At PAX 2023, Diets & Deities stood out among the crowd as an Etherhood-inspired narrative rhythm game with its heart set on cooking and the diverse cultures around the globe that have created unique meals. It didn’t hurt that the songs were instantly easy to vibe to, and the character designs were all so odd and unique. Having now finished the entire game, Larrikin Interactive’s game is every bit as good as it was in October last year; it’s just disappointing that there isn’t more to it. 

You play as Nephele, who is the first Deity to be created in around a millennium, and their mission soon becomes to save the universe from the evil Colonel KFZ, who, although sounding and looking like Colonel Saunders crossed with Zeus, represents the whole fast food market and what it’s doing to our global food system. As Nephele, you dance and cook your way to defeating and getting back on the right side of this food war, and the deity spirits represent the cultures of First Nations Australians, Balinese, Brazillian and Chinese people. 

The story segments take place in Nephele’s and the good deities’ home world, where they discuss the next action plan and move the plot forward. You can move around here, but it feels unnecessary as there are no real reasons to explore; these sections may have just been better as visual novels. 

Getting into the meat of the game, it’s all about a relatively simple rhythm mechanism that Everhood heavily inspires. You can move Nephelle left and right across a noteboard as the Deity you’re facing appears to throw notes down at you. Move to hit the good nights, and move around the spikes to not take damage. It’s straightforward to wrap your head around, and the game is pretty easy on normal difficulty. It’s obvious the game wasn’t designed with the competitive or hardcore nature of rhythm games in mind, but the lack of challenge in this genre might be disappointing to some players. 

I didn’t miss the challenge and instead found the gameplay easy to zone out and into, especially as the music, which is all original, is bangers. Each of the songs is inspired by the culture of the Deity you’re facing and the instruments of that culture as well. Meaning there are some absolute boss didgeridoo songs in this game that had my computer sub-banging away. 

Playing the songs is, unsurprisingly, the best part of Diets & Deities, and outside of the music and the chill rhythm gameplay, there’s plenty to appreciate with unique backgrounds for the Deity’s cultural setting, and each of them having their own animations as they move around the screen. Nephelle doesn’t change throughout the game, but I appreciated the subtle detail that she starts a song with a rolling pin, moves through a frying pan and at the end of a level will have a plate with a meal ready to go.

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On the meals: food is such a big part of the game, and developer Larrikin Interactive has made it more than just an idea in the background that you have to imagine the food Nephelle is making as they give you a new recipe after each level, with ingredients and instructions as well. In a world where I have more time, I’d love to attempt to make all sixteen of these dishes, but someone, feel free to take that idea and just give me a shoutout. Cheers. 

Diets & Deities ends abruptly after just a couple of hours. It’s not the playtime I have an issue with, as I love plenty of short games; it’s simply the unsatisfactory way the story wraps up. When I say abrupt, I mean it, to the point I click a button to move past an end, a block of text on the screen, and the next moment, the credits are rolling. The game would offer a much better experience, either with a few more levels to add a more satisfying conclusion that felt right or to go back and fit a better narrative to the levels that are here.

Post-story, you can replay any of the songs, but without any leaderboards, there’s little reason to chase full perfection of them.