Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUELet Him Cook
Let Him Cook is a top-down action roguelite where you play as a food industry professional fighting in bullet hell's kitchen. When food fights back, you gotta cook. Jam to the music, hire assistants, and face against all kinds of live food puns!
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Video reviews
Reviews and deep dives from YouTube and Bilibili, in every language. Open the original video to watch.
Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A top-down, music-synced action survivor roguelite (Vampire Survivors / Brotato style) where you play a kitchen professional fighting food-pun enemies in a bullet-hell kitchen; solo dev Manny Feliciano (HF Studios), Steam Early Access since June 19, 2024.
Coverage is extremely thin: there are only about 40 Steam reviews (39 positive, 1 negative, roughly 97% Positive), no Metacritic or OpenCritic scores, and no major outlet reviews or large Reddit threads that could be retrieved. Players who have played it praise the enemy and weapon variety, the challenging bosses and the store-page music-sync hook. The recurring worry is developer inactivity: one negative review says there had been no updates in over a year, a Steam forum thread asks whether the game is abandoned (March 2025), and a recent positive review (mid-2026) still hopes the dev will finish it. The Steam store page, however, states a planned full release between late 2026 and early 2027 with roughly four times the content. Treat it as a small, cheap, promising but uncertain Early Access title.
What players praise
- Enemy variety: one reviewer says enemies differ enough to keep each run fresh, unlike many survivor-likes
- Weapons feel distinct, with many combinations possible (store page lists around 25 weapons)
- Bosses feel like real bosses and are described as challenging
- Music is a core mechanic (music-synced maps, per the store page and studio site)
- Food-industry theme with live food puns and cartoony hand-drawn 2.5D art gives it personality
- Class variety (store page says 10+ playable characters; the studio site lists Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Bartender, Butcher)
- Cheap price ($6.99 USD, roughly $5 in regional pricing) and a free demo
- Described by one player as a mix of Vampire Survivors and Brotato, with an endless mode and an achievement encyclopedia
What players criticize
- Seemingly stalled development: a negative Steam review cites no updates in over a year and calls it abandoned
- A Steam forum thread titled 'Abandoned Game?' (March 2025) shows the same concern
- Bug reports on the Steam forum: character unlock problems, a 'Chicken Fingers' character bug, controller menu navigation, trouble starting a run
- Windows only (no Mac or Linux)
- Very small player base, so little community content, guides or discussion
Distinctive features
- Kitchen and restaurant theme: hero classes like Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Bartender and Butcher, with weapons such as chef's knife, peeler, salt rifle and cleaver
- Hiring assistants as part of the run
- Music-synced maps where the soundtrack drives the gameplay
- Food-pun enemies and a humorous tone
- Hand-drawn cartoony 2.5D presentation for a survivor-like
Divided opinions
- Whether the game is abandoned (forum and negative review) or still in active development (store page plans a late 2026 to early 2027 full release)
- Whether it is 'better than most Vampire Survivors-likes' (one positive reviewer) or simply another entry in a crowded genre (no critic coverage to confirm either view)
Repetition and friction
- Waiting on updates: the stalled Early Access status is the main complaint
- Early-game difficulty and dependence on luck, per a forum thread title (details not retrievable)
- Unlocking characters is reportedly buggy, which makes progression frustrating for some
Hoped-for improvements
- Ship the promised full release with the planned ~4x content (more bosses, characters, enemies, weapons)
- Communicate a clear roadmap and update cadence (the studio site only points to Discord for news)
- Fix unlock, character and controller menu bugs reported on the forum
- Improve language and localization options
- Address early-game balance and luck dependence raised in a forum thread ('Early Game Woes and Luck')
Early Access launch June 19, 2024 at $6.99 USD with a free demo. Steam reviews are tiny in number but strongly positive. Developer activity appears to have slowed after 2024 to early 2025 (forum threads cluster July 2024 to January 2025; 'Abandoned Game?' thread March 2025; a Feb 2026 negative review says no updates in over a year). The store page nonetheless lists a full release window of late 2026 to early 2027 and says price will not change at full release. A June 2026 positive review still hopes the dev finishes the game. Metacritic has a page for the game but shows TBD for both critic and user scores. No OpenCritic entry found. Not on Mac or Linux. Revenue and copies-sold figures are unavailable or unreliable (SteamSpy range 0 to 20,000 owners). Note: a separate game 'Don't Let Him Cook' (appid 5043060) exists and should not be confused with it. Research limitation: WebSearch budget was exhausted, so no search-based outlet reviews or Reddit discussion were obtained and Reddit fetch was blocked; findings rest on Steam data, the Steam store page, the Steam forum summary, the studio site and Metacritic.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (one each): variety and bosses praised; no updates in over a year ↗
- Local Steam metadata: appid 2570710, dev, release date, 39/1 review split, SteamSpy owners range, tags ↗
- Steam store page: features (10+ characters, 25 weapons, endless mode), full release plan late 2026 to early 2027, price policy ↗
- Steam forum: bug reports, unlock issues, 'Abandoned Game?' thread, balance and music concerns ↗
- Studio site: four classes, weapons, musically synced maps, free demo, Discord-only news ↗
- Metacritic page exists but critic and user scores are TBD ↗
- OpenCritic search: no entry or score found ↗
- Revenue estimate page showing $0 (not populated; unreliable) ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 3 (2025)
Let Him Cook is a food-themed horde-survival game in early access that uses waves and a between-wave shop rather than level-up upgrades. You carry two weapons and hire assistants who hold weapons and bring their own mechanics. He loves the jazzy music, comedic enemy designs, charm and exceptionally clear UI. He is bothered by balance problems, boss rules that nullify some builds, and a food-family mechanic that does not really change how he builds. He slots it currently in lower B with room to climb as it develops.
What the creator praises
- Wave-and-shop structure with two weapon slots plus hired assistants that carry weapons and create synergies
- Music is super jazzy, and parts of gameplay sync to the beat, such as the game slowing just before the beat drops
- Strong charm and vibe: hilarious food-themed enemy designs and comedic theme
- Food-type mechanic where weapons and assistants counter or synergise with specific food families
- Fantastic UI: fusions are automatic and it clearly tells you about owned weapons, synergies and what to buy
- Lots of content for a small early-access indie and a good amount of accessibility options, such as adjustable outline strokes on enemies, bullets and player
- Bosses are really cool
Issues raised by the creator
- Game feels somewhat unbalanced, with some mechanics broken and others too weak
- Bosses differ so much from normal waves (no life steal or health regen) that some playstyles are nullified, making those stats pointless to pursue
- Food-family counter mechanic is a nice concept but he will not rebuild around the next wave's food type, so it has little effect on decisions
- Visuals can be overwhelming and hard to read with the semi-top-down camera and bullets, though accessibility options help
Design observations
- Hiring assistants that carry weapons and have their own mechanics adds a distinct synergy layer to a horde game
- Gameplay tied to the music, with the game slowing on the beat drop that players can exploit
- Food-themed damage types (vegetable, dairy, meat) with weapon/assistant synergies, though the boss preview pushes you toward one family
Updated opinion
He played it before and notes it has improved since, especially accessibility options; he places it currently and says it could climb in tier as early access progresses.
