It’s not every day you get to feed a fairy version of Guy Fieri a spicy golden goose meat and chimera steak sandwich. But Arcane Eats isn’t your everyday sort of experience.
As part of the Steam Next Fest game demo showcase in February, this upcoming roguelike deckbuilder got a new public demo, and it’s well worth chomping through while it remains live. Even in a sea of same-same roguelike deckbuilders, where it’s hard to stand out against the pack, Arcane Eats is a bite you’ll want to savour.
Arcane Eats preview – quick links
Arcane Eats’ simple setup hides deep complexity
Arcane Eats begins with a simple premise: you’re a master chef at a fantasy tavern, and must feed a demanding array of guests. You have a hand of special cards representing individual ingredients, and must deploy these cleverly to ensure you’re creating meals that serve your guests and their hunger needs.
The complexity comes from the way you prepare and deliver your meals, by placing stacked cards on three awaiting stovetops, while watching an array of stats.
Some foods can take two to three turns to cook properly. The more ingredients you add to each pot, the more satisfying your meals will be but the longer they’ll take to cook. The added complication is that each visitor to your restaurant has a certain level of hunger and the hungrier they get, the angrier they’ll be.
If you wait too long to feed your guests, they’ll inflict psychic damage in the form of complaints, damaging your overall health bar and reducing your likelihood of survival.
It’s a neat adaptation of fairly familiar mechanics, with enough novelty to remain fun and satisfying, particularly as you uncover new ingredients, and the option to make more complex meals.
The roguelike part comes in with each successful restaurant shift. Serving each of your guests will earn you coins, and these can be used to purchase various ingredients, which can change up your overall strategy.
ScreenHub: Top 50 most-played video game demos at Steam Next Fest
Finding the right ingredients for the perfect meal
Near your tavern, you’ll find a store that stocks various powerful cards, including ones that reduce cooking time (essential for building your strategy) and others that add elements like spice or ice. These are particularly useful when you’ve got a demanding guest, as spicy foods can fill up an empty stomach and encourage a guest to leave early.
Other new cards will help to stave off complaints, make meals more filling or boost your health for more complex rounds. It’s all a matter of figuring out when to play which card for the maximum impact.
When the going gets tough, focusing on this part of your strategy is essential, and key to your enjoyment. While at first you’re dealing with relatively kind-hearted, open-minded guests, you will eventually encounter more demanding folks, such as goblins who knock plates off tables, or specialists (the aforementioned Guy Fairy) who won’t eat certain types of foods.
It becomes a balancing act as you consider the potential meals before you. Which ones will satisfy your guests and allow them to depart? How do you contend with a goblin knocking off or mixing up the plates on your stovetops? There are a raft of complications, all requiring clever tactics to overcome.
Based on the game’s Steam Next Fest demo, there’s a nice balance between these challenges, and deploying your strategy to overcome them. There were particularly hairy moments facing off with a crowd of plate-stealing goblins and a high tense skirmish against Guy Fairy, who demanded the absolute best.
But when your strategy finally clicks, and all your stressing pays off, the feeling of success is bright and glowy (sometimes literally).
There’s a lot to love here, from the game’s cutesy, simplistic animations to its mouth-watering array of fantasy foods, and its layers upon layers of neat roguelike strategy.
Keep an eye on Arcane Eats as it heads to launch in 2026. We’re certainly keen to see how it grows in future, and where this roguelike path leads.
