Hungry Hearts Ramen

I have every Hungry Hearts game Gagex comes out with, and this is my favorite so far! It is at least partially because the Ramen counts as a “rice” dish (first course). In previous late games, it gets hard to make 3 dishes for customers that aren’t Max level yet because you quickly run out of rice dishes. The addition of Ramen dishes counting as rice/1st dishes helps balance that out. I was afraid they’d count as main course (2nd) dishes as that’s where the rare ramen item was located in previous games. Glad to see that’s not the case here! Like another reviewer commented, the Ramen recipe developing system is a bit frustrating/confusing. Took some trial and error (and using the hints) to figure out some of those recipes. Also a litte disappointed I couldn’t make my own ramen recipe dish, nor could you make a ramen recipe before a customer requested it. You could see Chive Ramen in the recipe book, for example, but couldn’t actually develop the recipe until the customer requested it.

As a long time enjoyer of the Hungry Hearts series, I’m deeply disappointed by this installment. I was deterred from trying this game for months partially due to my busy schedule and the one bad review that said the ramen making system was difficult without a guide. Just yesterday I finally decided to give the game a try as my schedule finally cleared up a bit and now I really wish I hadn’t. It seemed like the typical hungry hearts game format wise, and it wasn’t until a few hours in that I started noticing all the Chinese recipes in the book and how occasionally some characters would refer to the restaurant as a “Chinese” restaurant, even when it’s clear the setting is Japan and the elderly owners are also Japanese. If you’re going to add Chinese recipes to inflate your recipebook then at least say that the food’s origin is Chinese in the description of the food (some were labeled, most not). If you wanted to incorporate Chinese dishes, why not make the restaurant and the setting Chinese too? As someone that’s Chinese, I’m just disappointed after having played and enjoyed so many of your games.

I love all of these games, but I especially loved the addition of the ramen mechanic! It never felt too difficult because I knew if I just kept cooking and discovering ingredients I would get what was needed. If anyone is stuck, though, I recommend just continuing to play, level up dishes and finish each customer’s story! If you do that, you’ll unlock more recipes and ingredients. It might take a little time but it’s worth it. The story is so beautiful in this one, just like the rest. I was nearly in tears at the ending ♥️ I’m definitely going to replay some of the other games now but I hope to see more with the Ramen cooking mechanic (or other iterations of it!) in the future if they keep making more!