Being a foodie, I cannot deny how much I enjoy a game with delicious looking food. If you’re after an RPG that has cooking baked into the narrative, but isn’t a life sim, Studio Pixanoh’s Town of Zoz has you covered. It takes the meaning of ‘soul food’ to another level. The charming top-down, linear action RPG cooks up a Latin American Indigenous inspired town with fiery characters. While it is a palatable game overall, there are a number of technical issues that leave an unsavoury taste in my mouth.
Enter Ito, the Town Weirdo
Players take on the role of a young shaman chef named Ito, who returns home to Zoz after some time away in the Wilds. Shunned for being a ‘Three-Soul’, Ito is demanded by his strict father, Conki, to help out with errands and to stay out of trouble. Ito is a smart kid with good intentions, but is never taken seriously by most adults, so he does what most kids in his position would do — grumble, and try to take matters into his own hands to prove to everyone that he is strong. Zee, his mischief-loving spirit sidekick, tags along and keeps him out of trouble (for the most part).
While out exploring one day, Ito and Zee stumble upon a mysterious object. With the help of some of the townsfolk, Ito embarks on dangerous missions to keep ancient threats at bay, learning about his family heritage and cooking delicious food along the way.
Town of Zoz has a host of likeable characters. Ito’s family in particular reminds me of realistic family dynamics. For example, Ito’s mother, Eeza, is the yin to Conki’s yang, affectionate and warm to Conki’s tough love parenting style.
Food is the Way to Everyone’s Stomach (and Soul) in Zoz
Food is thematic in Town of Zoz and is what gives the game its greatest depth of flavour — it’s more than just sustenance for combat, it’s expressed as a way of life. The recipes, based on Latin American cuisine, are passed down from generation to generation to Ito. There is a sacredness to them. Plenty of important interactions in the game are centered around food, including spiritual offerings.
The food is visually appealing — my stomach has growled on more than one occasion when playing Town of Zoz before dinner! Each recipe feels meticulously curated and authentic. Although cooking techniques are not well introduced, they aren’t hard to pick up. Fortunately, you can’t burn or fail a dish.
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Quality ingredients make for quality dishes. Players can grow their own crops in Town of Zoz, however, the farming is quite basic for my tastes — I was hoping for a spiritual twist to the classic mechanic. For quality ingredients, your best bet is the marketplace of Zoz. Here, stock replenishes each day, and the bartering mechanic allows frugal players to get creative.
Don’t Forget to Pack (and Repack) Your Lunchbox
Town of Zoz’s gameplay is real-time combat with a controlled day-night cycle, linear levels and light puzzles. It features a simple combat system with no levelling, experience or skill trees. Players can rely on learning enemy patterns through repetition, equipping optimal gear and packing food in the lunchbox to get through tough fights.
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Town of Zoz is intended to be played with a controller. Unfortunately, combat leaves many things to be desired. Some of Ito’s weapons and attack combinations feel slow and clunky, and his stamina bar, Zest, depletes exceedingly fast. Additionally, Ito’s companions, who fight alongside him one at a time, have an infuriating tendency to bug out when switching or resurrecting.
Ironically, food is not well integrated in combat. Frustratingly, meal buffs don’t stack. Most consumables also have negligible healing effects, meaning a considerable amount of time is spent frantically trying to sustain health in combat. The lunchbox, while conceptually fitting, is awkward to cycle through in real time.
Deliciously Messy
Although I enjoy the warm art style and soundtrack, Town of Zoz is riddled with a number of visual bugs and glitches that really diminish the quality of this beautiful game. Most cut scenes, animations and transitions are glitchy, choppy or very abrupt. Story events sometimes trigger out of sequence. NPCs fail to load for story objectives. Audio bugs out for combat in the later chapters. The game is also prone to crashing. At its worst though, I had a critical bug that occurred when loading an area (it has since been patched).
Should You Play Town of Zoz?
Despite many of its aspects being underbaked, Town of Zoz is a hearty action RPG with plenty of soul. Picky eaters may want to give this one a miss, but those who can stomach a few bugs and glitches will still find a treat here. Town of Zoz is out now on PC via Steam, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
Quest Daily scores Town of Zoz:
7/10
Access to Town of Zoz was supplied to Quest Daily by the publisher.
