Overcooked is free to keep on Epic Games Store this week
Too many cooks?
The Epic Game Store's giveaway du jour is the brillo Overcooked. A co-op cooking game for up to four (local only) about wobbly little chefs running around top-down diorama kitchens, preparing ingredients and serving dishes. Simple, except sometimes you're trying to serve food during an earthquake, or across a kitchen built into multiple moving trucks. Good fun, and while its sequel improved on the recipe, you get a generous free portion with the first, including the Lost Morsel and Festive Seasoning DLC. Grab it here before another game takes its place next Thursday.
Played solo, Overcooked has a bit more of a puzzle game feel to it, as you often have to switch control between multiple characters working in different, walled off parts of the kitchen. Start one guy chopping on the centre table, switch to another and have them pick up the chopped meat, fry that off, pass it back to go into a dish. In co-op it becomes more of an exercise in communication and making sure you're filling each others needs in order to fulfil orders. Understandably, it devolves into panicked shouting followed by laughter very easily. Gamepads highly recommended.
While Overcooked will take you a good few afternoons to get through (or longer, if you and yours get caught up chasing high scores), the DLC adds a good chunk more challenge to the game. There's a six-level campaign in The Lost Morsel, and eight levels in Festive Seasoning. Both assume that you've beaten the main game, so even if you want to escape the summer sun, it's best to stick to the regular kitchens until you know your way around a skillet. Remember: Hold knives firmly, pointed towards the floor and with the blade facing inward. That's just good practice.
Grab Overcooked here on the Epic Games Store before it grows a regular price tag on July 11th. Overcooked 2, which adds online multiplayer to the mix, is 30% off in the Steam Summer Sale, down to £13.99/€16.09/$17.49. Both are published by Team 17.