Quick Verdict: Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café has gorgeous art, charming characters, and fun ways to customize the food that you make. However, the core of gameplay is a mini-game that will make you feel like you’re stuck in limbo after so long. It’s repetitive, a lot of the decorations are locked behind how often you play the mini-game, and it’s not a lot of substance for the $13 price tag.
A code was provided for Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café by the publisher and it was played on PC.

Game: Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café
Developer(s): Anaïs Salla
Publisher: Anaïs Salla
Review Score: 7
Cozy Score: 8
Price: $12.99
Pros: The art style is fantastic and I appreciate the different ways to style the food. 
Cons: Gameplay is simply playing the same mini-game, back to back to back…
Platforms: Steam
Genres: Rhythm
The cozy score merely reflects how relaxing a game is and does not impact the review score.

Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café is a game where you start your own shop and cater to adorable animals. It’s a straightforward and simple design where you make drinks and snacks that your customers order by way of a mini-game. 

You’ll start off with one customer who wants coffee and practice making that. It’s a bit of a learning curve because, despite there being music, you’re not tapping the stars that come onto the screen to that tune. A separate sound will play when the stars come into view and you’re meant to tap to that. However, if you tap it on beat, you’d be wrong. The tune has to finish completely and then you copy it immediately after it finishes.

To further punctuate that the music doesn’t matter, while the rhythm that you tap to is different for each item, the same song plays for all of them.

It’s really confusing and I went through a lot of minigames before I figured out the code. Unfortunately, it took me nearly an hour before I considered checking the settings. There’s an option to make things a little kinder there. It doesn’t make the beat easier or more forgiving, but it does make the score less punishing. 

What your drink is worth is decided based on how well you do. If you get a 98, then you get 98 in money. If you get a 55, then you get 55 in money. So, you want to do well.

As you play, you’ll end up completing side tasks like serving five coffees and things of that nature. Doing so may open up a color swatch that you can use in decorating, or it will open up a new friend.

Each animal will bring a new item that you can make, like bubble tea or “sandos”. When your customer orders, they may want something special from the list of customizations you can do. Each item is different, but it basically amounts to choosing special glasses, colors, shapes, and designs.

Watch the trailer for Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café!

Honestly, it’s delightful the first few times you design something and quite satisfying since a lot of effort went into customization. But, it does get a little tedious, especially if you’re filling the vending machine at the end of the night.

Once you’ve finished your day, you have the option to fill the vending machine that will sell items overnight for you. Instead of getting acorns as payment, you’ll get tokens. These tokens can be used in a gacha machine that will give you special items. Honestly, this is the best way to get new items early on. 

Each item, regardless of what you sell, will give you five tokens. So, if you fill all six slots, you’ll get 30 coins the next morning. However, that does mean that you’re playing the mini-game six times in a row and that can start to feel a little grueling, especially when your day is filled with the same mini-game.

The art is exceptional and is the star of the show. I’ve coveted Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café for a long time on artstyle alone. However, and I hate to say this, it feels like one big glorified mini-game. 

All you can do is decorate with items that are limited until you’ve either pulled them from the gacha or unlocked them through an animal’s order bar. By selling to an animal, you’ll move an independent bar with each sale. Each animal has their own bar and, by filling it up over time, you’ll unlock unique furniture that you can only acquire through them.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that you’re given the item. You’ll still need to purchase it. So, all it does is open the ability to buy it. This system makes decorating your cafe a little stilted because, from what I could tell, an item is unlocked after every four orders and you may not see an animal more than once per day open, if at all.

Is it style over substance?

Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café
Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café

The two things Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café has to offer are the mini-game and decorating and they both center around playing this mini-game into oblivion.

Not only that, but even if you get the hang of when you’re supposed to tap, you have to wait an unreasonable amount of time to stop and end the process. When the mini-game engages, you have to wait over 10 seconds before you’ll see any stars and you’ll have to wait five seconds after you’re done. 

It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s just another added layer of tedium. 

For me, it’s all work and no reward. In fact, playing the game as much as I did, I ended up having to stop because my hand started to ache from clicking so much.

If you’re a fan of clicking to an unknown rhythm and having to do that over and over for the chance to start decorating, then you’re going to love Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café. Unfortunately, it’s not for me.

Like I said, the art is charming as hell. But, unfortunately, I think more thought and effort were put into the visuals. The 10 seconds and five seconds of waiting I mentioned before and after the mini-game are filled with adorable little cutscenes and it’s clear that they took priority over function.

Additionally, for what it is… charging $13 is a lot for just one gimmick over and over and over again. There’s nothing to break it up and I hate that that’s my opinion on it.

If you want to try out Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café, try out the demo first. Otherwise, you can get it for $12.99 over on Steam. While you’re here, you can check out some of the other reviews we’ve done, like This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker! or The Case of the Worst Day Ever.