Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe strays from the gameplay of the original Cats & Soup, but it's still bursting with charm. It's still a game about cute cats making soup, but this time, the soup is made a little differently. The original is an idle tycoon title, but Magic Recipe is a merge game, and that meant I had to put in a little more effort to bring tasty new dishes to life.
I started out with a small vegetable patch. Tilling the soil dug up vegetables, and merging my crops turned them into new ingredients. Sometimes, it was easy to see what my merged veggies would become; obviously, combining two carrot sprouts will get me a carrot. Other times, the transformations were a little less obvious. Merge two potatoes, and they turn into garlic. Who knew?
Once I had enough ingredients, I could open up my trusty recipe book and make some soup. Successfully preparing soups unlocked me all kinds of goodies, like new cats and adorable costumes to dress them up in. Soon, I gained access to other locations, like a greenhouse and an herbal lab, which allowed me to harvest brand-new ingredients and make more types of soup.
Things got a little more complex once there were more ingredients in play, but Magic Recipe was never overly complicated or challenging. If I ran out of space and needed to store ingredients for later, my hamster pal was happy to hold them in his cheek pouches until I was ready to cook. (The process seems a little unsanitary, but what do I know?)
Right now, Magic Recipe is in its soft launch stage, and monetization is minimal. There are a few ads, but they're totally optional, and it's really easy to ignore them completely. I've played enough mobile games to know that there'll probably be some sort of premium currency or paid shop eventually, but right now, the game is entirely free, and that feels pretty nice.
If you're a fan of the original Cats & Soup, love games with cats, or are just looking for a new cozy game to relax with, Magic Recipe is a title you won't want to miss. The peaceful gameplay, soothing music, and ridiculously cute cats all make this the perfect game to play when you want to chill out and unwind. The world can always use more cat games, and this is a great one.