I did not expect a game about donuts to make me think about every conversation I avoided having with someone I once cared about. But here we are.

High Times is a dating and cooking simulation game developed by Yangyang Mobile, the same studio behind the popular visual novel When the Night Comes. It is scheduled for release in Q1 2026 on Steam for Windows and macOS. The premise sounds simple on the surface: you run a donut café, serve customers, and manage a small shop. But underneath that sugar glaze is something a lot more layered.

The donuts in this game are not just food. They are mood changers. Each flavor corresponds to an emotion like courage, sincerity, nostalgia, or patience. What you serve changes how your customers feel and what they say to you. And the people you are serving? Some of them are your exes. People you dated, people you hurt, people who hurt you. They are back, they want answers, and all you have is a donut and whatever words you can find.

That setup alone makes High Times one of the more interesting games announced for 2026.

What Is High Times Actually About

You play as a character of your own design, working at a place called The Hotbox. It is a specialty donut shop in the fictional town of San Mazo. The donuts sold here are not ordinary. They are infused with mood enhancers, legal substances in this world, that shift the emotional state of whoever eats them.

Your job is to listen to customers, figure out what they actually need emotionally, and serve them the right donut for that moment. Sometimes they tell you directly. Often they do not. You have to read between the lines, pick up on what they are going through, and make a call.

That mechanic is genuinely clever. It turns every customer interaction into a small puzzle. You are not just filling orders. You are making judgment calls about what someone needs to hear, what emotion they need to feel, and whether your intervention helps or makes things worse.

Then your exes walk in.

The game centers heavily on this closure arc. You have a history with multiple characters. You dated them. Things ended, probably not cleanly. Now they are customers, and the shop becomes the setting for every conversation you never had. The game does not let you pick an easy mood for those moments. Closure is not on the menu. You have to navigate it with words and the right flavors and whatever self-awareness you can manage.

The Mood Confectioner System

This is the core mechanic and it deserves a proper look.

Each donut flavor maps to a specific emotional state. From what Yangyang Mobile has shared ahead of launch, the confirmed moods include patience, sincerity, nostalgia, courage, and several others not yet revealed. When a customer eats a donut, their dialogue shifts. Their attitude changes. The conversation moves in a different direction depending on which emotion you activated.

This is not just flavor text. The emotional state of a customer affects what choices become available to you in the conversation. Serve someone a courage donut and they might open up about something they were holding back. Serve them nostalgia and they drift into memory, which could be helpful or could reopen a wound depending on the context.

I find this system compelling because it does not make the player feel omnipotent. You are not hacking someone’s emotions like a cheat code. You are nudging things in a direction and hoping your read was right. Sometimes it will not be. The game implies that wrong calls have consequences, which means repeat playthroughs and different choices are baked into the design.

The cooking side of things adds another layer. You prepare and design donuts from scratch, unlock new ingredients and tools, and discover recipes as you progress. This is not a passive management sim. There is active preparation involved, and the quality of what you make matters to the outcome.

Running The Hotbox: Café Management Breakdown

Beyond the emotional narrative layer, High Times functions as a café management game. You run The Hotbox, handle orders, keep customers happy during service, collect tips, and reinvest those earnings into upgrades for your shop.

The management loop as described involves several moving parts:

Preparing donuts requires selecting ingredients, following or experimenting with recipes, and decorating the final product. Each customer has preferences, and matching those preferences earns better tips and builds relationship points with returning characters.

Unlocking new tools and ingredients expands what you can make. Early in the game you work with a limited menu. As you progress, the options grow. New flavors unlock new emotional possibilities, which opens up new story paths with both the main cast and the side characters in San Mazo.

Upgrading the shop improves the experience for customers and likely increases your earning potential. The details of exactly what upgrades are available have not been fully disclosed ahead of launch, but based on Yangyang Mobile’s previous work, this kind of progression loop tends to be satisfying rather than grindy.

Service timing also matters. During peak hours you are managing multiple customers at once, which adds a time pressure element to the emotional puzzle side of the gameplay. You have to read a situation quickly and make a call under pressure, which is honestly a pretty accurate simulation of how real emotional labor works.

The Exes: Who Are These People and Why Are They Back

The relationship arc is the emotional spine of the game. Your exes are not random antagonists. They are fully voiced characters with their own histories, wounds, and reasons for returning to San Mazo.

The game frames this as a chance for closure, but then immediately tells you closure is not something you can just serve on a plate. That tension is the point. These characters remember what happened between you. They have things they want to say, and so do you. The question is whether those conversations lead somewhere or just reopen old damage.

