Let Him Cook

Developed by: Manny Feliciano, HF Studios
Published by: Manny Feliciano

Jun 19, 2024$6.99

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!

Consensus

C70.3/100

Steam players97.5% positivePositive40 reviews

VG Insights estimate ↗≈0 copies · ≈$0 gross

What creators say

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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.

Liked

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

Disliked

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

What players say

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.

Players love

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

Common complaints

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

Can feel tedious

Waiting on updates: the stalled Early Access status is the main complaint
Unlocking characters is reportedly buggy, which makes progression frustrating for some

What's unique

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

Players want

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')

Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.