Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2019
Automachef
Developer Rhombico Games
Welcome to Automachef, a resource management puzzler where you design kitchens, program machinery and watch your genius come to life! It’s time to engineer tomorrow’s kitchen, today! From the Steam store page
191 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Sep 26, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
65
Fresh
120 positive · 64 negative
95% range 58–72%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 120 | 64 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
7 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
664 of 926 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 191 · most liked firstSo factory games can be a lot of fun, with one caveat. If they are games that have a sense of progression and persistance, where you are constantly building upon what you've done in the past, they can be a lot of fun. Examples include Satisfactory, Little Big Workshop, and Autonauts. However games, such as Automachef and Infinifactory, that are more level based and you start from scratch every 15-30 minutes is considerably less fun. In some cases, such as Infinifactory and SpaceChem, the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After a few years retried it and a few levels later remembered, why i dropped it years ago. I love the concept, the setting and am a great fan of similar games (looking at Zachtronics games for example). But: While the game seems sandboxy at first it instead only alows a very limited set of solutions. If the balancing would be less restrictive in regards to the level goals, it would open up the possibility to optimize the hell out of ones solutions in one direction or the other, but instead it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A factory game about using machines to make food. Starts out interesting but gets tedious fast, and then they introduce a mandatory assembly-style programming language (mandatory because the equivalent non-programmed machinery uses too much power). I'm a software developer and I still don't want to deal with that.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought Automachef would be something I'd enjoy, but it ended up feeling more tedious than fun. The idea of programming machines to automate a kitchen sounds interesting, but in practice, it was frustrating. Placement of machines is extremely specific, and even small mistakes can break an entire setup.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game feels like trying to optimise a plate of spaghetti to spell out poetry on your plate and then having your english teacher give you an F because you missed a comma. The game penalizes you on wasted ingredients but doesn't actually give you the tools to minimize output of ingredients. Even if you have it set to only dispense ingredients based on orders, you'll still go over the limit because they will send you more orders than you actually need. Not just ingredients, but every aspect of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Review subject to change as haven't got through much of the story yet - but so far a promising & enjoyable puzzle game. I picked this up on sale (very cheap) and have only just got around to giving it a go. It's a simple but unique concept, so far it has been good fun, challenging and very relaxing. As much as I would consider myself appreciative of all genres, I think as I get older I am much more hit & miss with puzzle games. I don't seem to have that problem at all with this game. Not only…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(Note: this review covers the campaign only. I've not played the contracts mode at all) Automachef is a game that's so close to being good, but it honestly feels like it wasn't playtested. The core of the game is pretty solid: you have a kitchen, high-tech cooking machines, and instructions on putting said orders together. The entire time, however, the player ends up fighting small minutia that add up to make a sadly horrible gaming experience. It is nearly entirely possible to beat the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The word that comes to mind when I think of this game is flawed. The game itself has a nice concept, but is riddled with smaller issues that really detract from enjoyment of the game. I'll list a few. Solutions don't autosave. The continue button sends you back to the main menu, which is unintuitive, and lacks a way to cancel when you misclick it. Half of the game is finagling with settings on different devices. This should be quick, but the menuing usually involves several more clicks than…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I gotta make sure I get all the objectives achieved. Helped me improve my management skills and transcend that to multitasking skills and problem-solving skills in real life. No kidding. Thanks game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such a chore to play. When you start the day off, even on fast mode you have to sit for ages just for things to begin. I think I've been spoiled by things like Satisfactory, where things make sense. Even moving around is hard on this one, and the game doesn't even tell you how to delete anything. Turns out you have to press the delete key on your keyboard. This type of game can and should be entirely playable with just a mouse, but instead it forces you to use the keyboard for simple things…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Summary: The game is great fun until you get to the part where you have to program computers with no guidance whatsoever. People who already know assembly might be fine but I do not, and it was a really weird and out-of-the-blue requirement about halfway through the game. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend something that is advertised and starts as an assembly line game that suddenly needs the player to know how to do programming. What is it? An assembly line simulation about making food in a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like working in a McDonald's except its really cramped and you can't leave
