That is Lindsey, sport director at Timberline Studio. At present, I’d like to let you know extra about how the idea of taste is integral to how we constructed our cooking and gameplay techniques in Beastro, our upcoming crunchy-cozy deck builder, coming to PS5 in Spring 2026.
We all know that’s a lot to unpack up there, so let’s get into it.
Taste as biomes
On the planet of Beastro, our areas are damaged up by taste varieties: bitter, salty, bitter, candy, and umami. Every of those flavors has its personal tradition, creatures, and coloration palettes. And relying on the place a character hails from, it should outline their palate and what they need their meals to style like!
Over the course of our 4 chapters, you’ll enterprise into these numerous taste biomes to struggle off the monsters which have invaded from one other realm. It’s up to you to struggle them off and defend the flavour spirits in these lands.
You’ll first end up in The Marshlands, the closest area of the Umami Wilds. The Umami lands, and its denizens are signified by their depth of life and heartier elements. Mushrooms are the inspiration of this area and the mossy, mishmash of land they thrive in. This biome is filled with deep greens and browns. We needed it to really feel dense, enveloping, and comforting on the identical time. I typically consider Umami as a huge bowl of stew, and we search to hit that vitality within the characters and surroundings.
Our heroes, the Caretakers
Phrase spreads rapidly that ravenous monsters have arrived and that they’re wreaking havoc on the flavour wilds. Heroes from the flavour factions, the Caretakers, are despatched to defend everybody and quell the tide of the invasion; nevertheless, none of them are able to battling on an empty abdomen.
Quickly, these Caretakers arrive in our quaint little city of Palo Pori in quest of a meal, however they get greater than a full abdomen. The meals our chef, Panko, prepares with the assistance of the hearth god, Flambé, unlocks the facility of the flavour spirits from throughout the elements, granting magical skills to the Caretakers, permitting them to have interaction in distinctive card battles with the monsters.
Every Caretaker has their very own motivation that’s driving them to defeat the monsters. As champions for his or her individuals, all of them search to depart their mark on the world and present they’ll save the world on their very own.
The Umamis search to convey everybody collectively, notably the pleasant creatures within the wilds who lack the abilities to struggle off the monsters. Oyshi, our Umami Caretaker, is at all times blissful to supply a protected dwelling to a small creature in want.
And our third playable Caretaker, Kalan, hails from the land of Bitter. The Bitters are often known as the protectors of this world, entrusted with the duty to make sure the survival of all flavors… and so they take this duty very significantly.
Kalan may be very single-minded, wanting to reinforce the Bitter’s function because the protectors. Kalan has much less stamina than the opposite Caretakers, however his palate leads him towards the therapeutic properties of many Bitter elements. It’s necessary to eat your leafy greens. Due to their devotion to a taste many others would select to keep away from, they really feel they’re simply a little bit higher than everybody else, and Kalan’s greater than prepared to remind you of that. They like their espresso black, as why would you wreck a pretty bitter factor with one other taste?
Unlocking the magic of taste
Whereas the primary Caretaker could have arrived due to starvation, Oyshi quickly helps recruit the others to Palo Pori to unlock taste magic of their very own. Because the chef, it’s up to you to steadiness their desired flavors and the magic you suppose they’ll want to achieve success within the wilds.
Palo Pori and the restaurant in Beastro are constructed round a idea of: from city to desk. Lots of the elements you utilize are grown, gathered, or fished out of the ocean to cook dinner up the meals for the Caretakers. As you sauté, chop, boil, roast, and assemble your meals by the assorted mini video games, you’ll end up growing a good taste profile on your caretaker as you steadiness and improve the flavors of your meal.
That is all accomplished by “mise en place,” the place you place your elements and decide how to create the perfect well-rounded meal on your customer and one which unlocks the magic and results they’ll want to defeat the monsters, as a result of not solely does every ingredient have a taste, it has a energy stage… and plenty of of them have results too!
You’ll have to uncover, study, and experiment with how completely different elements mix to unlock new powers that can make every caretaker stronger and permit them to battle extra ferocious foes with each spherical.
We will’t wait to let you know extra about our sport, however for now, we’ll depart you with a new Gameplay Trailer that shares a bit extra concerning the mechanics we talked about above.
Time for me to get a snack! Thanks for taking the time to study Beastro!