Buffet Knight - Decadent Full Course

I received Buffet Knight - Decadent Full Course from the developer through the Steam Curator Connect program about a year ago, and I apologize for not giving it a try sooner, since it's pretty neat. In short, it's a bite-sized (pun intended) top-down Zelda-like if you were playing one as Kirby, and I had a better time with it then with any Zelda game. It's also probably the most interesting game I've received a review copy of. You play as the titular Buffet Knight, a weird little purple dude with a mouth, a knight helmet, and no other distinguishing features. After hearing stores from his grandma about her time as a knight and her search for the fabled "Divine Taste", the greatest flavor in the world, he decided to follow in her footsteps. But on the day he completes his training as a knight and is invited to a banquet at Gourmet Castle, the evil Demon Chef attacks and steals all the kingdom's food! Buffet Knight sets out on a quest to retrieve the stolen food stores and face the Demon Chef. To get there, you'll need to explore varied nearby lands, each with its own dungeon, enemies, puzzles, upgrades and accessories, and of course- things to eat. Eating things and then spitting them back out is your main means of attack, and along the way you'll discover charge attacks, passive accessories, and active abilities that grant you new attacks or traversal abilities that cost varying amounts of food items to use. Eating things also grants you experience you can spend at campfires to upgrade various stats. You'll also find gold to purchase upgrades with. Buffet Knight is honestly a very easy game. I don't think I ever actually got a game over. It definitely has difficulty on par with Kirby, or the Shantae games. I've played a few games that are mini-versions of established genres, and in some cases I think their compact nature is an improvement to the experience. Buffet Knight is to Zelda games what, as an example, Franzen is to JRPGs, not that I resent a 30-60 hour game for the length. But the fact that Buffet Knight only took me about 11 hours to finish, and was considerably easier then most games, helped my enjoyment of playing something outside my regular area of interest. The game is very colorful and charming, and has a pretty good soundtrack. It's kind of impressive that a game like this was developed in RPGMaker, though it's no secret what people have accomplished with custom scripting in that engine. If you enjoy any of the aforementioned inspirations, you'll probably enjoy Buffet Knight- and if you're like me, someone who doesn't enjoy Zelda and is largely indifferent to Kirby, you might enjoy it anyway, as I did.