Cooking Simulator

Lore & Background

Cooking Simulator was developed by Polish studio Big Cheese Studio and published by PlayWay S.A., launching on Microsoft Windows on 6 June 2019. The Nintendo Switch version followed on 14 May 2020, published by Forever Entertainment, and the Xbox One version arrived on 14 August 2020. A mobile port, Cooking Simulator Mobile, launched on Android on 20 October 2020, with an iOS release available in a few countries and worldwide pre-registration offered by PlayWay S.A. The PlayStation 4 version released on 20 May 2021 exclusively in Europe and Australia, and on 8 June 2021 in North America.

The game features Career Mode, where players control a kitchen and earn fame and experience by serving dishes according to orders, with a fee charged each time ingredients are picked up from the shelf; the goal is to reach the fifth Fame Star. Sandbox Mode offers a fully equipped kitchen with no time limits. Cooking School provides tutorials explaining game mechanics. Leaderboard Challenge lets players compete to prepare a single dish according to a recipe, with each dish having its own scoreboard. Winter Holidays introduces a new kitchen where players serve dinner to guests using requested ingredients.

Several DLCs expand the game: Pizza DLC tasks the player with preparing pizzas with different doughs and toppings in a pizzeria; Cakes and Cookies DLC allows preparation of cakes, tarts, and cookies in a pastry shop; Shelter DLC is set after a nuclear holocaust in the 1980s, where the player rations and prepares food for a bunker while searching for lost family, with the ability to go into the wasteland to trade meals, hunt mutants, and gather radioactive plants. The SUPERHOT Challenge, added in a free update on 25 February 2020, modifies the appearance of products, utensils, and kitchen, and introduces a mechanic that slows time when the player is not moving. Some versions, such as the Nintendo Switch version, have features removed, including some DLCs.

Reader's Guide

Cooking Simulator received mixed reviews from review outlets due to initial flaws, scoring 64/100 on Metacritic based on four reviews. PC Games appreciated the game's graphics and various recipes while pointing out difficult controls, an unengaging career mode, and performance issues. GameStar noted unlockable recipes and perks, the tutorial, and the dish review system as pros, but cited difficult controls, repetitiveness, lack of difficulty levels, physics bugs, and no replay value in career mode as cons. Screen Rant stated that the game's challenging timing and controls were fun in short sessions but frustrating in the long run. The game's significance lies in its attempt to deliver a realistic cooking simulation through a physics-integrated engine, supported by a variety of modes and DLCs that extend its scope beyond the base kitchen setting. The addition of themed content like the Shelter DLC and the SUPERHOT Challenge crossover demonstrates efforts to maintain player interest, though technical issues and design limitations tempered its reception. Its legacy is that of an ambitious but uneven simulation title that found an audience despite its flaws, with ports across multiple platforms broadening its reach.

Did You Know?

• The SUPERHOT Challenge was added as a free update on 25 February 2020, inspired by SUPERHOT to celebrate its fourth anniversary on Steam.
• The Nintendo Switch version has some DLCs removed compared to other versions.