Beastro’s Demo Allows Players to Unlock the Magic in Food

Beastro is a cozy deckbuilder rougelite RPG that’s expected to come out this year by Timberline Studio. The game will come out on Steam, Xbox Series X|S and PS5. In this game, you play as a fox named Panko, a talented chef who takes over the restaurant when his boss goes missing. Panko grows fruits and vegetables, gathers fresh ingredients and resources, cares for animals and forages for herbs.

The game’s specific system requirements on Steam aren’t available yet, except for requiring a 64-bit processor and operating system. The game’s demo is available now. The developers recommend that Steam players use a controller. So far, the game looks promising, and I can’t wait for the full release.

More on Beastro

The restaurant’s minigames involve chopping vegetables as they descend a long cutting board and sautéing food by turning the pan so the food doesn’t burn. More fun includes boiling ingredients by shooting three-pointers into the boilers. Once the dishes, tailored to the patrons’ tastes, are completed, you must quickly serve them. It’s a fantasy blend of Cooking Mama and Diner Dash.

Beastro’s Steam description reads,

“Welcome to Beastro! In this charming fusion of fantasy adventure, not all heroes wield swords… Some prefer the spoon. And, sometimes to save the world you’ve got to start with a really good meal.”

Restaurant management is key to connecting with customers, as well as experimenting with recipes to suit the tastes of your patrons. The most important patrons of Beastro are the Caretakers – brave denizens of Palo Pori who venture into the wilderness to fight ravenous monsters threatening the village’s peace.

The Caretakers’ adventures rely on the dishes you serve, which are based on the Caretakers’ flavor profiles or their specific tastes of the day. Once you’ve fed the Caretakers, they will enter the wilderness to fight monsters. The decks, based on the specific ingredients you served them, affect their gameplay. Upon their return, the Caretakers will bring ingredients for future recipes and recount their exploits.

Media Reactions to Beastro

Video of Beastro Announcement Trailer, Courtesy of Timberline Studio

Lindsey Rostal, the game director of Timberline Studios, wrote about the game on PlayStation’s blog. She wrote,

In the world of Beastro, our regions are broken up by flavor types: bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami. Each of these flavors has its own culture, creatures, and color palettes. And depending on where a character hails from, it will define their palate and what they want their food to taste like!

Beastro’s Steam page gives a word of caution regarding the gameplay. The Steam page says,

Utilize the unique effects of your ingredients to put your enemies to sleep, blow away their cards, and more, but watch out, you’re not the only one with special abilities. If you’re not paying attention, you might get burned.

Game Informer’s Marcus Stewart also checked out Beastro’s demo, enjoying the ability to stroll through Palo Pori and collect grub to feed poultry, go fishing and tend to a garden of crops. He wrote that the game’s daily structure is reminiscent of Dave the Diver, but running the restaurant is where the game gets busy. Stewart added that the game is “a creative confluence of gameplay ideas” and hopes it blends into an experience as “rich and delicious as Panko’s dishes.”

More on Timberline Studios

Timberline Studio is also the studio behind The Red Lantern, a narrative, dog-sledding game about survival. The game, published by Kepler Interactive, has Very Positive reviews on Steam. The game was released in 2021 and is currently on sale for 80% off.

Players looking for a flavor-filled twist on cozy restaurant simulators should keep an eye out for Beastro.