i had a sigh of relief wash over me when i saw there was AT L E A S T people on backloggd that didnt have this game fly under them undetected. this was so short but so speciallll ill circle back to my moaning after the meat of my review is done but Enjoy The Diner is an interesting visual novel to me because its one of the few where i feel like it aims for a specific limited color paletted art style of about 4-5 colors max to really give off the baked in nightly moon vibe and feel going on for the game
I love this art style in it's simplicity and atmosphere it has goin on :>
This premise yanked me in really quick because a compact (all things considered i mean it is technically a restaraunt setting) diner with a handful of characters goes a long way when the writing is really nice and the story doesnt really overstay its welcome to the length

It's a bit hard to tack down how this game makes me feel but for frame of reference this game borders on melancholy but never in the way that i feel like is heavy handed with what its getting across, the messages and themes of persisting against time. Living with mistakes and even the passage of time feeling like a blink or an eternity thats stopped mattering or even feeling the constraints of the fabric of reality at all. Like a purgatory but youre still able to freely do as you like with interacting with others, get a drink from the soda machine, maybe rifle through something thatd otherwise be impossible to figure out within your own lifetime
you have a short time in the diner but i feel like when youre in it you dont notice how much time's passed, sometimes i sat in different corners of the diner just listening to the OST (which i t hought was so fucking pleasant there was two options to go through with the steam version but i picked the old one but i iknow the newer stuff is really nice too)

its like almost entrancing
i think i like literally all of these characters but if i had to pick a fave im picking Laterre obviously hm i wonder where she is
oh well,

play it if you got some hours to kill, dont rush, soak in it
enjoy th- gunshots and thunder crackling uh. yea do the thing if u wanna.. i loved it for whatever thats worth..

also uh.
can this game get like atleast 30% more popular bc the only person on youtube thats really extensively covered it is a vtuber and shes a sweetie for being like the only motherfucker on that site to really do a full playthrough like that

but also aside from the steam page there really is not many ppl not from japan that ik that even Know Of this game

and its TECHNICALLY(this version atleast) NEW
but, even if it doesnt BANG bang im content with the offhanded occasion that i do get to see some more lovely fanart of the characters, listen to the ost more standalone
and mull over how awesome itd be to drink a penguin soda
or rlly any of those sodas in that machine sound delicious and mouthawtering good omg

...
nobody told me the spot the difference book wasnt progression related by the way, i found that by accident and ws so disappointed bc i thought haha yes!! yeS!! YES!!!!! MUAHAHAHA im so owning this shit

and i suppose that in it of itself doesnt really matter because time spent is not time wasted when youre enjoying and savoring.

Wife’s Reaction:
“Equal parts educationaland heartwarming. And probably the only time I’ll see you cook something.”

The Taste You Can See:
What an incredible look at a family’s experiences through their food and culture. And I was elated to play the entire game with my wife and talk with her about each dish and story beat. I just wish thegame unlocked a cookbook upon finishing the story!