Have you ever wanted to test your culinary prowess in fierce competitions while also balancing the frenzy with some relaxed farming and crafting? If you answered yes to those questions then Epic Chef might just be a game to throw on your wishlist. Epic Chef stars Zest, a quirky character who finds himself owning a supposedly haunted villa on a gorgeous island.Epic Chef feels like an interesting blend of genres, taking the cooking aspects of something like Battle Chef Brigade, the chunky and blocky visuals of Minecraft, and the farming and crafting of Stardew Valley. It's by no means a perfect game but there's a lot to love, if you can get past the steep cooking learning curve. Here are some fantastic beginner tips to help get you started in Epic Chef.
7 Be Very Patient
Easily the first thing you need to know when hopping into Epic Chef is that the game starts off very slowly. A lot of this comes down to the fact that Zest moves through the world at a snail's pace which can make running around the city, beach, and villa area a real chore and slog. However, don't be dismayed since new movement options open up after the first couple of hours.
After you complete some preliminary quests, Zest obtains a small egg that hatches into an ostrich-looking dinosaur creature named Birch. You can hop aboard Birch at any time to rapidly move through the explorable areas. Also, if you complete the city hangar quest early on you can unlock airships to fast travel, albeit, with a 50 coin fee.
6 Talk To Every NPC You Can Interact With
Epic Chef doesn't always make it obvious about who you can talk to or interact with. There are a plethora of NPCs strewn about the opening city area. Some of these NPCs are just there to fill out the population but some of them can be interacted with to get helpful cues or hints.
The best thing to look for is an NPC with a blue icon above their heads. These icons signify a mini-quest to complete such as turning in a certain amount of crops or items to make some coins. The game and city does open up later in your adventure so it's a good idea to get used to chatting with everyone.
5 Utilize Your Kitchen Everyday
Your home villa where you spend a lot of time farming and crafting also has a kitchen. If you head to the back of your house on the first floor you can practice cooking at any time. You will want to practice cooking all of the time since the mechanics are quite complex in the long term.
As long as you have some ingredients such as rats, crabs, seaweed, tomatoes, or potatoes, then you can freely practice to your heart's content. Also, you can sit down at your kitchen table to try out each dish which gives you experience points to help level up your culinary ranking.
4 Practice Synergy and Aroma Cooking Techniques
Once you get the basics of adding ingredients, stirring, and flipping them, the game throws the whole concept of synergy and aromas your way. To put it frankly, you need to understand these techniques if you even want a shot at defeating the other chefs in various culinary battles.
Synergy works whereby you combine certain ingredients in a certain order. For example, you may need to cook a carrot first, followed by a tomato, and finally a rat in order to get a bonus to your synergy points. Also of note is the cooking aroma. Aromas are created by letting ingredients cook idly before stirring. Finding the right combination of synergy and aroma is key to mastering the battles.
3 Look For Idle Spots To Grow Zest's Skills
Zest is able to level up his culinary chef ranking by obtaining points in various areas that are marked clearly on your heads-up display and in your menu. The easiest ways to gain these points are through farming, harvesting, crafting, eating your dishes, and cooking.
However, you can also gain passive points at certain idle areas that are denoted in-game by a colored marker. For example, you can sit on a bench, talk to certain NPCs, or swim in the ocean, which all give you points that go towards your overall chef ranking.
2 Always Harvest Your Crops
Part of the lore of Epic Chef is that your villa and farm areas are imbued with special magic that allows for your crops and trees to grow in mere hours. Sometimes your crops will even grow twice in one day giving you access to more ingredients as you see fit. This gameplay aspect that also ties into the narrative really helps to streamline the game in comparison to other farming games.
Simply put, harvest your crops and trees every single day. Yes, you can even chop down trees completely for crafting wood to just see them regrow overnight. Once you understand this, you will be able to create a fantastic farm area that is always providing you with a bounty of items and ingredients. Don't worry, you can also build plenty of storage crates for all of your extra supplies.
1 Be Sure To Keep Money Saved Up
It should probably come as no surprise that money is important in this game, however, its importance can't be understated. Fortunately, it's very easy to acquire early on. To keep things simple, focus on saving up your coins early on in order to be able to afford the cooking competition entrance fees which generally cost 100 coins.
Yes, it's a bummer that you have to pay to enter a quest-specific competition but you can always surrender in the middle of a battle if you think you won't win. By doing this, you ensure your entrance fee is returned to you. The best ways to gain coins are through selling crops to certain NPCs or by completing mini-quests.