Magical Delicacy Review

Magical Delicacy is a metroidvania that I’ve been looking forward to since I first saw the trailer at last year’s Summer Game Fest. As someone who does enjoy witchy things, and with my current fantasy kick (I’ve been reading a lot of cosy fantasy, as well as playing it), I was delighted to be given a review code to play it.

If I’m honest, I’m still a little bit new to metroidvanias. I didn’t play them much when I was younger, and Magical Delicacy was a great way to really jump into the genre. As a young witch, Flora, moves to the town of Grat, where her job is to learn how to become a better witch. To improve her magic, she opens a shop, where she sells magically-imbued food to the townsfolk, but it’s not quite so cut and dry.

There are many ingredients, and many recipes that Flora can get. You can unlock them by doing quests, buying them with feathers (or beads, for more basic ingredients, and crow skulls if you know where to go), or just experimenting with what you have available. Ingredients can be purchased at different vendors, and you can find some of them while running and jumping around Grat. Of course, not all ingredients are easy to get, as when you’re doing a quest, you may need to add some extra steps like roasting them in the oven, or juicing them. Plus, you’ll have to ensure you don’t burn the ingredients, so you can do multiple steps or cook multiple things at once if you so desire. You’re not limited to having to prep one step at a time, and you can work on multiple jobs at once if you want to feel busy.

Each ingredient has a specific flavour, and some will overpower any other flavour in the recipe. So some quests will require a lot of trial and error. But don’t worry, if you don’t master your recipe straight away, you can sell what you’ve already made in your shop. You can put up to three items for sale at a time by placing it in your open window (which is an idea supplied by Flora’s mysterious roommate, who is definitely not squatting in the shop because she was here first, damn it). You can get some good money this way, and it’s a nice way to ensure that you can get more beads to buy replacement ingredients.

When exploring, you’ll find that there are different places to go depending on whether it’s day or night. There are some platforms to jump on, which will only appear in the moonlight. Likewise, Flora can only make potions and such in the evening, which means daylight is the perfect time to scout for ingredients. Best of all, the quests don’t have a time limit, so you don’t have to stress out too much. Nor do you have to bring all the items at once, and you can go back and forth depending on whether you had all the items available to you, or if you just need a little financial boost to complete the whole job.

Now, you might be wondering, but what about the exploration? At its core, Magical Delicacy is a cooking game. That’s why I need to go into detail about this. The controls are nice and simple, and there are quick time events when you start cooking and if you’re harvesting materials from the ground. You can also grow your own crops, plants, and herbs in your garden, which will help save you money. This means you have even more time to explore and find new ingredients.

As with all metroidvanias, you’ll notice that you can jump from different platforms, double jump, and you can propel yourself further into the air to reach even higher places. Once you meet the other witches, Flora will be dragged into the middle of their shenanigans, which means she’ll unlock different abilities. While propelling into the air is a feature that is unlocked by interacting with one witch, another will give you the ability to go through tight spots by turning into a cat. Did I mention you can also pet cats in Magical Delicacy? Because you can! You can also unlock different areas by either going through these tight spaces, or jumping around to your heart’s content.

If there’s anywhere you need to go, there are also fast travel points you can go to on the map. These are either through fountains, or the Altar of Crows. The cute thing about this, is that the map is really easy to navigate. New areas are drawn on by Flora, and markers are doodled on by her hand. It’s really cute, and it’s something I really enjoy.

When meeting the villagers, Flora can talk to them, ask them questions, and deliver the items they order. Some deliveries need to be accomplished to get to the next stage, and you’ll need to unlock specific items from Star, the blacksmith, to ensure you can complete some orders. So there’s no specific order to the quest, it just depends on where you’re going first. I still feel like I’m only scratching the surface of the story, but Flora and the townsfolk each have their own things going on, and you learn about them at a steady pace. Plus, some places you can only explore after removing vines, which can only be done with a potion, and I appreciate that while you can get the recipe, the game won’t hold your hand, and it’s up to you to find out just how to make these potions.

I enjoy the art and music of Magical Delicacy, and it’s really easy to lose yourself in it. You can make the platforms a little more accessible (something I had to do, because I’m not the best at jumping to anywhere that disappears quickly), and this will make it better for those who aren’t great at timing — like myself — without limiting the difficulty. While the ingredients can be challenging to find, it encourages you to explore and do different quests to get to the next part of the story. The world building is fascinating, and the Kingdom of Grat definitely has its own unique world, with so many fun characters and different ingredients. Plus, ingredients have different rarities, as well as flavours, so you may need to cook based on the need to only have rare or common ones.

Personally, I don’t think I can find anything wrong with Magical Delicacy. I’ve not had any issues, and usually there’s at least one element that I struggle with. But I’m fully invested in Flora and her adventures, and I haven’t noticed anything that ruins my gameplay experience. There’s no reason to sleep, but you can if you want to do something that has to be done at day or night. The stores are always open, and you aren’t penalised for making mistakes, but you’re encouraged to experiment. The artwork is charming, and the story is done in such a way that it makes me want to find out more.

Magical Delicacy is definitely going to be one of those games I’ll go back to again and again. I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface, but it’s such a calming game that I can lose myself in it when I need to relax, but also think about what there is to discover next. Plus, I can edit my kitchen however I wish, and make upgrades as I go, which is incredibly satisfying, as if you don’t like your cauldron in one spot, you can replace your oven with it, or anything else you have.