Down-south neighbours Singapore has its fair share of upcoming indie games coming soon, but one title that is probably going to hit right at home for fans of roguelikes like Hades is Cuisineer. A mash-up between an action roguelike title and a simple restaurant management sim (like the Diner Dash series), Cuisineer is the proud creation of Singapore studio Battlebrew Productions. But did you know the game was a result of a last-ditch hail mary play from the company?

According to a recent Gameshub interview, Battlebrew Productions CEO and Design Director Shawn Toh said that its roguelite-restaurant-management-sim hybrid is the company’s last stand in game-making; a Hail Mary play if you will. The company previously worked on mobile titles like Battlesky Brigade Tap Tap, with a couple of other projects now on hold due to its past publisher backing out.

“We thought: If this was going to be our one last stand, what kind of game would we make? Our studio roughly has two halves. One half likes action games in the style of Path of Exile. The other loves cosy simulations like Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”

The company was not in the best financial state following its previous publisher’s exit. But after exhibiting its title in international game shows like Tokyo Game Show and PAX East 2022, the company went with XSeed Games and Marvellous Europe under a co-publishing deal set last year (and made official this February) according to Toh. Check out the full interview here for the full scoop.

It’s hard to say if the game will be an actual last stand or a new beginning for the company; we’re not fortune tellers. But at the very least, Cuisineer is getting a lot of love from the press (local and international) and has an attractive hook gameplay-wise. It won a couple of awards too from Level Up to other indie award shows all across the world.

We tried out the demo on Steam Next Fest and it’s a fun time so far; we dig the cheery nature, the spot-on controls of the game’s combat, and the fact that we can take a break from all the loot-hoarding and innocent(?) creature-slaughter by running a fledging restaurant business with good food that’s rendered lovingly-well by the Battlebrew art team. We do hope that the same sentiment can be found in the final version.

Cuisineer will be out on 10th November for PC (Steam).