🍇 Fruitbus is a fun cooking simulation game in which you play as a bear who has inherited their Grandmother's Fruitbus, a food truck that their Grandma owned and cooked in that specialized in salads, smoothies, soups, and stir-fry dishes! 🍇

In Fruitbus, there is a huge game world to explore (3 different islands, each with its own types of ingredients and characters), and you must collect fruits and vegetables to prepare for customers.

In the game, you prepare food for cute, colorful animal characters, and each character has their own story, which they start to share with you as you get to serve them more, and they have their own side quests.

~ Let's get to the review! ~


🍈 Gameplay: 🍈

Fruitbus is a very gentle, relaxing cooking simulator. There isn't anything complex or overwhelming about the cooking/food prep mechanics, and it's nice and simple, yet satisfying. I loved driving the Fruitbus, meeting new characters, preparing the ingredients, and making the dishes for them :)

In Fruitbus, you really don't have to worry about timing much. I love that the game is forgiving and enjoyable, and I did not find anything difficult or unenjoyable :)

As far as the gameplay goes, I have only one minor complaint: Fruitbus is a somewhat glitchy game; glitchy enough that I noticed several, but not to the point where it made the game unplayable or unenjoyable, with the exception of a few places in the game that dropped my FPS quite a bit. Although the glitches could be annoying at times, and although I think the game would be even better with them fixed, I still really enjoyed the game despite the glitches. :)


📖 Story: 📖

Fruitbus' story, in many ways, while very lighthearted and filled with joy and humor, was also surprisingly deep and quite emotional to me, in a beautiful way that I did not expect it to be at first. As you play through the game, you will see memories of your character's grandmother, hear her voice, and watch the way she spent time with the protagonist; her grandchild.

The character of Grandma was absolutely delightful. I will not spoil much in this article, but I think that the game did a wonderful job at drawing you to her loving, funny, honest, and positive attitude, and it is so sweet how you get to learn more about both her and other characters throughout the game.

I also really liked the way that the game dealt with the subject of grief... Going into the game, at first, I had no idea that it was one of the core themes because it was handled with so much grace and with so much joy, but it really spoke to me; in many ways, the game is about celebrating her life, and it made me look back fondly and remember memories of my very own grandmother. What a beautiful story it was! :')

🏝️ Exploration: 🏝️

I really enjoyed exploring the gameworld in Fruitbus! There are three islands in the game:

🍌 Banamas, a tropical island with a volcano, tropical fruits, beaches, jungles, and a beautiful mountain with a waterfall,

🍅 Breezy Bay, a Mediterranean-like island with lots of fruits and vegetables, beautiful Mediterranean-style buildings, some ruins, a swamp, and a manor,

🫐 And Frosty Pines, an alpine, icy island covered in snow and ice, but also plenty of evergreens, featuring a hot spring, a cave with truffles, and a warm, cozy Scandinavian-inspired town. 🫐

I really enjoyed all three islands! They felt in-theme with the game but also felt like nods towards their respective inspirations. Each of the islands was unique and fun to explore, in my opinion. :)


🍉 Music, Sound, and Graphics: 🍉

🎶 Music-wise: Like the gameworld that Fruitbus takes place in, its music is silly, quirky, stylized, and fun. I enjoyed some of the more chill tunes in the game, though there were others that were a little out-of-tune and maybe a bit too lo-fi for me. (I like lo-fi, and I know detuning is common in the genre, but yeah, it can be a little distracting sometimes)

I also really enjoy the main theme of the game, Grandma's Letter, and how its leitmotif is heard several times throughout the game. The little melody is so sweet and happy!

That being said, I think that the music was overall well done, and it was enjoyable being able to listen to songs on the radio while driving. :)

🔉 Sound-wise: I found the sound effects to be weird, but funny. Things made sounds that I was not expecting, and although some of the sound choices were a bit random and strange, I do have a particular fondness for the squeaking sounds when you drop an item. The sound design is as quirky and silly as the cartoony style of the game in general :)

🖼️ Visuals, graphics, & artstyle: I think that Fruitbus was designed well! I enjoy the cartoony art-style of the game, and I love the different color palettes, the different types of animals that you meet, and the scenery. The scenery was bright and colorful and made the gameworld fun to explore. :)

🍊 Overall, I really enjoyed Fruitbus! I put quite a few hours into its demo before I purchased the game, and I am so happy to have just finished the full game now! I think that, with a few minor tweaks, it could be made even better, but it is still among the very best cooking sims that I have played, personally; and it is. :) ✨🍋

🍎 I would give Fruitbus an 8/10. Overall, a wonderful experience! I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves wholesome games & stories and to gamers of all ages! 🫐

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(Disclaimer: All of my reviews express my own opinions; I am a customer who purchased these products myself, and I do not receive games for free in exchange for reviews. All of my reviews are intended to be constructive criticism. Thanks for reading this review! Happy gaming!)

