Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook

"You&s;d think a game that advertises eating monsters would at least make for some bizarre fun, but the premise becomes trapped in a slow roguelike whose eyes are too big for its stomach."

"It took a long time for me to appreciate what Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook has to offer and once I did, I became hooked thanks to its surprisingly deep strategic survival formula that&s;ll have you scrambling to maintain and …"

"In fact, if NIS decided to put out a sequel, I might be inclined to check it out because they have made a number of excellent RPGs in the past. It just feels like they threw in so many systems, …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook is ultimately in a weird place. The gameplay is enjoyable if you like the genre, but so many elements won’t resonate with people. As someone who dislikes resource management, those frequent sections get old quickly. …"

"If the lead character’s HP reaches zero then it’s game over. All character levels are lost upon defeat, and you’ll have to start the dungeon from the first floor, keeping your equipment and any learned skills. Though the floors are …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook is a game with a brilliant recipe that falls a bit short due to a lack of ingredients. The idea of a roguelike tactical RPG based on cooking is certainly an intriguing one, especially the …"

"Monster Menu combines roguelike dungeon-diving, cooking with monster parts, and tactical battles, and it blends together rather well."

"Not feeling quite like anything else out there, Monster Menu’s mix of action and RPG elements is novel, but lack thrills"

"To eat or not to eat is the question! Dungeon crawling, monsters, and questionable meals are aplenty in Monster Menu!"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook brought the idea of surviving in a dungeon eating only monsters, insects and plants found inside it to the game world. The concept is something that still has ample room in the market and the …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook feels more like a first try on NIS’ part than anything else—a fun first try, but a first try nonetheless. I legitimately enjoyed my time learning the ins and outs of the game and, as …"

"Unfortunately, the new Nippon Ichi Software game showcases the basic [aspects] of what tactical RPGs can offer and limits itself to that, not introducing any aspect that makes it memorable. The exploration of soulless scenery isn&s;t a positive highlight either, …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook combines cooking and tactics combat to create a rather tasty RPG experience."

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook may be a rich snack for fans of the genre, but it may prove indigestible to most at the launch price at which it is offered."

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook offers a creative set of approaches that bring out what I love most about Nippon Ichi Software’s games: originality. However, like a lot of their projects, the execution is not the best for a number …"

"As a (mostly) classical roguelike, Monster Menu is a good time. It’s well-balanced in its efforts to be excruciatingly difficult. It also has an entertaining loot and character development system. Most importantly of all, the core cooking mechanic is engaging. …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook is a dish that aims to bring together various ideas from dungeon-crawling JRPGs, roguelikes, and cooking games, but only a few satisfying flavours from each of those emerge. Only JRPG addicts with a trained palette …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook is a dull dungeon crawler which fails to fully deliver on its premise."

"This is really just a taste of all the different things you can work with in Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook. If I explain all of this thoroughly, this review would be way too big, and at first, I wasn’t …"

"Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook is a game with interesting ideas, but one of the most uninteresting executions possible. Nothing in the game goes beyond competent and some points reach the objectively bad, making it certainly a game that exists, …"

"Cooking up monsters in Monster Menu: The Scavenger&s;s Cookbook is a delight but simple gameplay and generic dungeons prevent this unique SRPG from making the most of its potential."