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some of the worst automation games I ever played, everything is 3 times slower and harder to do just because of the bad UI with tons of pointless options you don't need at all since the very beginning of the game. It truly feels like a chore and not like a game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Automachef is a fun and challenging puzzle game in which you have to build a fully automated restaurant. It is a logic puzzle. You have a machines that can do a thing and machines you can use to tell other machines when to do a thing. It is up to you to make sure the right orders are prepared when needed without wasting to much resources. The game has a simple but nice style with okey sound/music. And not to forget, the game has a very human friend who helps you through the game. A nice and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not a necessarily bad game, it just gets repetitive after a few hours. Also the UI isn't very good, too many clicks. The whole game feal kind of clunky, for example selecting the direction of the robot arms get's confusing when you don't want them to go straight.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wouldn't say this is for fans of Satisfactory, Factorio, and other similar factory games. This is a puzzle game that has more in common with Polybridge than with those titles. There is only 1 right way to configure most puzzles to hit all the target goals, and sometimes it get's really bull, like complete all orders in so many precise seconds but only pull a precise number of ingredients - if I'm working fast, the line is going BRRRR but if at the start of the line I pull say, an extra…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was hoping this would be a cute, fun, more like an idle game where you're building a restaurant. It's really just a mid puzzle game where the solution is never a trick. it's as straight forward as it gets. As an example: let's say you have a "restaurant" (puzzle) where you have to make burgers, cheese burgers, and double cheese burgers as efficiently as possible. Your immediate question may be something like "how am I going to feed patties from one patty making solution into three…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this so much because of the little balancing and challenge issues it **COULD** have. But when it comes right down to it the UI is such a huge pain that the majority of the game is fighting the UI rather than fighting the mission challenges. I don't feel accomplished and successful explaining to it for the dozenth time that the packaging machine needs to package the items that my current mission is requesting... or explaining to keep the fryer on until the stuff is finished…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I rage quit while playing the tutorial. Came back to it an hour later to play the first actual level...and god is the UI frustrating...and why does it take so long to simulate the level? You have to wait forever for customers/orders even when it is on fast-forward. I might have been thoroughly spoiled by playing so many zach-likes and zachtronics games - but this developer could learn many lessons form playing Shenzen IO and Opus Magnum on how to make a logistics/programming game more fun.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is similar to cooking games, although upgraded with strategy mechanics and automation of testing what you build IRL time. It can be quite daunting at first, and it took me a few tries and solutions from Steam guide to help me complete the campaign. There is much flexibility and variability in setting up everything; it's all a matter of how you program each machine to work. There's never truly one solution, but several and it's all based on your play style and strategy to heat, slice, mix,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like automation games (and maybe cooking games, I dunno, optional), you need to pick up Automachef on GOG.. If you like automation games (and maybe cooking games, I dunno, optional), you need to pick up Automachef on GOG. It's a gorgeous, hilarious, surprisingly deep game about building robot kitchens for frankly ridiculous fast food And it's 85% off - just a few bucks! Check it out! #gaming #VideoGames #automation #PCGaming
unlabelledView post →Got a cat here. Friends passing by can touch her and click Like to touch her once. ＿＿ ／＞ フ | _ _ l ／` ミ＿xノ / | / ヽ ﾉ │ | | | ／￣| | | | | (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__) 二つ
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted an assembly puzzler version of Factorio, but Factorio did it better. I'd have taken a food-themed Opus Magnum, but Opus Magnum did it better. I didn't get to the faux-assembly computer programming, but I bet Human Resource Machine did it better. Good aesthetic. Clunky controls. Menuing simulator to configure anything. Hope you like placing everything by hand, only to rip it all up one piece at a time because you forgot you needed space for something or to try and debug spaghetti.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is infuriating. In a bad way. I like simulation games and puzzles, but there's too much of the "puzzle". I wish it was more a focus on the automation and how to run your restaurant than... Whatever this is. As another reviewer says, it feels less like a game and more like a chore to go level by level. If you're masochistic and wanna waste some time, go for it- but even then I wouldn't buy it at full price. Find another resource management game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like it, but game gets way too complicated too quickly. Not complex in deep gameplay, complicated as in it's just too much to juggle and do and redo every time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If there was a middle review i would give it that. Sometimes this game feels more like work than a fun puzzle to solve.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very enjoyable. Completing the game is easy enough, but if you are like me you will want to get 100% (and beyond) efficiency in every level and that's when it becomes more challenging. Some basic ASM knowledge is probably required and takes planning and innovation to achieve in many of the levels.