The Overcooked series is one of my all-time favourites. But potentially also one of the most stressful series I’ve ever played too. It pushes your friendships to the limit and really requires a lot of teamwork otherwise it can be a case of too many cooks spoil the broth. And lucky me got to do it all over again with the new-gen release of Overcooked: All You Can Eat edition.
But what is the All You Can Eat edition? Well, simply put, Ghost Town Games have cooked up a feast combining the previous two titles, Overcooked and Overcooked 2, with all the expansions included. On top of that, there is a new tasty expansion with a few new missions included that you won’t have played before. And it has all been optimised for the new generation consoles, those being the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, like you didn’t already know that.
As part of the optimisation for All You Can Eat, the original title has been rebuilt using the Overcooked 2 engine, just check out the comparison in the images below. In addition to that, a whole host of new ingredients, I mean features, have been introduced, including cross-platform multiplayer. So, if your friend decided to go Xbox when you went PlayStation, you can still play with or against each other. Competing in a competition that is tougher than The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef combined.
That said, the most enjoyable way to play this game for me is still couch co-op. There is nothing better than channelling your inner Gordon Ramsay and shouting orders at your spouse, to the point she looks like she wants to cry. But don’t worry, she enjoys it too. The game that is, not me getting stressed to the point where I roll my eyes if she fucks up a recipe. Of course though, if I do it, it’s ok to just accept we all make mistakes and restart. And just to cover my back, if you’re reading this, I do love you really!
If you’ve never played any of the Overcooked titles before, and you like games that will challenge you and that have great replayability, then All You Can Eat is a great point to enter, since you get all the content that has ever been released. Plus the addition of some new characters you can’t get elsewhere, such as the Swedish Chef from the muppets, what’s not to love about that?
That’s not the only reason to join in the fun if you’ve never played before though, because as I mentioned earlier, there are a bunch of new features included in this new installment. And they’re aimed at making this game more enjoyable and accessible for all. The first of which for newbies is the assist mode, which helps you to get to grips with the game a little more; allowing you to slow the timeouts on recipes, increase the duration of rounds and the ability to skip levels if you’re finding them too tough.
The other main feature introduced in All You Can Eat, which may be handy for those who haven’t tried Overcooked games and even those who have but may have struggled a little, are the accessability functions. This makes the game more accessible for people who may have things like visual impairments or learning disorders by introducing a scalable user interface, dyslexic-friendly text and colour blindness options. It’s great to see a development team not just focusing on making a game looking better, but evolving a game to allow more people to play it, especially when it’s such a great title.
But what do you do in the game? Well, you’ve a few modes where you can either face off against friends, or team up to work your way through the story set in the Onion Kingdom. But the mechanics are the same for both. You essentially have to cook various different recipes in some very high pressure situations, like in the middle of a busy street with traffic. Completing orders correctly, and in the order they arrive, you can build combos and increase your score. Depending on your score, you’ll be awarded stars, and you’re aiming to get as many of these as possible.
If you have played the games before, then you’ll know how great these games are, and like me, you’ll be happy to put yourself through all that torture once again in All You Can Eat. However, despite the original title being remade in the newer game engine, and you can tell a lot of work has gone into it, they sadly didn’t introduce the throw ability from Overcooked 2. Whilst it’s not necessary, I’d have easily been able to enhance my scores on many levels if I was able to just throw ingredients around the place, and it would really have helped with my blood pressure and stress levels trying to get maximum stars.
The other downside with All You Can Eat, which is only a slight niggle really, is that if you owned any of the previous titles and their DLCs, you aren’t going to get one of those yellow clearance price stickers on this like your ingredients in the supermarket. I can’t speak for the Series S/X but on PS5 I can download all my previous gen games in my library to play, and those I’ve had that have released enhanced PS5 versions have been free to upgrade. But here, you are going to have to fork out again. Although I’d still happily do it again and again because as party games go, this is one of the best around.
Overcooked All You Can Eat overall thoughts
I’ve always been of the ideology that all you can eat isn’t an invitation to just go and enjoy some tasty food, it’s a challenge to literally try and eat everything. And the Overcooked All You Can Eat edition is that challenge. You’ll have access to everything you could possibly want, and it doesn’t matter how many sittings you’ve had at the table, you’ll keep going back for more. It may destroy your friendships. It may destroy your marriage. But you won’t be able to stop torturing yourself. Because despite all the stress you endure, the rewarding sensation and enjoyment for completing the game and getting high scores makes it all worth while.
And if people stop talking to you because you become a crazed lunatic playing the All You Can Eat edition with them. You’re better off without and should get looking for a new sous chef pronto. Because this is a must-have party title for the new-gen consoles.
Overcooked All You Can Eat Edition is developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17. It is available now exclusively on PS5 and the Xbox Series S/X. You can find more info on the game over on the official website HERE, and more of our game reviews by clicking HERE.
