High Times - Review - Xbox

High Times is one of those games that looks cosy on the surface, bright colours, warm donuts, friendly customers, but underneath the frosting is a surprisingly emotional, character‑driven experience. You play as a Mood Confectioner at The Hotbox, a donut shop where every treat carries a mood‑altering effect. The premise is immediately charming: you’re not just serving pastries, you’re diagnosing feelings, nudging people toward confidence, closure, or catharsis through the right combination of batter, glaze, and sprinkles. This blend of cooking sim, dating sim, and visual novel gives High Times a distinct identity, and it’s easy to get swept up in its rhythm.

High Times builds its gameplay around a surprisingly enjoyable cooking loop. You’re not just clicking through menus, you’re physically making donuts. Mixing dough, shaping it, frying it to the right colour, and decorating each pastry by hand gives the game a grounded, almost therapeutic rhythm. It’s the kind of loop that feels good in your fingers: simple enough to be relaxing, but involved enough to feel personal.

What elevates this loop is the emotional twist. Every donut you craft is tied to a customer’s mood, so you’re not just making food, you’re making medicine. Confidence donuts, calming donuts, catharsis donuts… each recipe has a purpose, and choosing the right one becomes a form of gentle problem‑solving. It’s a clever mechanic: the cooking isn’t difficult, but the meaning behind each order gives it weight.

As you progress, new ingredients unlock, new techniques appear, and the shop’s workflow becomes more complex. You’ll juggle multiple orders, manage conversations, and try to read between the lines of what each customer really needs. The loop is cosy, but it’s also purposeful, a blend of cooking sim and emotional puzzle.

The only drawback is repetition. After dozens of donuts, the motions can start to feel familiar. But the game’s charm lies in how those familiar motions become part of the story, almost like a ritual.

The narrative is where High Times truly shines. The Hotbox isn’t just a café, it’s a crossroads for people carrying heartbreak, stress, insecurity, and unresolved conflict. More than 30 characters wander through your doors, each with their own arc, personality quirks, and emotional baggage.

Conversations matter. Your dialogue choices shape how characters open up, how their relationships evolve, and whether their personal journeys move forward or stall. Some customers become friends. Some become romantic interests. Some just need a single donut to get through the day.

The protagonist’s personality is fixed - dry, sarcastic, occasionally blunt, which gives the story a distinct voice but sometimes limits how empathetic you can be. Still, the writing is sharp, and the emotional beats land more often than not. The game isn’t afraid to be sincere, funny, or melancholic, and the voice acting adds a lot of warmth to those moments.

Romance routes add another layer, letting you explore deeper connections with certain characters.

The games comic‑book‑inspired art style is expressive, the animated scenes add personality, and the full English voice cast (including well‑known performers like LilyPichu and Johnny Yong Bosch) brings the cast to life. The soundtrack blends rock, city pop, and lo‑fi, giving the game a mellow, late‑night café vibe that fits perfectly with its emotional themes.

That said, the game isn’t without its rough edges. The protagonist’s fixed personality can feel limiting, especially when dialogue options lean toward dry or acerbic tones. Some players may find the donut‑making novelty wears off after dozens of orders, and the pacing occasionally dips during longer stretches of repetitive tasks. Still, the emotional storytelling, strong character writing, and cosy atmosphere make High Times a standout in the cooking‑dating‑sim niche.

Pros

• Unique hybrid gameplay blending cooking, dating, and visual‑novel storytelling.

• Strong character writing with more than 30 customers and multiple romance routes.

• Excellent presentation with hand‑drawn art, animated scenes, and full voice acting.

• Relaxing soundtrack that complements the cosy, emotional tone.

• Meaningful choices where the right donut can genuinely change a character’s story.

Cons

• Protagonist personality is fixed, limiting player expression.

• Donut‑making can become repetitive after extended play.

• Pacing occasionally drags, especially during longer narrative stretches. (Inference based on multiple sources describing slow or prolonged progression.)

• Some dialogue options feel overly dry or acerbic, reducing emotional connection.

High Times is warm, weird, and unexpectedly heartfelt. It's a cosy cooking sim wrapped around a surprisingly rich emotional core. It’s not perfect, but it’s memorable, comforting, and full of personality. If you enjoy narrative‑driven games with a tactile gameplay loop and a cast of characters who feel genuinely human, this donut shop is absolutely worth the visit.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

High Times is available now!