As I’ve gotten older, and as I have more responsibilities, I’ve been having more appreciation for short games. Smaller, more focused indie experiences are fun! After all, I love games as a medium, and shorter games allow me to experience even more games. Because of the indie titles mixed in, I get to experience around a hundred titles in any given year. It’s great.

Inside of a fast food kiosk: a few cooking stations, a grill, a coffee machine, and a freezer. The kiosk feels strangely familiar, unsettling, and cozy at the same time. That’s where you’ll spend most of your day.

Let me introduce you to Kiosk, a short (a little under two hours) fast food horror simulator. Essentially a slice of life for an American fast food worker, only with slightly more murder sprinkled in.

Kiosk sees you working as the only person in a fast food joint - a surprisingly cozy one, despite the eeriness: it often rains out, and the kiosk has a sense of place. You make burgers, grill hot dogs, serve coffee - you get the gist. You unlock more complex recipes and have to juggle more sophisticated orders as you play. The way you engage with the cooking is fun too - to open a pack of hot dogs you must throw a knife at it. You throw the hot dog on the grill. You throw the order at the customer. There’s a lot of throwing, and it’s silly fun.

And that’s where the horror element creeps in. You were a last-minute hire because the previous employee was murdered. And while you’re frantically trying to fulfill an order, horror elements start popping up. You might see something out of the corner of your eye, but the eggs are burning on the grill. There are jump scares too - in fact, when opening for the day, you can easily tell that the jump scares are coming. But in the hustle and bustle of the kiosk, that’s just not on your mind.

A customer at a kiosk with a hot dog in front of them. Customers will stop by with their orders and short narrative quips. I think the people are well-stylized, and the best part is that you can throw food at them from across the room.

I really enjoyed how Kiosk used the simulation/management part of the experience to occupy the player’s attention - and then spring a horror element at them when the player is most busy. It’s a creative and effective blend of two genres.

I don’t play too many horror games, and it felt like a gentle and engaging foray into the genre. Kiosk is available on Steam (non-affiliate link) at the time of writing for $3.99.