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Galaxy Burger is a fun cooking simulator in which you serve aliens in a quirky, unique alien universe. In the game, you cook and serve burgers (and eventually fried appetizers, soda, etc.) for silly, colorful aliens; from mecha-cats, to cyborg earthlings, to elf-like aliens from Venus. (But the mecha-cats are my favorites!)


~ Let's get to the review! ~


🪐 Gameplay: 🪐

Unlike several restaurant sims/cooking sims I've played, I found Galaxy Burger to be very fun, and much more on the chill side. The game can get pretty challenging when you have to multitask, but unlike several other games I've played of the genre, Galaxy Burger is very I found it to be a huge breath of fresh air to not have to worry too much about time, compared to the stressful pace of many other games of this type.


However, the game still manages to be challenging enough. I like to challenge myself to "juggle" several orders at once, but I love that I am not forced to have to be quick or else fail.


As far as the gameplay goes, I have only one minor complaint: It can take quite a long time to get all of the stars on each planet. As a semi-completionist, I liked replaying the levels until I got to the max stars, as I loved unlocking new ingredients, upgrades, recipes, and such; but I feel as though the amount of times I had to replay them to unlock everything was usually quite excessive. (That being said, it is not required for you to do this. ^^)



🌠 Graphics, Sound, and Music: 🌠


🎶 Music-wise: I have to admit that, while I often love ambient music, I did find the game's soundtrack to be a bit repetitive, and I did not enjoy it very much. I want to be clear; this is a very subjective thing, as everyone has different musical tastes. I found that, at times, it could be slightly distracting. However, it did fit the space/sci-fi vibe, and I appreciate the effort ^^


🔉 Sound-wise: I found the sounds to be overall mostly appropriate and immersive to the cooking experience and enjoyable, with a few very minor exceptions (the sound when you pour drinks loops in a slightly awkward way, for example).


🖼️ Regarding Galaxy Burger's visuals: I think that Galaxy Burger was done well! I enjoy the cartoony art-style, and I love the vibrancy of the color palette. I also enjoy the detail of the background; a lovely, sci-fi scene where you can see some diner-like booths, and some distant planets in the expanse of space. I like the alien designs too, I found them to be funny and unique. :)


✨ Overall, I am really enjoying Galaxy Burger, and I definitely do not regret buying the game! I put quite a few hours into its demo, before I purchased the game, and I am happily enjoying the full game now! I think that, with a few minor tweaks, it could be made even better, but it is still among the very best cooking sims that I have played, personally. :) ✨



✨ I would give this a 7/10. Overall, great experience! ✨


(Disclaimer: All of my reviews express my own opinions; I am a customer who purchased these products myself, and I do not receive games for free in exchange for reviews. All of my reviews are intended to be constructive criticism. Thanks for reading this review! Happy gaming!)

🌾 Dorfromantik is a relaxing city-builder/strategy game in which you build a city, hex tile by hex tile. I am not usually good at these kinds of games, so I was initially somewhat on the fence about buying it, but I am so glad that I did! Let me tell you what I love about this charming game: 🌾

🎮 Dorfromantik's Gameplay:

Dorfromantik's gameplay is chill, relaxed, and easy to learn. I love that you don't have to be good at the game to enjoy it and that it has a gentle learning curve; much more merciful than some strategy and puzzle games I have played in the past.

I am still learning strategies to make bigger cities than my attempts before, but I never feel frustrated at the end of a run; it's very comfy, and it's very satisfying to reach different goals. ^^


🎨Dorfromantik's Artstyle:

The game's visuals are charming and colorful, with different varieties in different biomes. I enjoy the pleasant, simple, yet detailed style! I love the different architectural styles of the buildings in each biome, as well. ^^


🎶 Dorfromantik's Soundtrack:

Dorfromantik's soundtrack is as comfy as the game itself; I found myself humming and singing along to its chill, relaxing melodies. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I could see myself listening to it even casually while doing other tasks!


Overall:

Dorfromantik is, at its core, a very relaxing game. To me, it meets a perfect balance between challenging you to try to get a higher score, and simply being enjoyable to play casually on its own; no matter how long or short your run may be.

To conclude, I must say that I love Dorfromantik! It is a beautiful game, and I find it very therapeutic. The gameplay is fun, the biomes are beautiful, the music is enjoyable, and I love everything about it. I am so glad that I decided to try this game despite my hit-or-miss experiences with some other similar types of games. ^^

8/10! Very, very good game! I would highly recommend it if you like chill and relaxing games, or more casual city-builder sims. ^^