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If there's one superhuman ability I've always lacked, it's the ability to platform. That's what makes my latest Game Pass obsession, Magical Delicacy, such a unique entry in my gaming rota at the moment.
Culinary witch Flora's whimsical journey is a 2D pixel adventure with no combat to speak of, and paired with the fact that I wouldn't call myself a cozy gamer at all, I'd usually ignore anything of the sort. And yet, Magical Delicacy has cast an unbreakable spell on me – and I think I've finally found a platforming game that I love.
Not-so-secret ingredients
Perhaps the oddest reason behind my enjoyment of this particular platformer is the fact that it is a cozy crafting game at heart. I'll admit it is a genre I'd turn my nose up at, unless the game in question involves some gnashing hordes of zombies to attack with makeshift weapons. But by removing the added pressure of combat, leaving the world a sprawling narrative-driven puzzle with management sim components, I find myself finally able to relax and take my time with the parts I find truly difficult: just getting about the map.
Frayed nerves have long been the crux of my dismal platforming failures. Falling to one's doom and having to start all over again is never fun, but my shaky hands and utter lack of depth perception makes each one a truly frustrating experience, no matter how charming or cool the aesthetic of the game might be. But with all the pressure to stay alive taken away in Magical Delicacy, I'm not being punished for the odd dyspraxic whoopsie. Instead, I take it on the chin and soldier on.
This is especially easy to do in Magical Delicacy. I'm quick to identify it as a Metroidvania for all the interconnecting passageways that weave its giant map together, lots of them inaccessible until the story progresses to certain points. The only way to push the narrative forward? Explore every nook and cranny that you possibly can at various points during the dynamic day/night cycle. For once, this Metroidvania does not make me want to eat my controller in frustration. Maybe you cozy gamers are onto something, because a game where I'm not constantly fearing for my life? This is kind of awesome.
There's a compulsive edge to the rote nature of these movements, but it's not mindless busywork.
It's also kind of a management sim. Flora is a witch, and her magic manifests through the delicious meals she cooks up from the comfort of her home-slash-bakery nestled in the mountainside town of Grat, either to be sold via the window counter or given to the townsfolk to complete missions.
After meeting people on my day-to-day journey, some of them give me tasks to fulfil, and they usually involve rustling up a nice little meal to help make their own lives easier. From making a sweet treat for the princess of these realms to helping a frogman called Mortimer arrange a picnic for his hardworking husband, I quickly fall into a comfortable routine in Magical Delicacy: explore, gather, cook, deliver, repeat. There's a compulsive edge to the rote nature of these movements, but it's not mindless busywork. Some recipes have specific requirements, such as being made with common ingredients, being sweet or salty, or having rare ingredients that are harder to come by. The trial-and-error approach means that the highest stakes I come across are whether or not I'll cook something inedible. Since I can just nip outside to gather or purchase replacement ingredients, though, it's hardly the life-or-death knife's edge I'm used to treading in most of my favorite games.
I'm still just a handful of hours into it, but Magical Delicacy is shaping up to be one of my favorite new indie finds on Xbox Game Pass. Sure, it's markedly different from my horror and dark fantasy remit, but developer sKaule's immersive supernatural adventure is teaching me the value of constantly challenging myself – one bite of moonberry pudding at a time.
There's a host of beautiful upcoming indie games for you to get excited about for 2024 and beyond.
