When you hear the phrase Pizza Bandit, what do you think? Do you think of someone delivering pizza and then robbing the place that they delivered to? Over the last year, we have eagerly been awaiting the delivery of a time bandit. Prior to PAX West 2024, Jofsoft reached out to us to set up a demo and interview appointment for PAX West. Due to a conflict in schedule, we were not able to attend PAX West, but still had the chance to preview the game, interview the head developer, and create the preview video for PAX West. This year at PAX East, we had the chance to preview Pizza Bandit one last time before it reached early access.
How does the game hold up now that it has been released to the public? Find out in our early access Pizza Bandit review.
Pizza Bandit
Developer: Jofsoft
Publisher: Jofsoft, Krafton INC.
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Release Date: August 25th, 2025
Players: 1 to 4
Price: $24.99
For those who have not heard of Pizza Bandit, it is a third-person shooter, where the player will occasionally need to put together different recipes. The main character was a former bounty hunter who saved up his money to start his own pizza company and retire from the bounty hunting industry; the only downside, the pizza parlor he purchased was almost completely empty out of the brick oven and some miscellaneous items. In order to create a successful pizza shop, we will need to go back to the bounty hunter life and take on the time reapers.
As the player starts out, they will need to complete threat level one contracts to prove their merit and unlock new equipment. After completing the initial contracts, the player will have unlocked the base game’s six levels (Ginkgo Town, Restaurant from nowhere, Los Pollos Locos, Wizard’s Tomb, Winter Cabin, and Sushi Showdown); these are the only levels available to the player until they complete a contract unlocked at level 22 and one at 24. At level 24, you should have unlocked the Dynamite Circus & Mystic Lair by completing the contract Carnival of Carnage and Dragon Tamer’s Gambit.
Prior to each mission, you are able to pick what threat level you want to undertake. At the beginning, the player is only able to pick Threat Level 1, but as they complete contracts, they will be able to pick between Threat Level 1 to Threat Level 5. With each Threat Level, the player will unlock different bonuses. Level 1 Threat Rating gives you a +25% bonus reward, whereas a Threat Level 5 (Chaos) rating gives you +200% bonus reward. You can only unlock the Chaos threat rating once you reach level 19.
In order to unlock contacts, you will need to level up to the required level. In Pizza Bandit, the level grind is a bit of torture. At higher levels, it feels like completing a Threat Level Two mission gives the same amount of experience as a Threat Level 4 mission. Once you have completed selected contracts, you will be able to purchase new equipment if you have the credits. Credits also go towards upgrading your pizza shop and equipment.
Upgrading your gear and pizza shop is no easy task; it will require hours of grinding different missions. Once you or a partner unlocks the Carnival of Carnage, it is one of the fastest ways to grind credits, but it is horrible for grinding materials. If you are looking to grind materials (pizza toppings or equipment orbs), you will need to figure out which mission has the material you need and then set it to Threat Level 3 or higher. Material location changes after a set amount of time.
Cooking pizzas gives the team a buff that helps with the mission; these buffs can increase the team’s health, fire rate, reload speed, and even stamina.
Now, here comes the difficult choice: spending your credits on equipment upgrades or upgrading your shop. Upgrading your shop not only makes it look good but also offers different bonuses when taking on missions; these bonuses can vary from getting extra resources during missions to extra revives, equipment, and even faster healing. In order to unlock these bonuses, you will need to place decorations throughout the shop in order to hit one of five thresholds.
Now, when you look at Pizza Bandit, you probably think it is a hodgepodge of games combined into one. Although the game might seem like a chaotic mess at first, it combines various elements from games that we love to create a memorable experience. Create a variety of pizzas, take on disgusting time reapers, and maybe slay a dragon or a clown or two.
As Pizza Bandit is now, it is a fun co-op shooter experience with a cooking twist. With the game in early access, it will be interesting to see where Jofsoft takes it. At the moment, the game does need a little bit of balancing in regard to leveling, but with it being early access, we expect Jofsoft will create a memorable co-op experience that many will fall in love with, so long as they hear about it.
Will you try out Pizza Bandit while it is in early access? We had a ton of fun while doing our Pizza Bandit review.
Pizza Bandit was reviewed on a PC using a code provided by Joftsoft. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Pizza Bandit is now available on PC (Steam).
