“If only I could work at Baratie...” For anyone who has ever imagined that even once, this work is a game that truly gives shape to that ideal. “One Piece: Grand Gourmet” is a management simulation game where you become a new staff member at the restaurant at sea “Baratie 2nd Branch” and aim to become the most popular restaurant on the sea while joining forces with the Straw Hat Pirates. Rather than simply serving food, it features content where you can fully enjoy the world of One Piece at a relaxed pace, such as growing the restaurant and enjoying interactions with customers. Experiencing a heartwarming side of everyday life that is a bit different from intense battles felt like a charm unique to this work.

What I particularly got absorbed in with this work is dish development. The system where you can think of new dishes while combining ingredients together with Sanji, and freely combine completed dishes to make your own set menu, brings new discoveries every time you play. Even the time spent thinking “What kind of menu would make them happy today?” is fun, allowing you to thoroughly taste the fun of restaurant management. Furthermore, going out on adventures lets you obtain new ingredients, and dish varieties increase steadily, so choices expanding the more you continue playing is also a pleasing point. Not to mention familiar dishes from the work, even unique special dishes incorporating Devil Fruit abilities appear, so playful spirits typical of One Piece are solidly packed in.

Creating the restaurant's interior design is also a major attraction of this work. Because you can freely arrange over 200 types of furniture, structures, and interior decor, there is the fun of creating your very own original restaurant. Wrapping it up in a cute atmosphere is good, aiming for a luxurious and lively shop is also good; the player's personality appears directly in the restaurant. Many pieces of furniture that make original fans involuntarily happy also appear, such as sweet designs with the image of Whole Cake Island, or futuristic interiors reminiscent of Egghead. Furthermore, an element where characters who take a liking to the restaurant's atmosphere become regulars is also prepared, naturally sparking feelings of “I want to make it an even more wonderful shop.”

Speaking of One Piece, it is undoubtedly the characters rich in personality. In this work, not only the Straw Hat Pirates, but over 400 characters who played active roles in the anime and original work appear. There are many faces that make you involuntarily surprised like “Even this character comes to visit?”, giving you new encounters every time you visit the restaurant. Serving dishes and having them enjoy the restaurant's atmosphere deepens interactions, allowing you to enjoy events and character-to-character exchanges that can only be seen here. Because peaceful times that cannot be seen in battles or adventures are depicted, moments where a smile involuntarily spills over will arrive again and again for fans.

Unlike the busyness of action games, “One Piece: Grand Gourmet” has a comfort in developing a restaurant at your own pace. The flow of coming up with dishes, decorating the restaurant, and entertaining many characters is simple yet deep, and before you know it, you forget time thinking “Let's play just a little bit more.” Not only can you fully savor the worldview of One Piece, but it also solidly possesses gameplay depth as a management simulation, making it a work recommended not only for fans of the series, but also for people who like city building or management games. The time spent creating a restaurant full of smiles with your favorite characters can be said to be a special fun that can only be experienced in this game.