It’s the holiday season, and that means curling up with warm beverages and losing yourself in some cozy games. One such game in particular has caught my attention recently, and it’s something I do believe has flown entirely under the radar. It’s a combination dungeon crawler and restaurant sim titled Cuisineer.

Cuisineer was originally released in late 2023 for PC and then in January 2025 for consoles, and I had somehow missed it entirely. I only chanced across it when I spotted a listing for the game’s special Day 1 Edition on Amazon a couple of months back. I am sometimes a sucker for physical goods, so I went ahead and got it, and I’m glad I did.

Cuisineer follows the story of Pom, an adventurer called back to her hometown by her parents before they leave on a trip from which they can’t return. Paell is a pretty quiet town, and it seems the restaurant Pom’s parents ran, Potato Palace, was the main attraction.

However, Pom is too late when she arrives, and her parents are already gone. On top of that, they have severely downgraded the restaurant to be able to afford their trip in the first place. As you might expect from a game like this, Pom takes it upon herself to reopen the restaurant and restore it to its former glory.

The restaurant side of things is one of the most laid-back versions of this gameplay aspect that I’ve ever encountered. Sure, everything is still on a timer until customers get upset and leave, but the cooking process is simple. There are four different cook stations to make recipes, and orders are automatically added to whichever is needed.
There isn’t any sort of cooking minigame. You only need to select the recipe to start cooking it. Things can get hectic, but the process is pretty simple. Once recipes are cooked, they are placed on counters, and most types of customers will retrieve their food themselves. There are royal customers, though, who expect the food to be brought to them.

Near as I can tell, there aren’t any downsides to a customer getting upset and storming off. You aren’t fighting to maintain your reputation, as it seems to only grow. Food prices are set, as well, so you’re not having to adjust things constantly.

Your biggest responsibility with the restaurant is seating. There are plenty of different kinds of tables and stools, but you need to make sure you have enough, especially during the two big rush periods of the day. There doesn’t need to be any sort of specific layout, but it helps if patrons can get to their food and back without taking too long, so their seat becomes available sooner.

To get new recipes, you are reliant on completing the quests given by various townspeople. These are relatively simple, as they want ingredients, single equipment items, monster elimination, or cooked meals. As with everything else, these don’t have any time restrictions.
The other side of the game is where things get tricky. You are initially given access to only one dungeon. Each consists of six floors, with a miniboss on floor three and the dungeon boss on floor six. The main difference between dungeons is the available stone and lumber types needed for upgrades, but there are different enemy populations as well.

Enemies are the ones that drop ingredients for dishes, which helps you keep track of how to get whatever ingredient. There aren’t all that many in general, so it’s pretty easy to strategize on where to go whenever you need something for one of the more expensive dishes.
It’s honestly pretty easy to get overwhelmed by enemies, but there are difficulty options to drop the damage taken by 25%, 50%, or 80%. The game doesn’t offer a way to make yourself immortal, but it helps take the stress out of things when you regularly suffer only a single hit of damage.

Once you get the hang of it, the dungeon combat is chill (except for bosses), and you won’t have any major hang-ups. I’d say the worst part of dungeon crawling is the early parts where you have extremely limited inventory space, and it fills up what feels like instantly.
Nothing in Cuisineer is a massive challenge, which means you can enjoy it at your own pace. It is the perfect game to pick up and play for a little bit, especially if you live somewhere with that frightful weather from the songs and are stuck inside.