Yangyang Mobile has confirmed that your choices throughout the game affect your relationships with these characters. The story does not railroad you into a single outcome. You can remain friends with a former partner. You can rekindle something. You can also make things worse. The game tracks what you say and remembers it, so casual throwaway lines in one conversation might matter three sessions later.

That design choice makes each playthrough feel personal rather than performative. You are not watching someone else’s story. The decisions you make reflect something about how you approach conflict and connection, and the game responds to that.

Multiple endings are confirmed for each major relationship arc. This gives the game significant replay value for players who want to explore every path.

The Cast of San Mazo

Beyond your exes, the town is full of what the game calls misfits. San Mazo is described as a quirky, lived-in place with a cast of supporting characters who are there for reasons of their own.

The confirmed character types include a self-described mommy lover and a girl who shows up in a full chicken suit. These details suggest the game leans into absurdist humor alongside its more tender emotional beats. That balance, where something can make you laugh and then catch you off guard with something genuine, is hard to pull off but tends to produce the most memorable experiences when it works.

Each side character has favorite donuts, and serving those consistently builds a relationship over time. The game hints at payoffs for these side relationships, suggesting that San Mazo has stories worth exploring beyond the main closure arc with your exes.

Customizing Your Character

High Times gives you meaningful control over who your character is. You can choose between a male or female character and customize your appearance, including skin tone and hairstyle. The customization is described as a tool for a more personal experience rather than just a cosmetic feature.

Notably, your character is not voiced in the game. Every other character has full English voice acting, but your character communicates through dialogue choices and player decisions. This is a common approach in visual novels and dating sims because it helps players project themselves into the role more easily. When you read your character’s lines rather than hear them performed, the choices feel more like your own words than someone else’s script.

Voice Acting and Presentation

Yangyang Mobile brought in professional English voice actors for the full cast. Every named character outside the player has full voice performance. For a studio that built its reputation on visual novel storytelling, the commitment to voiced dialogue is consistent with their approach on previous titles.

The visual style is described as dynamic comic book-styled. The game features more than 50 animated panels and vibrant CG illustrations. This art direction fits the tone of the game well. Comic book panels are good at capturing emotional beats visually, and the animation keeps things from feeling static during key story moments.

The soundtrack leans into grunge and lo-fi, which is an interesting combination. Lo-fi has become associated with a certain relaxed, introspective mood. Adding grunge to that mix suggests the score has some texture and edge to it rather than just being background café music. That fits a game about unresolved emotional history and difficult conversations.

Full Controller Button Layout Guide for PC and Xbox

High Times is a narrative-driven simulation game, which means the controller experience is designed for comfort over speed. Here is a complete reference for how the controls map across both PC keyboard and Xbox controller inputs based on the standard layout for this genre of game from Yangyang Mobile.

Xbox Controller Layout

A Button: Confirm selection, advance dialogue, interact with objects during service. This is your primary action button throughout the game.

B Button: Cancel or go back. In menus this returns you to the previous screen. During conversation it backs out of a dialogue choice before committing.

X Button: Inspect or examine. Use this during café prep to look at an ingredient or tool more closely. Also used in some scenes to access character profile information.

Y Button: Access your recipe book or notes during prep mode. Pulling this up mid-service lets you check what a customer likes without leaving the main service view.

Left Bumper (LB): Cycle left through available donut flavors or decoration options during crafting. Also used to tab left in menus with multiple sections.

Right Bumper (RB): Cycle right through available options during crafting. Tab right in menus.

Left Trigger (LT): Hold to view relationship status with the current customer. A relationship meter appears showing your history and any recent changes from your last interaction.

Right Trigger (RT): Speed up dialogue delivery during scenes you have already played. Useful on replays when exploring alternate choices.

Left Stick: Navigate menus, move cursor during customization screens, scroll through dialogue history when held and moved upward.

Right Stick: In the café view, use to pan the camera and get a better look at the shop layout or decorations you have unlocked.

D-Pad Up: Access the emotion selection wheel during a customer interaction. This is where you choose which mood donut to prepare before finalizing the order.

D-Pad Down: Open the tips and earnings summary for the current service session.

D-Pad Left: Quick access to shop upgrade menu during downtime between service periods.

D-Pad Right: View active customer queue and their general emotional state indicators.

Start (Menu Button): Opens the main pause menu with options for settings, save, load, and quit to main menu.

Select (View Button): Opens the full story journal, which logs completed conversations, relationship changes, and key story beats you have experienced.

