Indonesian developer Gambir Studio is making all of us hungry with their new cooking game, KuloNiku: Bowl Up! Heavily inspired by restaurant simulators like Cooking Mama, you play as the owner of a meatball restaurant where you’ll serve quirky locals, upgrade and customise your restaurant, and win thrilling cooking battles to become the town’s top eatery.
During the seven days of gameplay available in the demo, players will get a taste of the light-hearted story and tactile cooking mechanics available in the final game. Reminiscent of nostalgic titles like Papa’s Pizzeria, the main gameplay consists of receiving quirky orders from customers, cooking meals quickly and accurately, and collecting tips to unlock new ingredients and decorations.
Throughout the main story, there are also free time segments where players will get to grow closer with the colourful townsfolk. Featured heavily in the demo is Stella, a rockstar chef from the town’s hottest and loudest restaurant. The demo introduces a new Hang Out feature, which allows the players to get to know (and possibly romance) characters like Stella.
Besides the classic game mode, there are cooking duels called Meatball Brawls, where the reputation of the restaurant is put on the line. Meatball Brawls offer an alternative gameplay mode where players have to strategically choose the ingredients they cook to satisfy the judge and maximize their score.
The game opened a public playtest earlier this April to an enthusiastic response of over 3,000 playtest applicants, and now, you can try the newest demo which was launched during the last Steam Next Fest. The full version of KuloNiku: Bowl Up is planned to be released on PC first later this year.
To stay up to date with the game, wishlist Kuloniku on Steam or follow Gambir Studio on Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube.
