Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together

Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together is the second installment in a series of simulation games originating from 2019, in which we play as a chef. It was developed by Big Cheese Studio, a Polish team that co-created the first game.

Plot

The protagonist of Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together leaves their office job due to burnout, following their dream of becoming a chef. Before we get employed by the best restaurant in the city, we must go through an entire career, starting off by working at a modest burger joint.

Mechanics

Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together is a first-person game. Gameplay revolves around preparing meals and following recipes. While we can stick to them to the letter, we can also experiment, preparing our own dishes and searching for perfect combinations of ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients - all meals must be prepared manually, choosing meat, fish, vegetables and additives, such as wine, then preparing them via various kitchen tools; chopping, frying, boiling and grilling. We must be careful not to undercook or overcook our dish. Since we often need to multitask (for example, chopping vegetables while the meat is grilling), it's not easy to manage everything.

There's more, as aside from fulfilling our guests' orders, we must also prepare ingredients and meals in advance (then quickly heat them up when customers ask), order supplies and keep order at the stations.

Over time we'll start developing our character and our abilities, letting us prepare more complex food. We'll also change our place of employment, ascending from the burger joint to the best restaurant in the city. Once we're at the top, we must acquire the recognition of critics and acquire four chef badges, a feat no one's managed to achieve in decades.

Game modes

Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together supports singleplayer and co-op. We can join forces in the kitchen or hang out in our apartment. Apart from the career, there's also sandbox mode, where we can freely play with food without any restrictions.

Technical aspects

Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together features colorful, slightly cartoonish visuals. The game's strongest point is the returning physics engine - food realistically reacts to thermal processing, can be chopped, sliced and grated.