Was Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook Worth It?

Forage and battle your way through a mysterious tower! Was Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook Worth It?

Full disclosure: We received a review code for the Nintendo Switch version of this game. Rest assured that this will not affect the quality or candor of our review.

Background

This is Nippon Ichi’s take on the survival genre. You create a team of characters that appear as though they were snatched right out of Disgaea, and climb through floors of a mysterious tower. This is not a 100% exploration trip, though; speed is highly prioritized. Your expedition is in real time, and you grow hungrier and thirstier as you travel. You’ll forage and scavenge resources and equipment along the way. You can rest after every floor to cook and recuperate, and I highly recommend doing so.

What does Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook do well?

The character designs are familiar but look great, and there’s a high level of customization. I was immediately surprised. “Why didn’t Disgaea 6 run this well?”, I thought, and if anything, this gives me hope for Disgaea 7. The combat is turn based, but it’s very fluid and quick. There’s no slow square-by-square movement; characters can be repositioned quickly and encounters are over within seconds.

The constant ticking clock adds a sense of urgency, especially as you see your harvest becoming less fresh by the second. Do you grind it out a little longer (at the expense of the freshness of your haul) or do you rush to the next floor? The correct answer is generally to level as much as you safely can, or else you’ll get wiped by the next boss.

What could Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook do better?

As is often the case in this genre, the difficulty tends to be uneven. You can be the judge as to whether that’s intentional or a gimmick to squeeze some more playtime out.

Incidentally, gameplay is all we have here, as they’ve eschewed any sort of story. This is a surprising take considering how well they’ve integrated clearing maps or dungeons into storytelling in other NIS titles. The initial premise is grim and frankly, gross, but it just becomes rote as you do it over and over.

It’s a game over if the main character dies, which is always annoying. I didn’t enjoy that as a megaten mechanic and I especially hate seeing it in 2023.

Was Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook fun?

The gameplay loop is serviceable. While it does add an almost Atelier-like crafting (cooking) scheme, it’s not as though we haven’t seen this same premise before.

Is Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook good value?

There are 100 floors in the tower (before post-game). This is another one of those “you’ll get your money’s worth if you enjoy the gameplay” titles.

Who is this game for?

Conceptually, Monster Menu is pretty close to a Mystery Dungeon, and I’m not sure that I would put this in the same category as all the survival games. Instead, I would say this is for NIS fans who like when they experiment. If you enjoy any of their side content like Phantom Brave, ZHP, La Pucelle, etc. then this is right up your alley, but it it has a hard time competing with the premier roguelites in the current gaming zeitgeist.

Was Monster Menu: the Scavenger’s Cookbook worth it?

How is your tolerance for roguelites? The aesthetic is cute and the gameplay works well enough, though it doesn’t excel. I don’t think Monster Menu will be anyone’s main course, but it’s a decent side dish to try between other titles. As mentioned above, this is more for NIS fans rather than roguelite fans, so try the demo first to make sure you like the gameplay loop.

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