Finding a queer-inclusive video game is like searching for a unicorn in a galaxy far, far away – rare, magical, and totally worth it in the end. But guess what? Love at The Milky Way Diner is that unicorn! Or at the very least, it has the potential to become said unicorn.
I first came across Love at The Milky Way Diner on Instagram during a classic ADHD-fueled doomscrolling session. My finger swiped the screen, reel, after reel… after reel. Suddenly – BAM! A reel by @pastelgrandma (one-half of Clumsy Cat Studio) caught my eye. The artwork instantly drew me in, snapping me out of my scrolling trance. Keywords like Indie, Sci-Fi, Romance, and Cooking had my interest immediately piqued. Before the reel even finished, I was already following the account and hopping over to their Kickstarter page. Then, when I learned that the co-creators, owners, and developers of the game were fellow queer Canadians who are both partners in life and game development – and that the game features multiple queer representations – I had my Phillip J. Fry “Take my money!” moment.
Keep reading to find out more about the story, gameplay, and my thoughts, in this Love at The Milky Way Diner demo preview.
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The Heart-Warming Story of Love at The Milky Way Diner
If there is one thing I took away from playing this demo, it’s the amount of time, effort, and creative brain juices that went into building the world the game is set in. Love at The Milky Way Diner is an intergalactic story set 200+ years in the future. You, a human, are traveling to an interstellar space station to take over your late Aunt’s diner.
The main story of how you find yourself traveling to a space station to run a diner is similar in idea to other already released games (think Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, etc). You’re unhappy, looking for a change, and have no real ties to a job or career back home. A family member passes away and wants their business to stay in the family, if possible.
Since your Aunt didn’t have any children of her own and you have no compelling reason to stay on Mars (apparently a lot has changed in 200+ years), you pack your stuff and head off. The fact that you’ve never worked in a diner or cooked much doesn’t even faze you. Then you reach Hesperides, find out that the Milky Way Diner is a local favorite, and that everyone has been excitedly awaiting your arrival.
As hinted in the title, Love at The Milky Way Diner also has a romance component. The demo introduces you to all eight potential love interests. I was hoping for a little more variation of choices, but I also will not complain about having eight options. Keep reading to see all the love interests in Love at The Milky Way Diner.
Love Interests: Cooking Up Romance
As I mentioned above, I was hoping for more diversity within the pool of love interests. The way that Hesperides is described, it seems like there should be a vast amount of different alien species milling about, and very few humans. However, when it comes to love interests, there are “only” four alien species, and two characters are human. I would have liked to see more range concerning the gender spectrum, (however, having any queer representation in video games is a win in my books).
In addition, the personalities that are shown in the demo are slightly redundant. By that, I mean that all seem to fit into well-known tropes that are often seen in media. This admittedly has its pros and cons. On one hand, the lack of originality can, on occasion, make things boring. On the other hand, these personalities can also make the characters relatable. Even though the personalities may feel familiar at first, it’s important to remember (for myself as well) that this is just the demo. The full game may allow for further exploration and development of these characters.
- Setteth – He/him, Researcher
- Vega – She/her, Traveler
- Aedar – He/him, Farmer
- Saria – She/her, Doctor
- La’ro – He/him, Bar Owner
- Shiwoo – He/him, Head of Security on Hesperides
- Roswell – She/they, Mechanic
- Ka’el – She/her, Cargo Runner
Gameplay – A Recipe for Love
Love at The Milky Way Diner is essentially an LGBTQ+-friendly graphic novel come to life. In fact, it is a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ novel come to life!
As the game is a visual novel, I had very limited interactions in terms of gameplay. I simply clicked through the story, making various decisions along the way. There is a point at the very beginning of the demo where you can enter your name, so there is some typing involved. However, it is mostly just clicking and reading.
The Way to Their Heart
Love at The Milky Way Diner incorporates cooking and culture in a very unique way. After playing through the demo I have to say that the cooking and personal interactions around food are probably my favorite aspects of the game.
During my first playthrough, I got to see and learn about some interesting intergalactic fruits and vegetables. However, during my second playthrough, I made different choices and didn’t get the same opportunity. Additionally, during my first playthrough, I had the chance to experiment with in-game cooking. The cooking dynamics are pretty clear-cut and explained well as you can see below.
