Review - Automachef : Turns Food Into A Feat Of Careful Engineering

Automachef turns food into a feat of careful engineering.

- Tom Hatfield

My favorite level of Automachef is simple—there are only two recipes, a chicken sandwich, and a burger, but the kitchen is the size of a toolshed. Forced to make do with only one grill and one food processor, I establish loops of conveyor belts to shuffle ingredients around. With all available space filled, I sit back and click go, only to realize I’d forgotten the machine that takes customer’s orders. Time to start over.

Automachef is a production line game—that is to say, it’s a game about carefully arranging conveyor belts, mechanical arms and other doodads along a grid to guide ingredients through various stages of cooking, mixing and packaging. As the name might suggest, this one is about food. Specifically fast food—heart attack burgers, fried chicken, and greasy BLTs will power your way to world domination, quite literally if the AI that serves as your jokey mission narrator is to be believed.