Delicious Emily's
Holiday Season
Platform: Download (Mac, Windows)
Delicious Emily's Holiday Season is the latest time management game from Game House Studios. Much like the often-forgotten Miss Management, this game plays like a TV sitcom, complete with incidental music and cheesy sense of humor! The variety of gameplay is a welcome addition to the genre, and unlike most games that make the same attempt, it doesn't come across as forced innovation.
The peaceful town of Snuggford is covered in a blanket of snow, and Emily has decided to stay here for a while with her family. The hotel is a bit on the dusty side, and as Emily fixes a vase her friend Francois knocked over with a sneeze, she finds herself with a new job. Customers come in, order food, and Emily must fetch it, deliver it, and take their cash. Sometimes the postman will arrive with a package which must be signed for, and the occasional hotel patron will appear to turn in or pick up his or her room key. Everything is handled with a simple click and go interface, and you can queue several tasks for Emily's busy hands to accomplish.
Between the main tasks you'll also have a few extra chores to do, such as dusting off the cobwebs, picking up a random item or two, or catching spiders. These aren't necessary to complete the level, but if you're going for an expert score, you'd better start dusting. After each level you'll get a chance to spend some cash buying upgrades that make Emily's job easier, customers happier, and the hotel more profitable.
Not content to keep things in one location, Emily's Holiday Season takes place across several areas, including Winter Fair and a farm. The change of scenery does a surprising amount of good for the experience, and the soft, cozy visuals never cease to summon that holiday feeling we love so very much.
Analysis: You might be inclined to write off Delicious Emily's Holiday Season as just another time management game. If you do, you're missing out on a wonderful gaming experience. Casual to the core, this game is about mood, setting, storytelling, and variety. It doesn't smack you across the face with a forced collection of different gameplay elements. Instead, you feel like each departure from the norm is a soft, fuzzy gift that you open and gratefully accept. It's a difficult experience to convey, but if a time management game can make me speechless, you know there's something special there.
Here's another genre oddity: storytelling. Not only does Delicious Emily's Holiday Season buck tradition with its gameplay, but before and after each level you'll be treated to a short scene that furthers the plot. Beyond that, you actually find yourself interested in what's going on, as the characters are likeable, funny, and do some genuinely witty things over the course of the game.
Emily's Holiday Season isn't stressful, it isn't particularly challenging, and the game doesn't go out of its way to impress you with NEW!!! and FANTASTICAL!!! gimmicks at every turn. Instead, you just have a few bowls of cranberries to deliver, a couple of spiders to catch, and a handful of other miscellaneous tasks to complete. The gameplay and setting are so rich you can't help but be drawn in, and the variety in both storytelling and locations keep you in for the long haul. Delicious Emily's Holiday Season is one of the few time management games you owe it to yourself to play.
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Delicious Emily's Holiday Season is available to download from these affiliates:
Chocolate cake with a pickle on the side? Gross.
Actually Byran, I think those are supposed to be green beans. It does look like a pickle, however. Lovely game!
My first impression for the foods: cucumbers, bowls of salsa, cake, and sparkling cider. :-)
I don't play time management games is it like the SIMS?
@ NikkiNox: No, not really like the Sims. You do have to move little people, but you don't get to rule their lives. Time management games are about managing something, usually a business of some sort. Try the demo, see if you like it.
I love the game, the graphics are very cute and festive, I love the fact that it has a story deeper than "let's go save another restaurant now that we're done with this one", and I've been waiting for a game like this ever since Miss Management. It's really engrossing, and I just can't stop playing :)
Thank you! I will give it a try!
Nothing to do with your site (which I love), but I finally feel the need to comment about the time reduction of many game's demos to 40 minutes from 60.
I guess I'm just a bit irritated seeing as I have actually purchased quite a few games, as I'm sure have others...that this 'picking away' is quite unnecessary.
Lsamsa: I think the reduction in demo length is because games in general are becoming shorter in duration due to the falling price point from $19.99 to $6.99.
Instead of getting the same games for less money, we're seeing casual game studios deliver less game in response to the falling prices.
Neat! Despite trying out a lot of game demos, I've only ever ended up buying two games from casual game sites -- Miss Management and Jewel Quest -- and this might very well be the third.
Management and Quest managed to keep the same gameplay fresh with different challenges, and I got a similar feeling out of the demo for Holiday. It surprised me that I didn't mind that a new setting meant no decorations bought carried over, possibly because the gameplay without it still felt fun and do-able (something that had frustrated me with the Cake Mania/Diner Dash series, where the resets between settings really felt like a setback).
As mentioned, the story was fun and interesting enough, and the fact that the gameplay integrated the storyline and vice versa was also a definite point in Holiday's favor (for example, the fast-paced dinner with family and friends).
I'm impressed with how much the Delicious series has improved since the first couple of games, at least how I remember the demos; the gameplay seemed slow and clunky, and there was nothing particularly interesting about any of the characters. Also, the updates were more decorative only, iirc -- definitely like having choices here that affect gameplay. And I like how the incentive for gaining achievements is a bit more than the trophy "room" alone. Finally, the play gave just enough of a challenge on normal; again, the family dinner was surprisingly fast-paced, but just enough so.