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This had the potential to be a competent Zach-like in the vein of Infinifactory/Opus Magnum but there is just too much clunkiness in the interface (grid selection or more hot keys would have been much better than manually scrolling down a massive list of ingredients/parts dozens of times), and uninspired level design. By the halfway point in the campaign I had never been challenged difficulty-wise but I was tired of manually placing the same machines over and over again in very slightly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beep. Review Protocol Initiated. Human requested "game." Result: Human received industrial-scale hot dog manufacturing addiction. Task parameters: - Design automated kitchens. ✔️ - Optimize conveyor spaghetti until it becomes beautiful. ✔️ - Accidentally create a machine that burns everything. ✔️ - Call it "iteration." ✔️ Unexpected side effect detected: algorithmic thinking increased by +12%. Human now decomposes problems into smaller problems. This appears useful for mathematics,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Automachef is the most unique factory game I've ever played. You gotta make factories to handle food orders, try to reuse as many parts as possible to save cost, figure out how to handle massive rush hour mobs without burning too much power or dropping orders, and so on. Down the line, this game has its own coding language for controlling machines and handling orders. It's got a puzzle campaign, and a whole contracts mode, all around a good time. You can make VERY tight factories, especially…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The store page describes it as "a resource management puzzler" and I have to say this comes down hard on the puzzle side of that description. While it has the bare bones of a tycoon / management game, your primary interaction will be trying to figure out how to fit your machines into the small foot print of a building you're given each level to fulfill a set number of goals. You don't have enough space for real freedom or creativity, you don't control what recipes you're going to be making and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Compared to other automation games this game just does not hit the mark for me. I miss a ton of QoL. The placement feels cluncky; why is there no hotbar for the machines; why can the long handed inserter not go over other inserters; optimization is not worth it; UI is too big -> tons of scrolling; logic for the machines is minimal; ...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Full disclosure, I have technically played long enough to get to some of the coding/programming, but I've managed to side-step that with different machine setups. So it's not the most efficient way to play (especially according to guides), but I'm happier for it lol The game is fun, the music is delightful. One minor nitpick is the fact that after you finish whatever the "goal" was for that level, you're immediately whisked away, so you don't really get to see your beautiful setup for very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A management game where you build systems of machines and conveyor belts to automatically fulfill the order of your kitchen. The concept is good and it has a lot of potential but it has a few pretty annoying flaws when it comes to the operation of the machines and the UI is horribly frustrating. Except for an unimportant start up video not working it works flawlessly with Proton (7.0-1, the video issue might have been fixed with newer versions).
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a tough puzzler (and not a restaurant sim). Starts simple and gets complex very soon. Some levels took me hours to complete with all goals and only after countless retries. The fact that only 5% reached the 5th tutorial scenario, which is sort of in the middle of the game - might tell something about it's difficulty. UI could be better and there are many clicks that could have been avoided with better design. Also once you connect an order machine to other machines of the same type -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First impressions are encouraging, but soon you begin to notice repeating tasks, tedious and sometimes random run execution, unfriendly interfaces, unclear food processing procedures, extremely complicated programming machines and features which feel incomplete or barely matter. Do not advise, unless you really need a new automation game and have tried or got bored by all other, much more rewarding games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I haven't played for long at the time of this review, however, I think I have seen enough to confirm that this game is definitely one that I can recommend. I enjoy this game because I love figuring out how to make things work and then after that, how to improve on them. I love the fact that on top of the main objective, being creating the correct foods that a level requires you to, there are also other challenges such as limiting power usage, not wasting ingredients and also fitting the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game. It is more like a puzzle game than anything else. Once you make templates of an item, it can get boring especially in the sandbox mode where you keep getting the same scenarios over and over. The computers are difficult to understand and I never found a tutorial for them, so I don't use them.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good logic games For peope who love food yeah
