Lots of people celebrate the holidays by cooking and eating tons of delicious dishes -- although the actual menu and the pile of dishes left behind can be overwhelming. To avoid the worst of this but still experience the fun parts, gamers can turn to cooking-themed video games.
These six cooking games are fun for anyone and while some may be silly, others are closer to the real experience. There's no Cooking Mama here. Instead, try something a little different by cooking with friends or family online -- and avoid the mess altogether.
Cook, Serve, Delicious!
Cook, Serve, Delicious! developer Vertigo Gaming played a demo for the Japanese-exclusive PlayStation game Ore no Ryouri in the early 2010s and got inspired to create a new franchise. There are three Cook, Serve, Delicious! games total and the third is the highest rated.
This management sim involves running restaurants by taking customer orders, preparing them correctly, maintaining upkeep and upgrading to improve dishes and customer satisfaction. The second game added a variety of drinks to the menus, while the third took an entirely different turn. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! takes players on the road, with a food truck leading to dangerous rivalries and new locales.
Cook, Serve, Delicious! is available for PC, Android, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.
Brunch Club
Brunch Club allows gamers to become the food, rather than playing the chef. They still take control of ingredients and objects to make an attempt at cooking various dishes, but from a different perspective.
This game is arcade-like with campaign, pvp and endless modes, as well as different difficulty levels. Bacon and eggs is a simple homemade breakfast, but it's less easy to make when players need to figure out the logistics of getting into the pan as the egg. There are also obstacles at higher difficulties including snipers, shockwave inducing toasters and sushi-style conveyor belts.
It's a somewhat physics-based game and a completely different take on cooking. Brunch Club is a couch co-op game, making it great to play with a small group over the holidays.
Brunch Club is available for PC and Xbox One.
Good Pizza, Great Pizza
Good Pizza, Great Pizza is a charming game about owning a pizzeria. The art style is adorable and calming, though the gameplay is fast-paced and involves preparing various types of pizza for very picky customers.
The game plays similar to Cook, Serve, Delicious! but on a smaller scale and with some differences. There's more interaction with customers, as well as a pizzeria rivalry that grows with the player's business. Like Cook, Serve, Delicious! there are also upgrades available for easing the pizza-making process and decorating the restaurant.
Good Pizza, Great Pizza is available for Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS and PC.
Rags to Dishes
Rags to Dishes is a VR game where players own a medieval food stall. Players prepare stews, meats and other medieval foods by hand in the stall. Food safety wasn't really a thing then, so customers will be forgiving if players drop ingredients in the dirt.
Like many cooking games, customers will only wait so long for their food and if players don't get things done in time, they'll get the full mob experience. Players can also upgrade their stall over time.
Rags to Dishes is available for PC.
Cooking Simulator
Cooking Simulator is exactly what it sounds like and has plenty of DLC. The main gameplay involves running a restaurant kitchen, which includes cooking and food prep, cleaning and upkeep. There's a free play mode to create whatever players want, but they have to level up and earn more recipes by running the kitchen efficiently and serving good food in a timely manner.
Players will need to multitask to succeed in Cooking Simulator. They'll chop, season and flambé, so it's easy to forget about shrimp in the pan. Fires and equipment breakages will occur, but players can also have a little fun by purchasing a dart board, firecrackers or decorations to build the kitchen of their dreams 00 or completely destroy it.
Cooking Simulator is available for PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC and VR.
Overcooked
Overcooked and Overcooked 2 are among some of the best multiplayer games out there. They're fun for everyone and the second game has an online mode for additional co-op. Overcooked allows up to five chefs to prepare customer orders while dealing with some wild kitchen designs.
Dishes are fairly simple to cook, but players also have to deal with a timer and any number of other obstacles. Each game features its own story. The first is about chefs honing their skills to overcome a Spaghetti Monster, while the second is about the Onion King finding redemption by stopping the Unbread he unleashed.
Overcooked is available for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.