by Shawn Schafer

Created on: February 05, 2009   Last Updated: September 19, 2011

First off, I have to say that Chocolatier:Decadence by Design really surprised me. I downloaded the game very skeptical of how much fun it could possibly be. And then I actually started playing and it was love at first click.

Okay, maybe third click, but you get the idea. The game has you running a chocolate company and buying ingredients to make different kinds of chocolate, then turn around and sell them. There is this cool little minigame you play to determine what pace your factory makes chocolate at. The goal of the game is basically to try and make as much money off of your chocolate as possible while also jumping through hoops for various NPC's. There are probably a little over a couple dozen ingredients, and dozens of pre-made recipes. After about 40 minutes into the game, you get to start making coffee, which is made at a separate factory from the chocolate(the pace is also set with a different, Tetris-like minigame), meaning that you can make both at the same time and more than double your profit. The game is basically a fairly simple sim/tycoon type game. Simple, but far from simplistic; I give gameplay a 5 out of 5.

The graphics are 2d but they're fun. This isn't meant to be a graphical game, but the art adds to the game. Sure, graphics could have been fleshed out a little more, but they aren't terrible or even less than satisfactory. I would have liked to have seen some simple animations outside of just the minigames rather than just static pictures all over the world, but this isn't the kind of game you play for graphical detail. I give graphics a 3 out of 5.

There wasn't really anything bad or good about the sound. The music was okay, the sound effects were okay, but nothing outstanding, so I give sound a 3 out of 5.

The thing that really gets me with this game is just how obscurely amazing it is. I mean this game is a diamond in the rough. You wouldn't think it would be possible to make an amazing game about chocolate making/selling, but here it is. The game is simple and easy to play while also being a lot of fun and giving some challenge. And I mean who would have actually thought of making a game about making chocolate? It's brilliant and the most surprising game I've seen in a long time. I give creativity and innovation a 5 out of 5.

Regardless of how amazing the game is, I do wince at having to pay 19.95 for it, but that doesn't mean I don't recommend it and that I won't buy it. On the contrary. I highly recommend it and I am going to buy it; an hour was more than enough to get me addicted. Haggling to get the best prices for ingredients is fun, selling chocolate is fun, the minigames are fun, doing the little 'quests' is fun; this game is just a blast overall. I give Chocolatier:Decadence by Design a 5 out of 5.

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