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like creating the food, I like creating the auto part of making a burger. I hate that it is a puzzle to get there. It isn't about creating an 'optimal' solution. This game is about the cheapest solution to get to the result. Glad I got this for less than £1.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☑ Kids ☐ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this game, as the premise and the visuals were really different and nice for a factory puzzle game. The UI is more than terrible. The extra steps and time needed to choose or copy paste parts, calling the exit level button "continue" , not being able to modify blueprints before pasting them and more just add frustration instead of fun. The glorified calculators that are called "computers" are more trouble than they are worth. I can imagine redstone fanatics getting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't feel any creativity with the levels. It seems like there's only one way possible way to complete levels, then rinse and repeat for 20 levels. Games like Two-point hospital allows for creativity in room size and whatnot while still completing the objective. Maybe it's me, but I don't enjoy this game. Overall, 6/10.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A perfect game for worker-holic programmers, or just any nerdy guys who like puzzles that seem to have some level of (pseudo) productivity.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mind numbing automation ... and it turns out, I often need my mind numbed after a hard day. If you find yourself needing to self-medicate with mind-numbing games, I hereby prescribe this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Automation is too nitpicky, the machine selection would benefit greatly from a grid view
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a puzzle game - and a really tough one. Each puzzle seems to have only one solution. I barely made it to level 7, and that's where my fun ended. Figuring out the correct answer is mostly just frustrating, thanks to tight budget limits, the number of machines you can connect, and their restrictions. The game could've been more enjoyable, but it just isn't. Maybe my brain isn't cut out for puzzles like this - I ended up more frustrated and enraged than having fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really hope that robot has succeed his plans to dominate the worl- ... I-I-I mean the restaurant market.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you look for an automation game that you can build freely, this is not that kind of game. I bought this because i thought this was a game like satisfactory but in fact it's kind of a puzzle game where you should place machines properly to complete a mission. every mission has limitations like energy used or ingredients used so you should make a good plan to be successful. and last missions are so much challenging and brain-melting. If you like some challenge it's good otherwise stay away…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game can be played as an extremely difficult puzzle if you want 100% efficiency rating. Or you can play it as a casual cooking simulator. Some levels are crazily difficult to get 100% efficiency. You have to learn machine language-like code. You can literally spend tens of hours on a single level. An extreme amount of logical deduction has to be made: Are you spending too much money? Are you using too much electricity? Are you dispensing too many ingredients? Do you need storage to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Automachef is an innocent automation game with tongue-in-cheek nerd humor. It's a great for casual play and makes you entertain some high-level logic problems. In sandbox mode, it's fun to try new ways to automate food production. You will find that it can be interesting to write code using the "computer" and really take control of how things are done. If you've never tried an automation game and fancy yourself an amateur coder, this might be something that scratches a problem-solving itch.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After my 3rd attempt to get into this game in 3 years I'm going to have to just say no. This is not so much an automation game as it is a puzzle. I don't understand how I'm using 40,000 watts, but somehow I can reach my goal of just 500 watts. Setting items is tedious and requires too many clicks. The music wasn't to my taste. The robot was an impression of a robot trying to do an impression of what a human thinks a robot's personality should be like. The time between orders is ridiculous as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Argh. Maybe I didn't spend enough time with it, but Automachef is not for me and I can not recommend it. Too frustrating when efficiency of power and ingredients are the main goal, yet the machines we are given to work with are incredibly inefficient in a way that doesn't make sense. For example, the beginning levels include smart arms that apparently have optic tech to determine if an ingredient is cooked, yet a controller that can only manage (basically) turning on or off 4 other machines…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Estressante, frustrante e irritante. Recomendo, 9/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very limited and repetitive compared to all other games surfing on the "conveyer belt trend"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a really fun and neat game for a while, so I think it's worth buying. The base of it is extremely solid, but I think that it loses its fun towards the end-game. In late levels, everything becomes hideously complex, and I find it difficult to keep enjoying the game. However, the early and mid parts are extremely fun I think, and who knows? Maybe you'll like the direction the gameplay goes as you level up farther. One other thing I'll say is that it's kind of dumb that they made this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The tutorial was about as exciting as it gets.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Factorio meets Overcooked sounded like an instant yes to me. Unfortunately, the promising automation-puzzle concept is buried under clunky UI, tedious setup and overly restrictive puzzles. 4/10. The automation quickly became more tedious than satisfying. Every level has you placing similar machines and production chains with a slight twist, while basic actions are buried under far too many menus and clicks. Rotating an inserter, moving machines, copying setups or configuring logic all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →How dare you teach me programming the fun way?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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