Wasteland Bites Review — Rad Service

Imagine the world ended tomorrow, plunging everyone into an apocalyptic wasteland where survival becomes a daily challenge and terrifying mutants walk the lands. In such a scenario, one that many of us gamers have surely imagined at least once, what do you see yourself doing to survive? Would you become a soldier, fighting for one of the boundless, ideologically different factions or tribes that rise to reshape the world? Would you, perhaps, become a scavenger, rooting around in the ruins of the pre-world for food, water, or any scrap that can help you make it to the very next day? Or, maybe, would you open up a food truck and make your caps serving the denizens of the wasteland, much like a rads-filled version of one of those content-farm chefs I’m constantly seeing on my vertical feed?

Wasteland Bites takes the incredibly unique premise of being a food-truck operator in the post-apocalypse and fully commits to it, challenging players to not only prep meals for mutants and survivors in a timely fashion but to deal with the constant threat of post-apocalyptic dangers as they rear their sometimes ugly, always weird heads toward your struggling small business.

After each shift, you earn some money, which you can use to buy upgrades or gas. Gas is used to inch ahead on the game’s interactive map, giving you access to new locations with varying difficulty and new combinations of hazards to keep you on your toes. The goal is ultimately to reach Paradise Beach at the end of the map, a spot rumored to be free of the woes of the apocalypse and perhaps one of the few places left where things resemble normalcy. Again, these are just rumors, and you have a lot of very apocalypse-y turf to cover before you can get there.

Before you buy the game, let me make it clear: Wasteland Bites is not a cooking game. Sure, food preparation is part of the experience, and a big one at that, but this is not a title where you will be engaging with intricately designed and immersive food-preparation mechanics. In fact, most of the food you serve is actually raw, and what does require cooking is done with a quick tap of the mouse and nothing more, placing the emphasis more on speed and accuracy rather than culinary mastery or how nicely you can garnish a hot dog.

Instead, Wasteland Bites falls into the genre of highly stressful time-management horror games, which were popularized by the breakout success of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise in the 2010s. The gameplay loop involves preparing food for guests, making sure to get the order right from the myriad of ingredients available to you, while managing various threats that gradually increase your stress levels when they appear. A full stress bar means death, and such threats can include mimics, hostile guests, barking dogs, a grease fire, Nosferatu himself, or worse. The challenge of filling out an order in time while shooing away rats and preventing alien abduction is not one you should take lightly, and it creates a constant sense of barely controlled chaos.

The threats you face in Wasteland Bites, if you have not guessed already, vary from the mundane to the bizarre. What was undeniably my favorite aspect of the game was seeing just how creative the threats would become as you progress further into the experience. Some show up often, becoming familiar nuisances you learn to manage, while others, such as my favorite, Nosferatu, can be rare appearances that also throw a dangerous wrench into your shift and force you to adapt on the fly.

While the game can be stressful and the various events you are faced with are creepy in concept, Wasteland Bites is more horror-themed rather than outright scary. The designs are certainly unsettling as well, with the game’s gorgeously grotesque art style doing a lot of heavy lifting, but overall it falls more into the realm of dark humor than outright terror-inducing nightmare fuel. The game does not take itself too seriously, and you will not either, but that will not stop you from falling into the frantic frenzy of trying to get your orders done on time without being irradiated, eaten by dogs, or succumbing to The Clown, who is easily one of the more memorable interruptions.

Wasteland Bites is great. I struggle to think of anything worth criticizing about the game, which is not something I say lightly. If you know what it is you are getting into, there really is no way the game could possibly disappoint you. It is a fantastic time-management game, with an incredible premise, gorgeous art, and unique ideas that pay off in dividends with their creativity. You might find the loop slightly repetitive after playing for a while, but that repetition is challenged by increasing difficulty and more hurdles thrown in your way, so it rarely feels stale for long, and more like that repetition was nothing more than preparation for the upcoming switch-up.

Considering everything this game has to offer, it shocked me at just how generous the price of entry was, coming in just under eight dollars during the introductory sale. If Wasteland Bites has caught your attention, do not hesitate to give it a try. You will not be disappointed, and it will hardly cost you an arm and a leg. You might even grow a few more in the process, which, in this particular wasteland, might actually be a good thing.

Wasteland Bites was reviewed on the PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Wasteland Bites is available on Steam.