Title: High Times
Developer: Yangyang Mobile
Publisher:  Yangyang Mobile
Release Date: July 23rd, 2026
Platform(s): PC, Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series
Reviewed on: PC (via Steam Machine)

Who doesn’t love bright colors, a whacky concept, and memorable characters? High Times brings cooking and dating sim elements that feels like a blend of Coffee Talk and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Let’s dive in!

Author’s Note: I received a review key of High Times. Thank you to Yangyang Mobile.

Synopsis

In High Times, you play as a protagonist that works at the Hotbox, a donut shop that lathers its goods with mood enhancing flavors. Many times, you must decide which flavors to serve customers depending on how they are feeling or how they wish to feel. During the course of the game, you must manage Hotbox while your boss is away on a honeymoon, keep up on social media, and handle a slew of exes that show up at the counter.

Oh yes, a large portion of High Times include facing several exes from your past, as early on as your childhood all the way through college and beyond. You can learn about each relationship, how it ended, and how it impacted your ex through several interactions. Dialogue choices and donut creations heavily influence the scenes you get. Oh, and did I mention you can get around 50 different endings?

Analysis

Gameplay

It could be because I recently played Coffee Talk Tokyo, but some of the game play feels a lot like the Coffee Talk series in that the bulk of what you do is creating a meal based on a customer’s preferences. Instead of making drinks based off a desired flavor profile, you roll the dough, select the shape, fry the donut, then select the flavor and decorate the donut based on the mood enhancer bet fits your customer’s needs. In a sense, you are like a donut-slinging therapist! You have vanilla to elicit cheer, ube to incite passion, chocolate to encourage focus, blueberry to draw-in sincerity, matcha to fill you with relaxation, and much more.

In High Times, there’s more to the game than playing chef. You also can order additional ingredients, tools, and decorations. Decorations can attract specific customers if you wish to interact with them more. You also have access to a slew of social media apps that are a clear parody to real life like Facenook and Tender. Lastly, you are in charge of much of your protagonists’ responses to your customers.

The game is broken up into daily shifts that place in the evening. You have a limited number of customers, both romanceable and non-romanceable, to serve, and at the end of each shift, you are encouraged to check at social media, messages, and make purchases for your store.

Characters and Writing

The cast of High Times is memorable in a way that they are colorful, comical, and often based off an existing trope. You have a stoner, a rocker, a furry, a punk rocker, and much more. Each have their own manner of speaking and interacting with you, and I always find myself looking forward to each interaction. The writing is relatively entertaining and often pun-y, although I’ve noticed that some conversations repeat with characters that I may have already maxed out scenes with.

There is an air of mystery surrounding your character, and it’s fun to piece that together slowly through interactions with customers. While there are some mildly heavy elements, High Times focuses a lot on energy and banter. I did appreciate how much mystery surrounded my protagonist, and I was motivated to figure out what happened in their past.

Graphics and Music

The art style really caught my attention with (I know I said it a lot already) bright colors and its comic book-like structure, especially when a new ex enters the store. You also are in charge of customizing the protagonist, and the selection was fun to thumb through. Overall, the art style is a strong point of High Times, making it stand out from competitors.

There is also a focus on the music as well. Once you expand the Jukebox, you have a variety of music to pass the shift with. I appreciate the fun album art and different types of music. I did notice however, that I took too long (such as checking my phone in real life), sometimes the music comes to an end, and I am met with silence. Once I return to clicking, the music does resume. It just felt slightly jarring.

Final Score

High Times is a solid game that scratches that itch for a dating and cooking sim all at once. The concept of working as a “Mood Meister” and curating donut flavors based on my customer’s needs was fresh and fun, and it was interesting to see their reactions when I served them exactly what they wanted…or fumbled their order completely.

I appreciate the pacing of the game. At first, I thought I was hitting most of the character interactions within the first two weeks’ worth of shifts, and yet, when I least expected it, High Times threw a brand-new customer at me. This extended my desire to play the game, as I enjoy the branching arcs with my exes and wanted to see what scene I’ll unlock next.

There was some mild repetition; however, it was minimal on the grand scale of things, and it’s easy to click through the interaction and make money off the customer. I wish the music was continuous even if I stopped playing for a few minutes. Despite these small observations, I do feel that High Times is greater than the sum of all its parts. I love the games’ strong personality and seemingly limitless unlockable scenes that has me coming back for seconds!

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Featured Image Source: Yangyang Mobile via Steam