Food Truck Empire Preview – Build Your Burger Empire, if You’ve Got the Patience

I got an early look at Food Truck Empire, a game by notable publisher Fireshine Games and indie studio Lichthund, which I’m pretty sure translates to Light Hound. But studio name translations aside, I spent about two hours in FTE.

So here are my impressions so far on what I’m sure could become a very fun game.

We Don’t Get Enough Business Sims

I love a good business sim game, and I honestly feel like we simply don’t get enough of them. At least, not enough genuinely good ones. Hence, I’m always keen to play a promising business sim, and Food Truck Empire is exactly that.

You manage a single food truck to start off with, and slowly expand your fleet as you go, catering to different demographics that have their likes and dislikes well-documented.

The graphics are adorable and promise a simple, casual experience. That illusion is dispelled, however, when setting up your first food truck. The setup is fairly straightforward and easy to navigate, but even early on, I could tell that things could become really complex, very fast.

That said, the initial trucks are pretty small, and with limited time to serve customers, or risk upsetting them, most of the early recipes are as simple as checking the demographic’s likes and dislikes and tailoring your limited menu accordingly. Then you simply check where your targeted customers are on the map and send your truck out.

But then you also have the HQ, starting from the second map in the demo, where you’ll need to research new tech and various upgrades in order to “beat” the map. You also have your first taste of competition here, which I’ll admit can be fairly challenging on the first playthrough.

This is around where I began to lose some interest in the game. Researching is quite the slog, and it really slowed the game down for me. That said, I do prefer casual, quick-play business sims. Once things get a little too complex or time-heavy, that’s usually when I’d rather spend my time with something bigger.

So, even though it’s not entirely my thing (yet), should you invest some time in Food Truck Empire?

It’s a Great, Cozy Adventure if You Have Time To Burn

My biggest sticking point with FTE is the time it takes to research stuff. There’s also a potential soft lock here where, if you don’t research the right stuff, you might not be able to earn your next research point. So you really have to carefully consider your next move before committing to anything.

That’s really cool, adding a layer of strategy to the game that I really wasn’t expecting. But again, not my thing. I’d have preferred an even more casual experience.

I personally feel like the balance is just slightly off for the moment. If progression could be a little smoother, with way more maps and challenges, I’d probably get completely hooked on this game for hours on end. The music is soothing, the gameplay is go-at-your-own-pace, and it really is shaping up to be a great cozy experience.

So if you do like these types of games, and you have some patience, I can definitely recommend checking out the demo on Steam.

I know I’ll be back to snoop around closer to full release to see how it’s going. There’s enough to intrigue me here, just not enough to hook me completely just yet.