Overcooked! 2 is a co-op cooking game that you can play alone or with up to three friends. Each kitchen shows a set of orders, and your job is to prepare the ingredients, cook or combine them the way each recipe asks, plate the finished dish, and deliver it before the timer runs out. Kitchens also bring obstacles like fire, collapsing floors and floating work surfaces, so the clock is only part of the challenge.
You choose a kitchen on the Onion Kingdom map, where an adaptable food truck carries you from one kitchen to the next. Once you're cooking, serve dishes in the order they're shown, because a run of correct dishes builds a score multiplier, and combos are a key way to earn three stars. Some kitchens also send plates back to you, and washing them is part of keeping up with the orders.
You work toward stars, which you earn by finishing a kitchen with a higher score. The story covers six worlds with six numbered kitchens in each, and clearing one kitchen unlocks the next. Eight hidden Kevin bonus kitchens open when you complete secret objectives, and once you have three stars on every kitchen, New Game+ adds a fourth star to chase.
- Developer
- Ghost Town Games Ltd. and Team17
- Publisher
- Team17
- Release
- Worldwide: 2018-08-07
- Platforms
- PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Collectibles
Story Kitchens
Story kitchens are the numbered cooking levels that make up Overcooked! 2's main campaign, and you move through them in order on the World Map. Each one awards stars based on your score, and the total you've earned across your save unlocks the next kitchens along the path. Hidden Kevin kitchens appear on the Story map once you meet a secret score or combo target on certain numbered kitchens.
Chefs
Overcooked! 2 chefs are the characters players control in the kitchen, and they're purely cosmetic, changing how your cook looks without changing how the game plays. Some are available from the start, while the rest unlock by finishing campaign levels with at least one star or by completing hidden Kevin levels. Raccoon Chef is one of the series' most popular picks, and the full set can be collected by working through the story and its bonus stages.
Overcooked! 2 gameplay tips
- Throw ingredients instead of carrying them. Throwing is a fast way to get food to a teammate or straight into a pot, and later kitchens may require it to reach a chef or station that's cut off. Practice it early so it feels natural when the layouts get harder.
- Reread the orders when the kitchen changes. In one hot-air balloon kitchen, the balloon crashes into a sushi restaurant partway through, and the recipes you were making change with it. After any shift like that, check the orders on screen before you continue so you don't keep working on a dish that has changed.
- Try Arcade for a quick round. Pick a kitchen theme and Arcade loads a random stage for a high-score run, so each round can feel different. It's a good pick once you've finished the story and still want to cook together.
- Choose your plan in Versus. Two teams share one kitchen and both aim for the highest score at the end of the round, so decide whether to focus on your own orders or steal ingredients from the other team. Stealing takes away what they need for their dishes, which can slow them down.
- Invite friends for story, use the lobby for Arcade and Versus. Story mode online requires inviting players from your friends list, so gather your group before you start. Arcade and Versus have an in-game lobby and matchmaking, which lets you find other players without sending invites first.
- Share a keyboard on PC, or play wirelessly on Switch. On PC, Mac and Linux, two people can share one keyboard for local play, so a second player can join without needing another one. On Nintendo Switch, local wireless play in handheld mode gives each of up to four chefs a screen of their own.