Now, the part of the story that I wasn’t aware of going into the demo is that not all species can consume the same things. During the game, you have to figure out (and remember) which species can safely eat what types of food. After all, you don’t want to accidentally poison your crush. You can also learn new recipes and try to make your crush a dish from their native home planet.
A Menu of Possibilities
Another aspect of the game that I’m most intrigued about is all the different possible outcomes, (I’ve always been a fan of a good ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book). The game’s creators have stated that there will be numerous instances throughout the game where the player must make a choice. A choice that will impact how future interactions play out (which you can experience in the demo to a lesser degree). I’m curious to see more of how certain choices change the story from one playthrough to the next.
Kitchen Chaos: When Things Don’t Go According to Plan
I personally did not run into this particular issue during my first playthrough of the demo, but I knew others had. During my second playthrough (or more like attempted speedrun) I came face to face with the issue other players had reported. At the time of writing this article, there seems to be a small glitch during one of the potential cooking scenes. If you make the meal incorrectly the game will tell you and give you hints of how the meal should be made. A potentially handy addition.
That said, this is where the glitch comes in. The textbox with the helpful hint then stays and continues over to the next scene where it quite clearly does not belong.
I’m hoping that this is a quick and easy fix for the developers.
Audio Needs a Recipe Rewrite, But the Visuals are a Delight
Graphics and audio are the bread and butter of video games. As such, one or both can make or break a gaming experience. Read on to see which aspects of Love at The Milky Way Diner demo sizzled… and which fizzled.
Audio is a Bit Underseasoned
Personally, the audio worked for about the first three minutes. After about five minutes, I ended up turning it off completely because the repetitiveness was driving me a little crazy. The audio is the same melody played on a loop with the occasional scene-specific sound effect thrown in. Nothing really special about it. That being said, the creators of Love at The Milky Way Diner have allotted a portion of their funding to creating original audio for the full game. So I am excited to see what they come up with.
Feast for Your Eyes
Visuals, on the other hand, are out of this world. Literally. It’s hard for me to believe that everything was hand-drawn by just one individual, but it was. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, it was the art behind Love at The Milky Way Diner that initially caught my attention. It’s a fun and unique art style paired with a playful color palette. To be honest, I feel like the visuals speak for themselves in this case.
With that in mind, there was one particular element of the visuals that could use a slight tweak (in my humble opinion at least). Throughout the demo, the textbox changes colours depending on if a character is speaking or if you, the protagonist, are thinking. If someone is speaking the textbox is a solid colour, no problem, easy to read. However, when your character is thinking (or during story narration) the textbox changes to have more of a gradient colour. This made the text a little harder to read. Especially in the scenes near the beginning of the demo when you are in the hangar of the Hesperides.
I understand the intention behind changing the graphics to show the change between spoken words and thoughts. However, this could potentially work better (especially for players with visual processing issues) if a few changes were made. Perhaps have the gradient at the top and bottom of the textbox rather than on the sides, and make sure all the text is only within the darker portion. Alternatively, keep the lighter sections on the sides and just have the text solely be in the darker section, with no overlap.
Verdict
I would like to preface this section by stating that Love at The Milky Way Diner was only recently (July 5th, 2024) fully funded. Since the game is still so early on in development it is quite possible that any issues I ran into are already on the creator’s radar and will be ironed out before the full release. Love at The Milky Way Diner takes a creative approach to an already popular gaming experience. I am curious and excited to learn more about the story and the characters within. I can’t wait to see what all the different recipes are as well!
Even though I found some parts of the demo less enjoyable than others, at the end of the day, I will be purchasing the full game once it’s released. I just hope that at least some of the issues pointed out in this preview are addressed by then.
Have you checked out the demo for Love at The Milky Way Diner? What did you think of it? If not, do you think you will? Let us know in the comments, or check out our Facebook, or tweet us your thoughts on Twitter!
I really enjoyed how thorough this review is. The words are well written and very precisely descriptive in a way I can imagine the gameplay as I am reading through. I really enjoy the aspect of cooking just like the reviewer, Blake, has mentioned. I do also hope the bug/glitches mentioned will be fixed to enhance the smoothness of the game. After reading the review, I’m quite intrigued in the game and would definitely consider purchasing, definitely sounds like a game I’d really love to play. Looking forward to the full game release!