Besides those aspects, the art and animation for Holiday seems a lot cleaner and clearer than the early installments, the sound seems well-thought-out and balanced (even when busy, alert sounds were distinguishable and none overpowered another), and the music works just fine.
Wow, didn't mean to gush like that... but it feels rare that so many parts of a casual game seem as considered as this one was. Thanks for pointing this one out, JIG!
I just downloaded the demo and tried it out, seems really nice! Oh and the screenshot above with the snow really makes me long for Christmas.
The only thing I found frustrating was getting all the trophies. I won't complain about some of them for fear of spoilers, but even after I completed the game with expert score on all levels, I couldn't get the trophy for preparing every type of food in every restaurant (how is that possible?) or for serving 2500 customers or for cleaning 500 tables :(
As I stated earlier, I've never played one of these games. I can tell you I'm not very good at it but it really sucked me in! I'm a little concerned about the cranky old lady that I can't seem to make happy though. She scares me!
i love all the emily: delicious games! the story and character development are definitely what sets this line apart. it seems like time management games are all getting stuck in the same rut, but i always enjoy the emily games and find them refreshing. and i will say the demo does not give justice to the story, lol! you just HAVE to play the whole game! :)
I have Beta tested every Delicious installment and thank God some guys are finally chasing Emily! Especially since after the first installment through this one Francois kept saying (or someone else) that she needed to get a man! All work and no play...
Also nit's great the developers took into consideration us beta testers who said "Where's Emily's family?" Now we see them and hopefully this installments bring that chapter to a happy ending and maybe the next installment is Emily working for/towards items for her wedding!
To get the trophy for preparing every food in the story is easy.
Everyday make an item whether it's ordered or not and just take it off the tray. It still counts!
Thanks, MissJ!!
If you liked this game, try Delicious- Emily's Taste of Fame, it's completely the same, graphics and gameplay and all. It has a decent story too, without the men though :)
Is there going to be a walkthrough for this game? I'm playing it and enjoying it a lot but I'm having trouble getting two of the trophies-Queing 10 Actions and Preparing all food. For the second one, I did prepare all the food but yet didn't get the trophy.
I cannot find the mouse on day 10 at the ski lodge and what does queuing 10 actions mean???
can anyone give me some help. thanks
To queue is the act of lining up to be processed.
In this game one of the achievements is Queuing 10 Actions, which means to line up 10 tasks ahead of time. You do this by clicking on all 10 before even the first one is carried out.
So what you are saying is you have to que 15 or so actions so that you have 10 in a row before she gets to the 1st one.
This game is great but I cant find all the mice and only found 1 Easter egg. BUMMER!
Where do I find the mouse on the winter fair day 4?
On Day 6 of the Winter Fair, does anyone know where the mouse is?
hy....can anybody tell me where is mouse in ski slope day 5...thanks
adella - mouse
As far as I know, the mouse is random, it will come for everyone in a different moment and at a different place.
Greetings, Kayleigh
really????i think im going crazy....i play it over and over and i can t find it nowhere.....but thanks.....
I loved the game. To find all mouses turn off music and high the sound, so when you hear the mouse, pause the game and look for it. In some levels you will see a hole, and in others you won´t. Most levels you will find it around the "pause window" and others you cannot see the mouse just because it is behind the "pause window" BUT it worked for me.
About easter egg, i just gave it up. Found just 2.
Hello, can anyone tell me how to Queuing 10 Actions, I don't get it!!! PLEASE... give an example. THANKS
I finally found last mouse i needed.....i also don't understant how to get trophy in queving 10 actions........lol.....
Adella - chaining actions
You will have to wait, until you have a few customers. Then chain their orders, so that Emily does 10 things in a row, without interuption.
Greetings, Kayleigh
Okay, I've gotten addicted to "Emily". I found 2 easter eggs, but don't know when or how. Can someone give me a heads up on where an egg is, so I can locate one to try to figure out where the rest might be. thanks
Is anyone else having problems getting the "make every dish" trophy? I'm almost certain I have made every dish available in the game (I've even gone through every variation of the shish-kabobs)... can anyone think of something really obvious that I'm probably missing?
Adella- the mouse you are looking for in the ski lift area, day five is behind your serving tray. All you can see are it's ears.
thank you,lisa,but I already found it.......<3<3<3<3
Love all Emily's games. But can someone help with the Easter Egg hunt. I have found 9 and have played the game at least 10 times with my grandchildren. We have found 2 at the first hotel, 1 at the winter fair, 2 at the second hotel,2 at the ski slope and 2 at Mo's
arm. Where is the 10th one? HELP! Thanks.
Incase mouse location for winter fair day 4 is the same:
Between snoman's head and broom
The hint of pausing the game when you hear the mouse squeek helped me with this one. Happy mouse hunting! :)
Thanks for the hint for pausing the game when looking for the mouse. I still need help with the eggs. I have found 1 egg and other items that are counting as eggs. I have a total of 8. I have found a cookie, cup of coffee, a latta, a tree with goodies on it, and a box. Any help would be great! Thanks
where did you find cookie end other things???
Update