Kitchen Sync: Aloha! Next Fest Demo Preview: Cooking Hawaiian Delicacies
When I first downloaded and started up the Steam Next Fest demo for Kitchen Sync: Aloha! I did not intend to play it for nearly two hours. Despite only being a demo, there is loads of content to try out including a handful of story missions, side quests, and other side events. It really gives you a great idea of what players can expect when the full game launches later this year.
Kitchen Sync: Aloha! from Developer Lemonpepper Games is a story rich cooking simulator that takes place on the Hawaiian island of Maikai. You play as either Kai or Kala and lead a team of chefs in a variety of different kitchens all around the island. The demo introduces you to the two siblings who hope to bring their family’s restaurant back to life along with their Uncle and Drew and Hina, two other chefs that work in the restaurant.
The first few story levels of the game introduce the main mechanics where you control the chefs as they move around the kitchen making dishes. The team manages to sneak themselves into a pop up market where they’re able to cook for the town and try to make a name for themselves. It’s one of many places that you’ll cook in the demo as you travel around the island feeding as many people as you can.
Before you start the day you’ll pick which dishes to include on your menu and which chefs to have on staff that day. Each chef has different abilities that you can use to help meet whatever criteria you have. You’ll control both chefs by moving them around to different areas of the kitchen, fulfilling orders as they come in. And while that sounds pretty simple, the more you progress the more you’ll discover all of the different twists the game will throw at you.
Some recipes will call for you to stack them in order to create a double portion or you can get higher scores by having multiple chefs make a dish. You can also create a fusion dish to impress even more customers and get even higher scores. There are loads of ways to make your dishes extra special.
Along with the main storyline, Kitchen Sync: Aloha! also has mini-games like fishing and additional side quests that will help to increase your relationship scores between characters. The game’s Steam Page hints that there may even be some chance for romance in the game. The more you work with a character, the more your relationship score will go up. You only meet a handful of characters in the demo, but it seems like you’ll be able to work with even more as you progress further into the story.
Kitchen Sync: Aloha! was so much fun to play, I could hardly put it down. Its sweet story and fun gameplay mechanics make it a lovely and chill experience. I can’t wait to dive into the full game later this year on April 7th, 2025. You can try out the demo yourself right now as part of the Steam Next Fest and add it to your wishlist to stay up to date on future announcements.