Lemon Cake

Title: Lemon Cake
Publisher: Cozy Bee Games
Developer: Cozy Bee Games
Release Date: February 18, 2021
Genres: Casual, Indie, Simulation, Shop Management
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam
Where to Buy: Amazon, Steam
Rating:

Restore an abandoned bakery and prepare pastries from farm to table! Grow fresh ingredients in the greenhouse, cook pastries & sweets in the kitchen and serve your baked goods to hungry customers in your own shop!

Review

Lemon Cake is a cozy and sweet bakery simulation game that’s been around for a few years and I’ve always remembered it fondly. The player finds an abandoned bakery and meet the ghostly (and adorable!) former owner who leaves the bakery in your care. You manage the kitchen, the cafe, and later a small garden where you grow ingredients, all the while making money to upgrade your little bakery.

The most standout part of the game is of course the art style. It’s very wholesome and cute, and I loved all of the character customization options. Learning new recipes and upgrading the bakery with different perks felt rewarding, with each upgrade adding so much to the cafe. My only wish with the upgrades was that there would have been more of a purpose to the bedroom upgrades. They are purely cosmetic, and you’ll generally only spend a few seconds in the room in the morning and at night. There is a bit of time management which could at times get chaotic, but I never felt stressed out, there is no real way to fail in this game. The gameplay loop is fun, albeit repetitive, though this isn’t always a negative for some players.

The game is not without its rough edges of course. My one major critique is unfortunately the controls, which is quite clunky and movement can at times feel sluggish. The other critique goes back to that repetition, upgrades can become expensive and you don’t make a lot of money each day, so unlocking all upgrades and achievements can feel a bit grindy. Lastly, I did find a bug where if you swap baked goods from a counter or display too many times the item disappears. This occurred when I’d attempt to click on an empty display to put down an item and click on a filled one instead. While not the end of the world the bug is a little frustrating, especially considering the game is now around four years old.

Overall I think that Lemon Cake is a decent choice for cozy gamers looking for something fresh and fun, especially if you enjoy restaurant sims like me. It’s clear that a lot of love went into the creation of this game by a passionate solo developer.