Left Stick Click (L3): Toggle between casual and focused service mode. Focused mode slows down the service timer slightly, giving you more time to think through choices.

Right Stick Click (R3): Reset camera to default position in the café view.

PC Keyboard and Mouse Layout

Left Click or Enter: Confirm, advance dialogue, interact.

Right Click or Escape: Cancel, back out, open pause menu.

Arrow Keys or WASD: Navigate menus and dialogue choices.

Tab: Cycle through available donut flavors during preparation.

Shift + Tab: Cycle backward through options.

R: Open recipe book during prep mode.

E: Inspect or examine item under cursor.

Q: View relationship status for current character.

Space: Speed through previously read dialogue.

F: Open the emotion selection wheel.

G: Open story journal.

T: View active customer queue.

U: Open upgrade menu during downtime.

Ctrl + S: Quick save.

Ctrl + L: Open load menu.

Mouse Scroll Up or Down: Scroll through dialogue history.

Middle Mouse Button: Reset camera in café view.

Note: These mappings are based on standard genre conventions for Yangyang Mobile titles and typical visual novel café sim control schemes. Final button assignments will be confirmed in the official game manual and may support full remapping at launch.

System Requirements Explained

The game runs on Windows 7 through 11 at minimum, though Steam has required Windows 10 or later since January 2024, so practically speaking you need Windows 10 or 11. macOS is also supported.

The minimum specifications are modest:

• Processor: 2 GHz or better
• RAM: 3 GB
• Graphics: GTX 660 or equivalent
• DirectX: Version 10
• Storage: 5 GB of available space

These are lightweight requirements. High Times is built for accessibility, not for pushing hardware. Almost any machine purchased in the last decade can run it. This is consistent with the visual novel and dating sim genre, where the priority is story delivery rather than graphical fidelity.

The 5 GB storage requirement is also reasonable for a game with full voice acting, animated panels, and a custom soundtrack.

Why High Times Stands Apart From Other Dating Sims

The dating sim genre has expanded a lot in recent years. There are hundreds of visual novels and relationship-focused games on Steam. Most follow a familiar structure: meet characters, build affection meters, unlock routes, reach endings. High Times does not abandon that structure but it changes what sits at the center of it.

Most dating sims are about falling into something. High Times is partly about surviving what you already fell into and did not handle well. The presence of your exes as core characters reframes the genre’s usual fantasy of new connection and adds the weight of actual relationship history. That history, messy and specific and unresolved, is what you are actually playing through.

The mood donut mechanic is also more interesting than the usual gift-giving or stat-building systems in the genre. You are not just optimizing for a good outcome. You are making a genuine read of a human situation and acting on it with imperfect tools. That introduces a kind of moral texture that most sim games avoid.

The café management side keeps things grounded. Between emotionally heavy conversations you are still running a small business, managing time, and keeping customers fed. That rhythm of mundane work punctuated by meaningful exchanges is realistic in a way that pure visual novels often are not.

Yangyang Mobile as a Developer

Yangyang Mobile has built a reputation for emotional storytelling in the visual novel space. Their previous title When the Night Comes earned praise for its character writing and for treating relationship complexity with actual care rather than reducing it to simple mechanics.

High Times seems to carry that same priority. The decision to make closure the emotional core of the game, and then to make closure structurally unavailable as a quick fix, reflects a developer that thinks carefully about what relationships actually involve. That is not something you can fake with surface-level writing.

The studio working on a cooking sim as the frame for that kind of story is also a smart choice. Cooking games tend to attract players who enjoy gradual progression, satisfying loops, and character-driven content. The overlap with the dating sim audience is real, and High Times is positioned well to reach both groups.

What Players Should Expect Going In

If you are coming to High Times expecting a fast-paced management game, you will find one layer of that here. The café work is present and functional. But the game’s weight lives in its conversations and its relationship arcs.

If you are coming for a breezy dating sim with easy affection building, this game will probably push back on you. The emotional content is real. The presence of exes means the game is not about idealized first-time romance. It is about the harder stuff that happens after.

If you are coming for a game that treats its own premise seriously, that uses an absurd mechanic like mood donuts to explore something genuinely human, then this is worth your attention. The combination of cooking gameplay, voice acted character writing, multiple endings, and a playable customizable character gives it enough substance to reward the time you put in.

I personally find games like this valuable because they slow you down. When a donut you serve changes the direction of a conversation, you start to think about what you would actually do. Not the optimal choice in game terms, but the right choice for the moment you are in. That kind of reflection is rare in games and worth seeking out when you find it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What platforms is High Times available on?

