KuloNiku: Bowl Up! Review: A Michelin Star Experience

KuloNiku: Bowl Up! is the blend of Cooking Mama; Cook, Serve, Delicious; and Tavern Talk that I didn't know I needed in my life. Since cooking games can vary a lot with how they approach the gameplay mechanics, I didn't know exactly what I'd be stepping into when I launched the game. What I got was the perfect game for unwinding after a stressful day. As you serve customers, KuloNiku serves you soup for your soul.

For the story, KuloNiku: Bowl Up! puts you in the role of somebody who became a chef in a big city, but has recently moved back to the small town of KuloNiku to take over your late grandmother's restaurant, Bakosu, and reopen it. Because your grandmother's food was well-known and loved, you have a reputation to live up to, and some of the residents aren't shy about letting you know that. Luckily, KuloNiku is full of people who love food and cooking, so you can increase your reputation by competing against other chefs.

KuloNiku: Bowl Up!'s Story Is Bite-Sized and Keeps it Simple

It's normal for cozy games to have a storyline, but for it to be short and simple. I find that this works well in KuloNiku. You have the basis for why you're in the town, and you're given a reason why you should be invested in improving your restaurant, Bakosu. Honestly, you don't need more than that to get started.

The storyline only takes about 10 hours to complete, which is plenty for this style of game. I found the story to be more of a background element for the game, and I could play infinitely without needing the story because the gameplay and the characters of KuloNiku are the highlights. While the story fits the cozy vibes, having it on the shorter side and not getting too complicated is perfect as it doesn't demand much attention or become a distraction. Instead, it complements the experience.

The Sound Design in KuloNiku: Bowl Up! Is Its Own Joy

Specifically, I love the sound design for cooking in KuloNiku. When you put ingredients into your hotpot and take them out, they make a popping sound, which is so fun. It makes me want to cook more dishes, but the way time works in-game means you only get so many customers each day, meaning I can't just pop ingredients in and out of the pot all day.

Of course, sound effects aren't the entirety of sound design. There's also music, which doesn't demand your attention. For me, this makes it a positive part of the game. If the music is too distracting, it takes away from the game and can make it difficult to focus on other elements. Instead, I believe that the music should add to the atmosphere without controlling it, and that's the case for KuloNiku: Bowl Up!

Cooking Mechanic Starts with a Solid Foundation and Spices it up Using Customer Preferences

When you go through the tutorial for cooking, especially for Meatball Brawls, it seems confusing at first, or like it's going to be a lot to manage. In practice, that's not the case at all. KuloNiku: Bowl Up! uses a simple foundation for its cooking mechanics, which customer orders can build on with customized requests to keep you from making the same dishes all day.

Additionally, the orders evolve as you purchase more ingredients from Ume's shop. This lets customers further customize their orders, and it lets you unlock new recipes that customers can order. Ume's shop refreshes its stock every Friday, so you can visit it after you close Bakosu for the night and pick up new items. I recommend purchasing more bowls first. As the bowls say in their description, why would you open a soup restaurant with only two bowls? Having more bowls available means you don't have to wash them as often between customers.

In addition to bowls and ingredients, you can also buy decorations and furniture for your restaurant. This is KuloNiku's way of letting you customize the area to your tastes, and you get a surprising amount of options to choose from in order to make the place feel like your own. While the ingredients and tools impact the cooking and cleaning mechanics, the foundation of how it works stays the same. This keeps the core of the game cozy instead of stressful.

Perhaps my favorite part of how cooking in KuloNiku is designed is the option to turn on Cozy Mode. With Cozy Mode enabled, you don't have to worry about customers losing patience or being timed when you cook. When you put Cozy Mode on, KuloNiku transforms from a game with a small amount of pressure to a cozy paradise. I lost track of time quite quickly, which is good and bad depending on if you have time-sensitive plans.

The True Gem of KuloNiku: Bowl Up! Comes in the Form of Meatball Brawls and NPCs

On Mondays and Thursdays, you can compete against other chefs in Meatball Brawls, where you try to impress the judges by cooking to their tastes, using that day's bonus ingredients, and earning points from the audience. If there's one addition I need to see for the esports scene, it's Meatbrawls.

I thought this would be stressful, but it's actually really fun. It makes you think about how you can maximize your points because you have a limited number of actions each turn and a limited number of turns. However, if you listen to the tutorial and pay attention to the judge's tastes, it's easy to win the Meatbrawls. I actually find that it's more worth the action points to focus on the judge's tastes and the bonus ingredients instead of audience points, because they don't seem to add much to your score in comparison.

Since KuloNiku is a town obsessed with cooking, it's not surprising that you'll get to know some of the NPCs you can befriend through Meatbrawls, specifically Stella, who's your main competitor in town. Of course, Stella has a tsundere personality, and she warms up to you quickly, even if she won't admit it. Among the NPCs you encounter, she's the fiercest. However, Stella's attitude towards you partially comes from her admiration of your grandmother, which is obvious the first time you meet her.

Beyond the Meatbrawls, you meet other NPCs through running your restaurant and by talking to those you see on the sidewalk at the end of the day. When Bakosu is closed, you don't have to end the day immediately. Instead, you can visit Ume's shop for supplies, use the bus to go to the studio and set up a Meatbrawl, or just select the NPCs you might see on the sidewalk to talk to them. Taking the time to talk to NPCs increases your friendship with them, which is a nice detail to see in a cozy cooking game, and it makes you feel like you're truly part of the community.

I do think that some of the personalities for NPCs are stereotypical of those you might find in a visual novel type of dating game. Most NPCs are fine and interesting enough, but there are a few who aren't my preferred type of NPC to see in any kind of media. However, that's a personal preference, and I can acknowledge that the NPCs I don't like as much could easily be the favorites for other players. In general, I feel that if you want to include a stereotypical character personality, it's worth trying to make it unique in a way that suits the game.

Honestly, it's not bad that my biggest negative point is that I don't care for every NPC, but that I find others to be endearing. I would also have liked more opportunities to be creative with the cooking system, but I admit that the Meatball Brawls and customers customizing their orders helps add needed variety to what would otherwise be you spending each in-game day making the exact same meals. In general, the game's elements work well together, and the solid foundation of keeping it simple goes a long way.

KuloNiku: Bowl Up! is a short but solid entry in the world of cozy games. If you like games like Cooking Mama or Tavern Talk, then you'll probably enjoy this. It has a warmth that's perfect for running a restaurant that serves soups. I know I'll keep revisiting this game just for the joy of its cooking system and for the delightful nonsense that is the existence of cooking competitions called Meatbrawls. I sincerely hope that Gambir Studio either expands on KuloNiku: Bowl Up! in the future or that the developers simply continue creating cozy games, because their style is perfect for me.