Battle Chef Brigade's Deluxe update does more than just reheat the game
Well worth coming back for seconds.
Despite following its development closely, reading Tom Sykes' cheerful review in November and picking it up as part of Twitch Prime's big summer giveaway, it wasn't until last evening that I finally tried out the gorgeous little puzzle-brawler hybrid that is Battle Chef Brigade. It charmed the everloving heck out of me for hours on end. My belated thanks to the chefs at Trinket Studios.
Officially relaunched yesterday as Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe (a free update for all), it's now a meatier, tastier game than before. Now featuring local multiplayer, a new playable character (Necromancer-chef Ziggy, seen above) and a bundle of new play-modes, it's probably worth taking a sniff at now. Below, the spicy new trailer for the game.
There's lots of new stuff (as you can see in the patch notes here) in the Deluxe update, but the biggest addition is probably new playable character Ziggy. While he's not too averse to mixing it up with breakdancing-style combat moves, he'd rather just stand back and let his undead and summoned minions do the work. Three of his four magic spells summon followers, including the highly useful Stabby, an imp that teleports ingredients from the field straight into your pantry. While not playable in story mode, Ziggy is available in all other modes, including Break The Dishes.
There's a trio of new modes in the Deluxe update. Survival Mode is a continually escalating series of challenges that starts you off with only the most basic gear and one life. Run out of health or fail to create a tasty enough dish in time and it's game over, and each stage completed lets you pick from two of six random upgrades - there's global leaderboards here. Free play mode lets you set up entirely custom matches against the AI, and the new local multiplayer mode also lets you customise rules and loadouts in similar style - it's just polite to give a newer player an advantage, no?
Being absolutely packed with pretty illustrations (the game is beautiful, okay), I'm especially glad they added a Gallery mode. As you rise up Brigade ranks, you unlock more illustrations, concept and marketing art. The update also includes masses of fixes, rebalancing Dad Bod orc Thrash, and "at least one Easter Egg", which I'm going to be hunting for - and hopefully cooking - tonight.
While many of you picked it up during Twitch Prime's big summer giveaway, those late to the cook-off get in cheap. Publisher Adult Swim Games have filleted the price down by 40%, making it £9.29/€12/$12 on Steam and GOG until September 11th.