Automachef

 PC
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. God is a Geek
    Jul 23, 2019
    70
    Automachef is a well-executed but niche puzzler. If you enjoy logic puzzles, and building and creating things, then there's a lot to like here.
  2. TheSixthAxis
    Aug 19, 2019
    60
    Automachef is a bizarre yet interesting take on a cookery game. Saldy, a lot of what it has going for it also goes against it and feels a little off – excuse the pun – as a result.
  3. Hooked Gamers
    Jul 26, 2019
    60
    Once you’re past the steep learning curve, Automachef has a lot to offer. As you’re solving problems, not puzzles, there’s different ways to approach a task, which gives a fair amount of replayability. The chance to share player-made content with a budding community and bolster your options with modding capabilities means that this game could have some staying power - assuming that the initial difficulty spikes don’t spoil any appetites.
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Jul 26, 2019
    Automachef is a great little thing when you adjust to its rhythms, and it’s entirely to blame for my abysmal lunch habits.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 3 out of 8
  1. Demiurge11
    Nov 6, 2021
    9
    This is a fun, simple game where you automate a kitchen and in so doing somehow prevent the destruction of the Earth. I got this game as aThis is a fun, simple game where you automate a kitchen and in so doing somehow prevent the destruction of the Earth. I got this game as a free giveaway on Epic. There are different game options, but I only played the campaign. I completed every level and all optional conditions (except the ingredients condition on the last level) and it took me about 30 hours.

    THE GOOD:
    - It has a fun story as part of the campaign
    - 30 campaign levels allow you to learn how to play as you go along, and introduce new challenges in bite-sized pieces.
    - The overall game, where you lay out components and then organize them to work together, is quite fun! It can be very challenging at times to achieve all the optional objectives, but it almost always feels achievable.
    - The UI is well-designed and works smoothly for smaller levels
    - The Thanksgiving and Chinese New Year additions are fun. They introduce some new ingredients and machinery, and a few subtleties of the recipes create new challenges.

    THE BAD:
    - The goal to use fewer than X ingredients is sometimes quite arbitrary and annoying to accomplish. Since the meal orders in each level are semi-random, a build that succeeds in one run of the level can fail in the next run. A lot of fine-tuning, running, re-running, and luck is required. This is especially onerous on the later levels with longer run times.
    - Assembly-language programming is required to solve some of the levels (especially the optional conditions and the later levels). I am ok with this, but most players will probably find this very difficult or frustrating.
    - The graphics use an isometric projection, but when you try to select multiple machines with your mouse in a click-and-drag the selection square is a perfect square. It doesn't follow the angle of the isometric projection! This makes it quite difficult to select a large collection of machines.
    - It's onerous to upgrade or downgrade a large number of machines (especially in later levels, where you have many machines). When you want to switch strategy it requires a lot of repetitive labour. It would be nice to be able to place a machine on top of an existing machine to replace it and keep your settings--or select several machines and set them all at once to the same setting.

    THE UGLY:
    - There are still quite a few bugs in what is otherwise a mature game. The problem can usually be solved by removing the offending machinery and replacing it with an identical one. But it still causes you to waste time debugging your setup, only to discover that a game bug is causing the failure.
    - Order Reader bug: where it was only activating when the order was on top, even though only an Advanced Order Reader is supposed to have that ability.
    - Assembler bug: where ingredients placed inside one Assembler arrived in a different Assembler
    - Computer bug: where when you set an order and then connect a machine, the order you set gets erased.
    - A computer can't read the contents of a bin, even though the simpler Counting Machine can!
    - The computer documentation has mistakes. For example, it tells you that there's a TT register for time, but there isn't!    … Full Review »
  2. USslang
    Mar 29, 2021
    0
    Game doesn't work properly; eg it asks me to press an RS button which doesn't exist on my gamepad. There are A, B, X, Y, LB, LT, RB, RT playGame doesn't work properly; eg it asks me to press an RS button which doesn't exist on my gamepad. There are A, B, X, Y, LB, LT, RB, RT play buttons, and no such button as RS. Tried every button to see whether the game would accept it. no luck. Can't play any further due just that.… Full Review »
  3. Tabbou
    Sep 2, 2022
    5
    On est à la limite entre un jeu et un exercice de codage
    De type puzzle game, on passe 90% du temps à réfléchir comment placer et utiliser    On est à la limite entre un jeu et un exercice de codage
    De type puzzle game, on passe 90% du temps à réfléchir comment placer et utiliser les machines à disposition pour produire les plats que l'on nous demande et 10% du temps à regarder si l'ensemble fonctionne et est optimal.
    C'est très satisfaisant sur les premières missions mais ça devient vite trop complexe avec des dizaines de machines, ingrédients et plats à gérer et assembler pour faire une cuisine optimisée.
    A chaque mission du mode campagne on repart de zéro c'est donc assez frustrant d'avoir passé du temps à construire une bonne chaîne de montage et devoir tout recommencer.
    Il y a bien un mode carrière qui inclut un côté gestion que j'aurait aimé plus présent mais j'en avait simplement marre de devoir tout reconstruire à chaque fois.
    On voit bien avec les succès Steam que l'énorme majorité des joueurs n'ont même pas fait la moitié des missions du mode campagne, et ça se comprend, on ne s'amure pas, à moins d'être passionné de codage informatique    … Full Review »
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