Kooeh: A Timeless Delight review: Sugary-sweet and soothing

Cozy games and the culinary arts feel like a match made in heaven, and there’s no better example of this in action than Kooeh: A Timeless Delight. 

This sweet and simple title from Twilight Foundry Games is a celebration of Malaysian food and family recipes, and it’s a delight to play through. Here’s Kyusai’s full, spoiler-free review of Kooeh: A Timeless Delight, completed on PC. 

Relaxing and cozy, with plenty of snacks

Koeh: A Timeless Delight is a restaurant management game developed and published by Twilight Foundry Games. 

The game celebrates Malaysian food and gastronomical culture, placing you in the shoes of an everyday worker who gets shuffled into an alternate reality, tasked with finding the missing pages of your family’s beloved recipe book. 

On your first day in the strangely charming new world, you’ll meet Tana, a tapir who welcomes you to the land of Kooeh. You’ll get set up in a small and cozy restaurant, and Tana will walk you through the basics of preparing dishes like kuih lapis, ondeh-ondeh, and sirap limau.

One of my favorite things about the game from the get-go was seeing the different illustrations for each meal and beverage; the art style was cute and cozy throughout, but the food illustrations were a real highlight. 

Learning a recipe requires completing a small barrage of rhythm mini-games and timing-based challenges; once the recipe has been learnt, you’ll be able to cook it during a shift and serve it to your customers without needing to complete the mini-games each time. 

This felt like a smart decision to me – the mini-games added a little variety into the mix, but they would’ve gotten dull quickly if they were required for cooking every single time. 

Completing a shift in Kooeh requires waiting for customers to place their order, then cooking and presenting the correct menu item within the time limit. Each menu item takes a different amount of time to cook, and you’ll have limited oven space or ingredients to contend with, so there’s a resource management element to the game.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter special customers like Aunty Jocelyn, getting to learn a little about their lives and their troubles while cooking for them.

At the end of each day, you’ll receive a totted-up score, looking at how much money you earned and how well you did. The money can be spent on small upgrades and cosmetic features, meaning you can start to customize your restaurant to your liking – once you get a second oven, it’s a game-changer.

A simple but effective gameplay loop

The gameplay in Kooeh is simple and pared back, for the most part, but I found it to be meditative. 

The restaurant management element did require a little thought and planning, but for the most part, I found the review sessions relaxing and easy to get lost in. It’s the sort of game you can pick up after a busy shift at work, for example, not requiring too much planning or puzzle solving, but still being engaging. 

The focus on Malaysian food was a huge highlight for me, and I ended up looking up recipes for some of the dishes shown in the game after playing, feeling inspired to try them out for myself. 

The visuals in Kooeh: A Timeless Delight were charming and overflowing with personality, including everything from the interface to the character models. The artwork for the wishing tree was stunning, and I enjoyed the restaurant customization options as well.

I would’ve liked to be able to customize the player character a little, or at least change the colors of their apron, but this isn’t a major complaint.

Performance-wise, Kooeh ran well during my time with it and didn’t throw up any major issues. There were no noticeable bugs, frame drops, or visual quirks, and outside of the controls being slightly fiddly when trying to select something in the restaurant, the experience was pleasant overall.

Kooeh: A Timeless Delight is a relaxing and visually intriguing addition to the world of cozy culinary games. 

It’s generally meditative, with a little emphasis on rhythm games and restaurant management, and for folks who enjoy comforting games that let them chill out after a busy day, it’ll be a delight. 

FAQs

About The Author