Xbox Game Pass First Impressions: Magical Delicacy

The Magical Delicacy achievements are available to unlock, as after a long stint on our list of upcoming Game Pass games, the gorgeous pixel game is available as a day-one addition to the service. After several hours cooking meals, exploring Grat, meeting mysterious witches, and practicing my platforming, here’s what I think for our Magical Delicacy first impressions! In Magical Delicacy, we play as Flora, who at age 21 is making the move to a far-off, mysterious town. She’s a witch herself, but without much knowledge about witches in her own hometown, she sets off for Grat with the hope of finding out more from witches there. Perhaps fittingly for a game in which cooking plays such a big part, Magical Delicacy mixes a lot of ingredients together: platforming, Metroidvania inspirations, magic, exploration, trading, and, of course, cooking.

As is tradition for games which come under the “cozy” umbrella, Flora’s new hometown is more than happy to welcome and accommodate her — as long as she’s willing to go straight into debt and pay it off as she goes. Magical Delicacy has a tongue-in-cheek approach to this idea, from Flora’s sardonic comments every time she finds something new to pay for, to the unwelcome (and unexpected) person she finds crashing in her new home, who condescends to let Flora stay there too. Before you even move in, however, the first thing you notice in Magical Delicacy is how beautiful everything is. Pixel art styles can be hit or miss depending on your preference, but there are lovely details in every corner of Grat which make exploring feel even more rewarding. Right at the start, I did notice a very small delay in how quickly the screen follows your movement, which was a little distracting as the background catches up, but it seems to have only been a temporary thing.

The other thing to note is that while this art style is beautiful, it can be a little hard at first to distinguish between which surfaces are safe for platforming and which lead to Certain Death. Like with all platforming games, testing your limits is a big part to begin with — which areas you can reach, how far you can jump, and so on. It doesn’t feel as though there’s much hand-holding in Magical Delicacy, and after a few tutorials about cooking, movement, and the like, you’re left to find your own way. At first, this could feel almost frustrating when you’re not sure what to do next, but Magical Delicacy soon makes it clear that you can and will progress and become more familiar with what’s going on.

For instance, the game’s map is a lot to take in at first. There’s a lot of verticality to take into account, and to begin with the amount of getting lost and backtracking felt a little frustrating — especially since you don’t have a map to start with, and when you do, it’s pretty incomplete. But Magical Delicacy is all about taking your time and finding things out for yourself, with the game even reminding you not to panic when you get lost. Metroidvania influences play a big part, and you’re meant to spend time finding shortcuts and improving your abilities. After a while, you do start to familiarize yourself with the world, and you can upgrade your map with markers for the merchants, for instance, and a compass to show where Flora is. As soon as you start acquiring these improvements, the enjoyment of upgrading and improving your exploration starts to kick in.

It’s worth noting, too, that Magical Delicacy has a big focus on accessibility options. We talked through this a little with developer Skaule in our part-reveal of the Magical Delicacy Xbox achievements, when Skaule explained about the Easy Platforming mode and how it “and the general design idea of removing punishing encounters should help you experience the game on your own terms.” There are far more accessibility options to help you tailor things just the way you’d like, but even that Easy Platforming mode makes a huge difference. I tried it out on a segment which featured timed jumps, obstacles, and the prospect of starting all over again when you died, and it proved an excellent way to help scale things back.

You have a journal of sorts, which is really helpful for checking recipes, your ingredients, your keepsakes, and so on, and even tracks your recent conversations with the characters you’ve met. However, I haven’t yet found a way to check what’s going on with other things in my inventory: money, for instance. The two types of currencies I’ve come across so far look like buttons and feathers, but I haven’t yet seen what the deal is there, and with feathers seeming a lot rarer than buttons, I’m afraid of spending too many without knowing what they are or where to find more.

One aspect that’s really fun is upgrading and designing your kitchen. Customers all want different things (and you need to go to them at first, since you’re so new), meaning you soon need to expand your operation to include tools like cutting boards and mortar and pestles. Arranging and sorting your kitchen gives you a nice sense of progression, and it’s great to see your own place starting to fill up with the things you’ve earned. It’s also nice and easy to arrange and rearrange your kitchen, so you can have things just the way you like.

Cooking itself is interesting: you need to find, buy, or grow the ingredients, and everything has different properties. Customer orders might ask for something including vegetables, for instance, but without anything spicy, or with something that’s been roasted, so you need to plan your recipes, use every necessary appliance, and then make sure to come back for it when it’s done. There are short timing requirements to collect ingredients and sort dishes, but one helpful thing is that you can have orders pinned on the side of the screen to check as you go. You can also keep track of everything in your journal, and the more people you meet, the more upgrades and improvements you can start applying to things.

Speaking of people, Magical Delicacy has a lovely cast of strange and interesting characters. Some run their own shops in Grat, some are hanging about for a chat, and some are still entirely mysterious and aren’t yet willing to share their secrets. The map is chock-full of secrets, and it’s worth exploring everywhere to find hidden areas and rewards, especially as you get better exploration abilities.

Summary

It looks as though a completion might require a good chunk of time, but we know from our chat with developer Skaule that Magical Delicacy offers achievements you can earn in one playthrough, with Skaule adding that “With a rather lengthy game, I wanted to avoid obscure achievements that could be locked out in a playthrough.” So far, I’ve unlocked two, but it looks like you’ll need to put in the time to fully upgrade your kitchen and explore everything the game has to offer. This game was already on my radar for its mix of magic and cozy elements, but there’s even more depth there than I expected. There’s clearly a lot going on behind-the-scenes storywise, there’s intricacy to the cooking and exploration elements, and there’s a lot of secrets left to find. I’ll be heading back to Grat to find out more!

*Heidi spent around three hours exploring Grat, cooking dishes, and collecting ingredients. A review copy was provided by the publisher and played on an Xbox Series X.