kitchen has its own theme, utensils, and ingredients from different cultures that made me really enjoy my time in the kitchen. From the corn to the rock sugar that can be used, everything including the wording for the steps of the recipe was clear and easy on the eyes. Sound-wise, hearing the water boil as you are near to hear the music from the culture play in the background eas equally pleasing and again, having authentic voices from these cultures is a nice touch and adds to the authenticity.
There are just a few things that I hope to see get updated. For one, I did experience when I was trying to pick one object, that it did pick up another object right next to it making it a few more attempts than it had to be, but nothing too distracting or annoying. And second, would be wanting more recipes and kitchens to interact with. I did enjoy my time, but I do hope that there is more that will be coming as there are so many recipes from different cultures that could be prepared here. Plus, if there was any recipe from the game that you thought might be good to try and real life, you can make it in your own kitchen.
Lost Recipes gives us a chance to check out some recipes that may have been forgotten. It shows us how we are never too old to learn a new skill in life and that there should be a part in all of us that should be proud of where we have come from so we can take a part of our culture and share it with others on the journey of where we are headed.
Lost Recipes is out now for the Quest/Quest 2 on the Oculus Store. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Schell Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I am going to try and get all the stars I can.
