The wise and witty Jim Gaffigan once said, “You ever try to get into a hammock with someone? You’d better be datin’ em!”. That oh so insightful sentiment can also be applied to playing Overcooked! with literally anyone. You’d better have one hell of a sturdy relationship because this game will straight up cause a fist fight with your Player Two if you don’t. Without question, no matter how good you are at this game, you will find yourself bashing into one another as you rush about the kitchen, screaming over burnt food, and arguing over who has to wash the dishes… kinda like real life if you think about it.
However, unlike in real life you, and up to three friends if you’re feeling particularly resolute, will be cooking up a wide variety of succulent servings in one unconventional kitchen after another. You’ll need to navigate rafts, icebergs, mineshafts, and hot air balloons to please the palates of monstrously mutated meatballs and undead bread alike in this all out Overcooked! mashup, Overcooked! All You Can Eat. However, did this culinary collection leave us feeling starved for affection or blown away with it’s bounteous offerings?
I am an Overcooked! aficionado to say the least. We’ve played through both games many times and enjoyed ourselves exponentially more each time. While Overcooked! All You Can Eat wasn’t the Overcooked! 3 release we were hoping for, this compilation will tide us over perfectly. This bundle not only has the first two games in it, but also all the DLC released for both as well, plus a few new kitchens and chefs tucked away in there as well!
I was absolutely elated to be given the opportunity to review one of my all time favorite co-op experiences. Now that we have everything in one place you can bet we’ll be revisiting often!
Couch co-op games are really what inspired us to create these Twosome reviews in the first place. Although there aren’t really any requirements as to what types of games we play when it comes to our Twosome cover, since we pretty much play everything together anyway, co-op games were basically made for it. And, Overcooked! is probably THE example of a perfect co-op game.
So, when we had the opportunity to cover the recent release of the All You Can Eat compilation, it was pretty much a no brainer. Besides, Overcooked! has become one of those staples in the Backlog Odyssey household, that we revisit time and time again. That and the Overcooked! games are great for bringing a smile to you and your family/friend’s faces, letting go of your anxieties, or producing some new ones.
Since the Overcooked! games are something we revisit often, it was nice to have them all in one place and to see some refinements to the formula. That said, all in all it was still Overcooked!, which means that portions of it that may have frustrated you when you first played them, still probably hold true today. Frustrations like not being able to throw in the original, or constantly falling off into the icy waters in the winter stages, but I appreciated the graphical face lift, and updated menus to make them a little more user friendly.
Gameplaywise, you’re still chopping, you're still cooking, and you're still running into each other as you try to get those dang burgers off the grill before they burn! Which I absolutely love! I love the challenge and satisfaction of trying to coordinate perfectly so we can get all three stars, and the variety of the stages (especially in the DLC), keeps us coming back for more.
Speaking of DLC, you get all of it from the first two entries, some new characters, and some new challenges! Which was most definitely a breath of fresh air for us frantic culinary co-op veterans.
Heck yeah it holds up! One might even say it’s better than just the sum of the originals since it's all been remastered with crispy 4K graphics and catchy new tunes to keep you cooking in style. Even the character select has been streamlined. No more shuffling through each and every character one at a time to find the one you want. Now there is a handy menu that not only shows you all the characters available, but also allows you to change their color or appearance!
There have even been some awesome upgrades to the accessibility options! Things like an adaptable UI and text options for various reading disorders like dyslexia. In a game made for co-op it’s fantastic to see devs take the initiative to allow even more people to play their game!
All the changes, upgrades and additions made in Overcooked! All You Can Eat have been positive ones honestly. Nothing is missing or has been removed that hasn’t been replaced by something better. All the frantic chaos you could ever want is still there just now packaged into an all inclusive bundle with better graphics and music.
Anything I would have had to complain about in the originals has been basically covered by this re-release, so I guess I would change nothing and keep everything.
Sure, I don’t like single player or the Versus mode, which is basically single player, but I wouldn’t want those things removed or changed. The game is what it is and personally I just think it’s way more fun to play with others than by yourself.
Honestly, it’s difficult to pick out anything wrong with this entire collection, but if I can be a bit nitpicky, I think tweaking the original Overcooked! to play more like the sequel (i.e. LET US THROW), then I think both games would feel much more complimentary! Now, I’m not saying that the original is unplayable or anything, but coming off of the sequel, it’s really hard to go back!
That said, I just want Overcooked! to Overcooked!, and the more I can get of it, the happier I’ll be! All I ask is that you give us a third Team17!
Like I mentioned earlier, Overcooked! may just be the perfect co-op experience! Yes, you can play it single player, and you can play it competitively in the versus mode, but Overcooked! truly shines when you and your group of belligerent chefs try to fight each other while attempting to achieve the same goal! We laughed, we cursed, we accidentally threw out a few too many fully cooked dishes, and it was a blast.
Ok listen, Mr. Backlog and I? Solid relationship. We are two peas in a pod and we are totally crushing this partnership thing if you ask me. While playing Overcooked! together through the years has never caused any real marital strife there have definitely been heated, post level failure discussions about sticking to your tasks and not attempting to do everything yourself PATRICK!!! But we love it and it will forever be up there as one of my favorite co-op experiences.
So, if you haven’t already guessed from our gushing review, this All You Can Eat bundle gets a five star recommendation from us. All the cooking conundrums you could ever ask for are now in one place in this jam packed flavor bomb of a co-op compilation! So, what are you waiting for? Grab some trustworthy teammates and get started stewing up a big pot of good times with a pinch of pandemonium.
If you’re interested in checking out Overcooked! All You Can Eat, you can find it right now on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam!
such a great game. my wife is not a big gamer but she also had a lot of fun playing through the first one with me.
also very nice review!
Thanks so much! Yeah, Overcooked is an absolute blast and the both of us have such fun playing it together!!