My ultimate childhood Flash game just got a Steam release

If you grew up in the 2000s like myself, you’ll have ploughed through countless Flash games during school hours. The Impossible Quiz, Henry Stickman, Line Rider—all games that kept me and my friends entertained instead of, y’know, doing school work. It’s any wonder that those computers didn’t start blocking Flash websites sooner.

But there was one series of Flash games that I’d play even outside of school hours. The Papa Louie games have a huge place in my heart and that of my friends. The time management sim asks you to juggle various orders from ever-more demanding customers and took me across all kinds of cuisines: Papa’s Burgeria, Papa’s Pizzeria, Papa’s Taco Mia, you get the gist. They sort of died on PC when Flash met its demise, migrating over to mobile. Until now. 

Papa’s Freezeria, the ice cream-themed game in Flipline Studio’s long-running series, now has a permanent home on Steam (opens in new tab). Turns out Flipline was teasing its arrival for a few weeks, though I had no idea until this very accurate Reddit post (opens in new tab). It’s a more beefed-up version of the original, offering more ingredients, new customers and new features like customer outfits and daily specials.

The original game is almost 12 years old at this point, and it most certainly retains its Flash twang in its art style and gameplay. But it’s a nostalgia trip and a relatively cheap one at that. It’s less than $5, and even cheaper until April 7. I had a quick half-hour with the game while writing this up—I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for cooking and time management games like this, and Papa’s Freezeria still holds up today. It probably won’t hit the same for those who didn’t grow up with it, but I forgot how much fun these games were. I won’t say no to Flipline putting more of its library on Steam eventually.