Oven Simulator, a review of an unconvincing bakery simulator

This “business simulator“In the eyes of many weirdos, it’s a type of video game. For a certain segment of the public, video games are first and foremost a way of disconnecting from everyday life, and the idea of ​​playing a video game that simulates a real job seems to be the exact opposite of what you’re looking for.

The fact is that a business simulator allows you to perform a real activity that arouses curiosity and fascinates, without having to really work, without physical fatigue and, accordingly, without the weight of the wallet. The same is true for the Oven Simulator. Baking 12 croissants, 20 donuts, and thirty sandwiches sounds like you’re interested (and who hasn’t tried it during the quarantines?), but doing it really takes a lot more effort and a lot more tools than you might think.

Therefore, we are sure that the idea of ​​​​starting growing wheat fields in Farming Simulator, as well as digitally kneading and cooking, seems interesting to many. But the important thing is that the simulator is always a video game, and it knows how to propose activities and processes that mimic reality, but always fun.

Let’s see if ours is too Bakery Simulator review.

before sunrise

Oven Simulator has a very clear structure. Every day, we must choose one of the recipes on the order board and prepare the desired one within a certain time. They collect with a container materials necessary, at our disposal, using the different measuring cups indicated on the right of the screen. Do we need to put 77 grams of butter? Using the mouse wheel to change the size, we get 50, then 20, then 5, and then 1 g of butter twice to reach the desired figure.

When you have everything, you move onkneader, it does the job in seconds and automatically. The third step is to shape our loaf or cake, a practice that will change throughout the game.

In the early stages, it will often need to be completed banal mini-games Divide the dough into pieces and shape. It includes pressing a button when there is an indicator in the green part of the bar, rotating an outer circle to match the shapes with the inner circle, or simulating a rolling pin motion with the mouse. We’re talking about repetitive activities within half an hour and, above all, a little vague and annoying when you have to use the mouse. In other cases, the process is even easier, as you just need to pour the dough into molds (no minigames, just a mouse click) or flip the donuts in the deep fryer.

All these processes gradually disappear as you unlock them. cars It can cut into portions, shape and turn buns automatically. The progress of the Bakery Simulator is based on automating the process as much as possible, reducing the number of interactions and efforts of the player. In practice, the further you go, the less you have to do. The collection of materials is also partially automated: we will unlock the silos, and once upgraded, they will enter the exact weight of the materials we need.

After all this is done, it is cooked in the oven for the specified time. But it is not over, because it is also necessary deliver the order to the store, located somewhere in the city. In the dark of night, you must pass through the streets and arrive at your destination. The entire process should be completed, as stated, without delays. But even then, the possibility of auto-complete deliveries to avoid the pain of getting down and driving into the city soon opens up: it’s an extremely tedious job (definitely not a driving game) and the urban area is visually horrific, all the spaces are loaded before us, and a detail from the end of the PS2 generation Level. In every delivery there are obstacles that force us to change direction, to look at a map as a reference, but certainly not enough to diversify the process.

When the job is done you get paid and you get it experience points, depending on the quality of the product, which is a result of our precision. Did we put the wrong amount of ingredients? Did we leave the bread in the oven too long? Are we late? If so, the last value is dropped. In reality, the game isn’t particularly punishing, and even getting a very low grade will earn you enough to pay for the cost of the materials and not take a loss.

Gameplay and issues

The purpose, of course, collect enough money access to more effective work tools to be able to buy new machines, improve existing ones and, above all, buy a larger room. But before you buy you need to level up with the experience points mentioned above so the progression is completely linear. For example, it is possible to apply for a loan with usurer interest, but every business is so profitable that in the worst case, it is enough to play an extra quarter of an hour just to buy the new construction machine. unlocked.

In later stages, it is also possible to aggregate multiple orders together to earn more in less time. However, it is not at all necessary to complicate life: a single order is enough to earn significant figures, and above all, No rush. The game doesn’t really count the days, and if we’re stuck in the middle of a recipe for some reason, we can skip the day with no penalty other than wasting a few ingredients.

along seven hours or so, we will have unlocked the biggest bakery, we will have access to all shops, almost all of which have been upgraded to the maximum level (after a certain number of deliveries you will receive bonuses that make the game even easier), and we will have all the machines. . Let’s also assume that by playing a more aggressive world, we can get to the “end” even faster by accumulating more orders at once in the shortest possible time. In any case, Bakery Simulatior offers quite a few repetitive ingredients very quickly. In the final stages, we’ll just have to spend our wagon loads buying alternative versions of our bakery’s tables and walls, giving it our favorite style: however, it’s just a way to milk for a few more hours. from experience, without this the essence of the game changes.

This game loop The Oven Simulator takes 7-8 minutes maximum and then restarts doing the same task for better or worse. Even those deeply passionate about business simulators and pastry will not have more than a few hours of fun.

In closing, we report that the game is not lacking a bit. problems. In addition to some bugs and crashes that we hope will be fixed with patches, we noticed several flaws in the text. In some cases, the recipes lack some basic terms (such as the shape of the bread), while in others there are objects that are named one way in the cookbook or another in the game setting, which confuses the player. These issues exist in both English and Italian, so they are not a translation error. Also, some visual and sound effects are limited or incorrect. For example, butter makes the same sound as the seed when we put it in a bowl. Nothing limiting in terms of gameplay, but overall it’s not a game to the last detail.