Magical Delicacy review

When a video game heavily features crafting as a core part of its gameplay, I’m generally a little sceptical of how much I’ll enjoy myself playing it. While there are plenty of games that make the creation of items an interesting part of the experience, if I have to spend too long gathering the same old materials and combining them is a chore then I’ll usually lose interest. Thankfully that’s not the case in Magical Delicacy, due to the engaging cooking and light Metroidvania elements.

Our witchy hero Flora has always been different to others, and upon discovering her magic powers she wants to find somewhere she belongs. The harbour town of Grat is well known for its magical citizens, so when Flora is old enough to leave home she hops on a boat to start a new life. Upon arrival to Grat the major excitedly greets Flora, and is eager to move in a new witch to help improve the lives of the humans and animals that call it home. With a new home sporting plenty of room for top notch cooking supplies, Flora is ready to make the very best magical meals the residents need, and might just uncover some mysteries on her quest to make the world a happier place.

With only a pot and a hob available for cooking in the house initially, you’ll start the game making a whole lot of soups and stews. Whether you have a recipe or are just freestyling it, cooking in Magical Delicacy is fairly simple. By putting a selection of sensible ingredients together most of the time you’ll make something that’s at least edible, but that’s not always enough. To earn the big bucks you’ll need to fulfil specific requests of the townsfolk, be that making a specific dish or simply by following their general instructions. Maybe the princess just wants to eat something sweet, or a fellow witch wants to test you by making something with plenty of homemade ingredients and rare spices. There’s always a little room for experimentation, and if you make something truly special you’ll be rewarded with extra currency.

To make all these dishes though you’ll need to gather ingredients, which generally involves running and jumping around Grat and its lush outskirts. All manner of mushrooms, herbs and veggies are hiding in the nooks and crannies of this world, you’ll just have to make your way to them on all sorts of tricky to navigate platforms. With your basic abilities you’ll only be able to reach a few ingredients, but thankfully you’ll gain access to new ones pretty quickly.

It feels odd to call a game with no combat or even peril a Metroidvania, but with a constant stream of new abilities that allow you to explore new areas that’s exactly what Magical Delicacy is. One of the first of these you’ll get is the tried and tested double jump, but there’s also a high jump, a light so you can see in dark places, and eventually recipes for potions that will melt the vines that block your path. You’ll gain most of these upgrades by completing the requests of important people in town, but some are simply purchasable from shops like gloves that’ll allow you to pick ingredients from spiky bushes. It always feels like you’re upgrading your exploring and gathering repertoire in Magical Delicacy, and that’s just as satisfying as it sounds.

With good ingredients you’ll be able to make more money for Flora to spend, be that from requests or by putting your dishes in the sales window and having them bought by passers by. With the cash you earn you can buy kitchen appliances to place in your home, home upgrades to give you more room, or even ingredients that are trickier to obtain elsewhere. You’re free to spend your cash however you’d like, but it’s worth thinking ahead to what you’ll need for future requests.

The freedom of Magical Delicacy is one of the best aspects of the game, but it’s also one of its biggest issues. You are never pressured into fulfilling a specific request or told to go to a specific location, and while this adds to the freedom it can also lead to you missing crucial upgrades. You’re also left to figure out much more of the cooking yourself than I expected, which can be frustrating when you think you’ve made a dish someone wants only to discover the ingredients you added didn’t count as “ground” or “exotic”. Finding ingredients you’ve used before again is also a chore, with nothing recording where you’ve found things previously and only your own noggin to guide you back. These smaller quality of life issues all add up to some rather large frustrations that could’ve easily not been an issue.

Magical Delicacy is a lovely crafting game with all the right hooks to keep you playing. Exploring the world is a joy, gaining new abilities is always satisfying, and upgrading your kitchen leads to all sorts of new cooking discoveries. The lack of guidance might put a few people off, but for everyone else this world of magic and food is one you’ll never want to leave.