Culina: Hands in the Kitchen is quite an interesting title that has been recently funded on Kickstarter.

For one, it’s not simply a visual novel, it’s also a cooking management simulator. The team behind it are passionate about creating a unique experience where in taking over a restaurant, you can really choose between a variety of paths to take, whether it’s becoming a better chef, building friendships, furthering your business, and maybe even finding some love?

The story within Culina is that of a recent culinary school graduate setting out on his own, hopefully fulfilling his dream of creating a successful restaurant. He’s enabled to start his own business through his parent’s good graces, although he must prove himself and truly earn a living, otherwise he’ll be shut down and moving back home.

The funding goal of $10,000 was recently made today, and the game also has a few stretch goals available – most notably the addition of voice acting at $13,000 dollars. To be clear – the main story has you playing as the male protagonist, but the $15,000 stretch goal will let you play as Emily, although male romance options haven’t been detailed.

Aside from the relationship building that is reminiscent of the Persona games from Atlus, you can also improve your skill set as a chef. You can do this by improving your existing recipes by securing the best ingredients from local vendors, or you can even create entirely new recipes from scratch.

It’s not all about cooking and conversing, however. You’re a business owner, so you’re going to have to look after your own finances and ensure that you’re properly budgeting everything from the ingredients to your staff and all the way to your marketing campaigns. The game even has a prologue/demo of sorts that you can download for PC, Mac, Linux, and OUYA.

If Culina seems like a game that you want to back, please head on over to their Kickstarter campaign and consider throwing some money their way. Their game is also up on Steam Greenlight.