Game: Monster Cuisine
Developer: Team Machiavelli
Publisher: TARK
Genre: Action-RPG / Tavern Management
Release Date: Not announced
Platform: PC (Steam)
Biomes: Five
Playtest: Registration open
Price: Not announced
🍖 Team Machiavelli have announced Monster Cuisine, an action-RPG about hunting monsters and then serving them for dinner. You hunt fabled creatures in a Forbidden Forest by day and run a fantasy tavern by night, all in detailed pixel art. It’s on Steam to wishlist now, with playtest registration open.
⚖️ Cook What You Kill
The loop is four words long and it explains the entire game.
The beasts you slay become the food you serve. You head into the Forbidden Forest, hunt something enormous, drag it home, and then butcher, season, sear and serve it to paying customers — whose money funds the gear that lets you hunt something bigger.
Your recipe book grows with your kill count, and so do your prices. So progression isn’t a separate skill tree bolted onto the tavern; the menu is the progress bar.
There are five biomes to hunt and forage across, each with its own dangerous residents, and the toughest of them are boss encounters you’re expected to bring home for dinner.
Best a beast. Serve a feast.
To build your business, you will have to get your hands bloody. Team Machiavelli’s own opening line, and the most efficient pitch in the whole announcement.
Monster Cuisine is a pixel-art action-RPG from Team Machiavelli, published by TARK, in which you play a tavern keeper who sources their own ingredients by killing them. Hunt by day, host by night, and grow the business on the proceeds.
It pairs hard-hitting combat with customisable builds — weapons, armour sets, playstyles — against the cozy rhythm of tavern management, with mini-games for keeping mugs full and plates moving while the dining room descends into its usual chaos. No release date has been announced.
Yes, You’re Thinking of the Right Two Games
🐟 Moonlighter and Dave the Diver, and They Know It
Team Machiavelli get there before anyone else can. Their own announcement opens with a nod to players who’ve “dove with Dave and moonlit as a merchant” — a direct wave at Dave the Diver and Moonlighter.
That’s the right instinct. Both games did the same thing: an adventure loop by day, a service-industry loop by night, with each half funding the other. Both were surprise breakouts. And both proved the formula works well enough that a small studio can now announce a third variant and be immediately understood.
Acknowledging your influences in your own press release is a small piece of confidence. It signals a team that knows exactly which shelf they’re on — and that they intend to earn the space rather than hope nobody notices.
🔪 Cook What You Kill
Butcher, season, sear and serve. A recipe book that grows with the kill count.
🍺 Run the Tavern
Mini-games for keeping mugs full and plates moving with a diverse cast of patrons.
⚔️ Pick Your Playstyle
Choose your weapon, then go toe-to-toe with mythical creatures.
🛡️ Forge the Build
Customisable armour sets to experiment with before each hunt.
The Thing That Could Set It Apart
⚔️ The Combat Might Actually Be the Main Course
Here’s the interesting question, and the one this announcement quietly answers.
In both of the obvious reference points, the adventure half is the lighter half. Dave’s diving is pleasant but shallow; Moonlighter’s dungeon combat is functional rather than deep. In each case the shop is where the game lives.
Monster Cuisine is pitching the reverse balance. An action-RPG with weapon choice, customisable armour sets, distinct playstyles, five biomes and boss hunts is a considerably heavier combat offering than either predecessor attempted — and Team Machiavelli lead with “fierce, frenzied fighting” rather than the tavern.
If the hunting genuinely holds up as a full action-RPG rather than a resource-gathering errand, that’s the differentiator. It’s also the hardest thing to get right, which is presumably why there’s a playtest.
📋 What We Know, and What We Don’tConfirmed:
• Five biomes to hunt and forage across, with boss encounters
• Weapon and armour customisation driving distinct builds
• A recipe book that expands as your kill count climbs
• Tavern mini-games and a cast of patrons to satisfy
• Detailed pixel art across monsters, meals and customers
• Playtest registration is open now
Not announced:
• Any release date — the Steam page reads “coming soon”
• Price
• Console versions, or whether any are planned
• Whether the day/night split is a hard structure or a soft one
Platform and Availability
🖥️ Steam, Date Unannounced
Monster Cuisine is listed for PC via Steam with no consoles announced and no release date — the store page currently reads “coming soon.”
It’s available to wishlist and follow now, and Team Machiavelli are taking registrations for upcoming playtests, which is the more useful of the two if you want to see it before launch.
No pricing has been given.
⚔️ Action RPG
🍺 Tavern Management
🍳 Cooking
👾 Pixel Art
🌲 Monster Hunting
🏪 Business Sim
Who’s Making It
🎭 Team Machiavelli
An independent studio whose stated principle is making games they’d want to play themselves. Their first release was Castle of Alchemists, described as a small passion project that established their design foundations.
🗂️ Four Projects at Once
Worth noting: Monster Cuisine is one of four titles Team Machiavelli list as ongoing, alongside Deckfort Alchemists, Aquaville and Bring It. That’s an ambitious spread for an indie studio, and it’s the kind of thing that either signals a genuinely broad team or a lot of plates in the air. Their stated approach — clear design goals and tight execution — suggests they’re aware of the risk.
🏢 TARK
Publishing Monster Cuisine. Team Machiavelli handle development.
Monster Cuisine is available to wishlist on Steam now, with playtest registration open and a release date still to be announced.
Hi there! I’m Marie, also known as CtrlQueen. I’m passionate about keeping up with the latest in gaming news and sharing my insights. RPGs steal my heart with their rich narratives and immersive worlds, but I also love unwinding with fun, casual games. Whether you’re here for deep dives into game mechanics or just to chat about your favorite casual game, you’ve found the right place! Let’s game and explore together.