High Times is coming to PC via Steam for both Windows and macOS. No console release has been announced at this time. The minimum Windows requirement through Steam is Windows 10, as Steam dropped support for older versions at the start of 2024.

When does High Times release?

The confirmed release window is Q1 2026. No specific date within that quarter has been announced by Yangyang Mobile as of now. Adding the game to your Steam wishlist is the best way to get notified when the release date is confirmed.

Is High Times free to play?

No pricing has been officially confirmed ahead of launch. Based on comparable titles from Yangyang Mobile and the genre overall, a paid release is expected. Check the Steam page for current pricing information closer to launch.

Can you play High Times without a controller?

Yes. The game supports keyboard and mouse input on PC. A controller is not required, though many players find controllers more comfortable for visual novel and simulation games because they allow you to play in a more relaxed position.

Does the game have multiple endings?

Yes. Multiple endings are confirmed. Your choices throughout the game, including which donuts you serve and what you say in conversations, affect your relationships with both your exes and the side characters in San Mazo. Different paths lead to different outcomes, including reconciliation, friendship, or walking away entirely.

Is the player character voiced?

No. The player character does not have a voice actor. All other named characters in the game are fully voiced in English by professional voice actors. This is a deliberate design choice common in the genre, intended to help players feel more present in the role.

Can you customize your character in High Times?

Yes. You can choose between a male or female character and customize physical traits including skin color and hairstyle. The customization is there to make the experience feel more personal.

How long is High Times?

No official playtime estimate has been released. Visual novel café sims in this genre typically run between 8 and 20 hours for a single playthrough, with additional time needed to explore alternate choices and multiple endings. Given the confirmed multiple endings and relationship paths, a full completion run could be significantly longer.

Is High Times appropriate for younger players?

The game deals with themes of past relationships, emotional complexity, and personal history. While it is not confirmed as an adult-only title, the subject matter is likely best suited to players in their late teens and older. Check the final age rating on Steam before purchasing for younger players.

What is the mood enhancer mechanic exactly?

In the world of High Times, donuts can be infused with mood-altering substances that shift the emotional state of whoever eats them. Each flavor corresponds to a different emotion. Serving a customer a specific donut changes their dialogue and behavior in that scene. The player has to decide which emotional state is right for the situation, and those decisions carry consequences for the story.

Are there missable story events or characters?

Given the confirmed multiple endings and the fact that the game remembers your choices across sessions, it is likely that some story content requires specific decisions made earlier in the game. Whether any content is permanently missable in a single playthrough has not been confirmed. The multiple endings structure suggests that replaying with different choices is intended.

Does High Times have Steam achievements?

No information about Steam achievements has been officially confirmed ahead of launch. Yangyang Mobile’s previous title included achievements, so it is a reasonable expectation that High Times will too. Check the Steam page at launch for the full achievement list.

What is the difference between High Times and a standard visual novel?

High Times combines visual novel storytelling with active café management and cooking mechanics. You are not just reading and making dialogue choices. You are also preparing food, managing service, collecting tips, and upgrading your shop. The café work and the story work are connected through the mood mechanic, so the two sides of the game feed into each other rather than existing as separate modes.

Will High Times have future content updates or DLC?

Nothing has been announced regarding post-launch content. Yangyang Mobile has not made any statements about DLC or updates for High Times ahead of the initial release.

Is High Times based on any real-world cooking or food culture?

The donut shop setting and the mood enhancer premise are fictional. However, the emotional core of the game draws on very real experiences: dealing with past relationships, navigating unresolved feelings, and the way food and shared meals connect to memory and emotion. The absurdist premise is a vehicle for something grounded.

Official and Related Resources

For more information about High Times and related topics, the following resources are worth checking:

• Steam Platform for game listings, user reviews, and system requirements information.
• PC Gaming Wiki for detailed technical support, compatibility notes, and community fixes once the game launches.
• Visual Novel Database for catalogued information on visual novel releases including developer history and genre classification.
• How Long to Beat for community playtime estimates after launch.
• Internet Games Database for release tracking, cover art, and franchise information.

High Times is one of those games where the concept alone tells you something about the people who made it. A donut shop where you heal people by feeding them the right emotion, and the people you most need to heal are the ones whose hearts you already broke. That is not a premise you stumble into. Someone thought carefully about what they wanted to say and built a game around it.

That kind of intentional design is worth paying attention to. High Times is not trying to be everything. It is trying to be honest about a specific kind of experience and it has built a genuinely clever mechanic to explore it. For players who want something that sits with you after you put the controller down, this one is worth watching.