High Times Puts Donut Therapy on the Menu
High Times turns the humble cafe sim into an emotional kitchen. You run The Hotbox, a donut shop where every pastry is infused with mood enhancers that alter a customer's feelings. Players listen to confessions, pick the right flavored donut to nudge someone toward courage, joy, or calm, and watch how a single bite ripples through relationships.
This is equal parts shopkeeping and interpersonal storytelling. You will cook, serve, decorate, and give advice by way of dessert. With over 30 customers to meet and 6 romanceable characters to explore, the game trades in quiet empathy, awkward reconnections, and the odd surreal moment where pastry equals therapy.
A Therapist Behind the Counter
At its core High Times asks you to do two things well - listen and choose. Customers arrive with messy lives and unclear needs. Your job is to parse their stories and select a donut that changes their mood in a helpful direction. That choice affects how they act, who they speak to, and which narrative branches open up.
The game leans heavily into character work. Many customers have multiple endings depending on the donuts you serve and the choices you make. There is even a dedicated "closure simulator" hook where you can face exes you may have ghosted and decide whether to mend fences, move on, or complicate things further. It sounds on the nose and also oddly tender.
Voice acting is used to give those interactions texture. English voice performances by Nola Klop, LilyPichu, Johnny Yong Bosch and others bring the cast to life. The main character is silent, letting you project onto the role while the shop fills with distinct personalities.
Donut Crafting and Shopkeeping
Beyond therapy, High Times offers the familiar pleasures of a management sim. You will craft donuts, serve the right orders under pressure, collect tips, unlock tools, and expand your recipe book. The shop is yours to decorate, which ties into both aesthetics and player expression.
Service time is paired with an original soundtrack that blends rock, city pop and lo-fi to set different tempos for busy rushes and slower story beats. Gameplay seems designed to reward attention to taste preferences and the emotional state of customers, making the act of making and serving food feel meaningfully tied to narrative outcomes.
Voices, Visuals and How Choices Matter
High Times uses a dynamic comic book art style with over 70 animated illustrations to stage scenes. That presentation promises punchy, colorful panels that help a conversation land as much as any line of dialogue. The game also supports character customization with options for skin tone, hairstyles and outfits so players can inhabit a protagonist that fits them.
Choices are central. The donuts you serve and the narrative decisions you take shape relationships, with many customers offering two to three possible endings. Romance is on the menu too, with six romanceable characters to pursue while you balance shop life and emotional labor.
If you enjoy cozy sims with a narrative hook and a slightly surreal premise, High Times looks to be a warm, weird bite of game design where baking and empathy go hand in hand.
➡️ Check out High Times now on Steam
