Overcooked Will Leave You Overjoyed From Fun

Welcome to Indie Spotlight!

It’s been a while. You must be hungry for a review. It’s only appropriate that we take a look at the latest food-based craze — Overcooked!

Created by Ghost Town Games, Overcooked is a new couch co-op cooking simulator. I use “simulator” loosely, for if any real kitchens worked like this I would fear for many things!

You and up to three friends play as chefs working under the Onion King. His kingdom is under attack by an immeasurable evil (a spaghetti meatball monster) with an insatiable hunger, so it’s up to you to fend him off — in the kitchen! Of course, you are no match for a world ender, so the Onion King sends you back in time (1993, obviously) to hone your cooking skills so you can fend off the monster when the day comes once again. (Chrono Trigger, anyone?)

Sound a little ridiculous? It’s nothing compared to the mayhem about to ensue. Each stage is a time trial that involves running a kitchen and fulfilling orders. You have to dice up ingredients, plate and deliver the meals, and wash your dishes. As you progress, you are taught more styles of cooking (like cooking meat or deep frying fish) that add complexity to the orders.

Generally speaking, everyone has equal access to everything in the kitchen (some stages are setup to force you into particular roles). Your challenge is to communicate divvy up the work and communicate efficiently to get orders out as quickly as you can. Better timing means higher tips, which means a better end score. You’ll all have to be flexible enough to jump in where help is needed to get the job done.

Sometimes the stage itself is out to thwart you. An occasional earthquake will split your kitchen in half, keeping you from your task at hand. You’ll have to cook between two high-speed vans that need to switch lanes frequently. Pesky rats will sneak out from the cupboards and steal your ingredients!

After five minutes of watching a Let’s Play video, I knew this had to happen. I recently joined up with some friends and went at it. There were cries for help, profane blaming and laughter the entire time. Every 3-star rating we achieved was painfully earned and highly satisfying.

Couch co-op is coming back with a vengeance. If you’ve been looking for a new, challenging and hilarious way to build up that love/hate relationship, Overcooked is the game to get.

Overcooked is available on Steam, Xbox One and PS4.