Futanari di Funghi is a casual restaurant service game, released earlier in 2024 by Shady Corner studios. Yup, that's right. Just a normal, everyday restaurant game today. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just think twice before you order the mushrooms.
You play as Pipina. A young woman who is part of a half-human, half-mushroom hybrid species. Pipina is also a nervous wreck who desperately needs a job, but is too anxious to apply for one. In fact, when she finally does muster the courage to apply at a restaurant, she's half-hoping the owner will just not even open up for her.
Obviously, that's not what happens. Pipina is hired by the aggressively-Italian cook "Cheffe" and put to work right away. You see, the secret of this restaurant is the sauce. Cheffe is confident in her cooking, but it's the special mushroom sauce that lends it the iconic kick. And Cheffe can't make the special mushroom sauce because she is just an ordinary human. So besides tending to the tables, Pipina has to regularly disappear into the backrooms to rub out refill the sauce supply.
A lot of the gameplay is what you'd expect. Customers come in and decide what they want to order. You then rush over the kitchen, pass the order to Cheffe, and a few moments later you got freshly-made salads, pizza, or spaghetti ready to be taken to the customer. The special twist being that you must then pour sauce over the dish. Pour too little or too much and the customer will be disappointed. Get it just right, however, and you start building up a score multiplier.
It's a neat little twist to a familiar format, but it is curious how Futanari di Funghi lacks a lot of elements that you'd expect from a game like this. Most notable being that there's no rotation in the customers whatsoever. The moment a table is occupied, that same person will stay there literally all day. Just routinely ordering new meals like complete freaks. You deliver a whole damn pizza only for them to devour it instantly and request another pizza. It's weird—no restaurantgoer would act like this—and it means Futanari di Funghi lacks the added challenge of freeing up tables so new customers aren't left waiting in line. Something which is usually a major part of the strategy behind restaurant sims.
There is also not much depth to the gameplay. Money you make is just for score, which translates to an overall rating at the end. There's no customization and there are only 3 foods to serve; all of them main courses. There is not much variety to what you're doing and, as such, repetition sets in quickly. More tables are added sporadically throughout the campaign, but that doesn't change anything fundamental. It just makes you do more of the same.
The controls are also weird. Moving Pipina is done by clicking anywhere on the screen, which creates a virtual joystick. You then drag the mouse to move said joystick, which feels very imprecise. Pipina is more of a projectile you throw than a character you control. It wasn't uncommon to get stuck or for her to bounce off whatever table or counter she needs to use, and then be just slightly out-of-range to use it. Brief, but frequent annoyances.
All of that is within expectations though. Erotic games just usually tend towards being more simplistic and Futanari di Funghi does deserve some serious kudos. Its flavor of hentai is handled very well. The artstyle is off-kilter and fun, with cute character designs and detailed illustrations. The customers have small animations and change poses based on how well you serve them. If you do a particularly good job with any of them, they will even seduce Pipina. Unlocking a special illustration that can later be viewed again from the gallery. It is a shame, though, that there's no mini-game of some sort tied to the illustration and that there are only 4 types of customers. As nice as the art was, it doesn't give you a lot to work towards in a game that is already thin on content.
Managing the sauce supply was also a clever touch and does actually come with a mini-game. It's challenging too, as you never know when another order might come up, so finding a gaps to safely head for the sauce room is quite challenging. Even if you play the mini-game well, a customer may already be halfway ready to leave by the time you get back to them. And if you hadn't prepared their meal in advance, chance are there's no way to still make it in time.
It took me just under 2 hours to beat Futanari de Funghi. Not a bad runtime at all for a 6-dollar hentai game and I did have fun with it, in spite of its obvious shortcomings. I liked the art and characters, the dialogue and jokes were fun, and the gameplay was novel if repetitive. If you like hentai with unique artstyles or fantasy themes, this one is a solid option.
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