Independent developer Yangyang Mobile has announced the release of High Times, a dating and cooking simulator which is now available on PC, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2.
Featuring a hand-drawn comic-book art style, High Times puts players in the shoes of a customizable protagonist managing a quirky, high-stakes café. But according to the press release, this isn’t a typical restaurant management game: the food you prepare can directly alter your customers’ emotions, moods, and desires.
In High Times, players must “master a fast-paced, multi-layered cooking mechanic to prepare unique comfort foods and avant-garde dishes tailored to a diverse cast of local regulars”. Every ingredient chosen impacts the emotional state of the character eating it, giving players the power to mend broken hearts, calm stressed minds, or spark unexpected creative genius.
High Times features a branching, dialogue-driven narrative with multiple romanceable characters, each with their own distinct storylines, personal struggles, and secrets. Players will have to make critical choices that lead to drastically different narrative conclusions.
The press release confirms the game’s key features below:
- Donut Therapy: Pay close attention to your customers’ stories to cook the perfect mood-altering treat. The right ingredients at the right time can solve even the most complex emotional problems.
- Cafe Progression: Grow your business by creating and evolving recipes. Earn tips to purchase more than 100 store decorations, and unlock advanced tools to tackle more elaborate culinary challenges.
- Relationships with Consequences: Discover the stories of 30+ diverse customers. Six of these characters are romanceable, allowing you to use “donut woo” to win their hearts. With multiple endings per customer, your choices lead to genuinely different outcomes.
- Premium Visual Novel Presentation: Experience a rich, immersive world featuring a full English voice cast, a catchy theme song, an original soundtrack and fully animated cutscenes.
Yangyang Mobile is an indie game studio based in the Philippines. Founded by couple John and Danni Pineda, in 2015, they’ve focused on narrative games. Previously, they’ve released four titles, including The Letter and Love Esquire. Devoted to diversity, nearly half the studio are women and/or members of the LGBTQIA community.