So if you happen to be wondering by this game and it's Steam page community, you'll notice a lack of guides (well at least in english and discussing the game's mechanics or what it is really).

So that's that! if you'll endure my tangents and excuse my faults, hopefully if you're new or old or just passing by not sure about purchasing the game or not THIS will help.

Right, let's say you just purchased the game, what the hell are we looking at?








Well if i'm not inept and I managed to actually add the images in properly:
you will see about 5 options.

• 1. Story
  
• 2. Arcade
  
• 3. Versus
  
• 4. Chef
  
• 5. Settings

Well here's technically(?) where the main game is.
Like every other game in existance you can create a new save, load save, etc..
Extras is basically additional DLC levels. soo think of it as more overcooked.


Arcade can be further divided into 3 sections:

• 1. Couch (aka local co-op requiring ATLEAST 2 players to begin and up to 4.)
  
• 2. Online public (aka online co-op requiring- ack it's gonna be the same thing)
  
• 3. Online private (same everything just a private lobby.)

Brilliant! now we can actually talk about what Arcade is (i'm so sorry).
It's basically user selected levels (I believe from the story mode (or the Extras DLC modes) but don't quote me on that.) with a little twist.
the users vote on which "category" of maps they would like to play and the game randomly picks a map that falls under that category. (pffsh like uhh category 2 map 1 so 2-1)
Here you're supposed to be all working together in an arcady sort of way.

So basically story mode but in an easier way to get to...sorta.


Ah! now we're talking, (yeah i'm not gonna redo the divides just see Arcade for that.)
Just like Arcade the users vote on which "category" however this time around every category ONLY HAS 1 MAP.
And here the players will be divided into 2 teams (up to 4 players)
If there's no 4 you will get a what I like to call "ghost chef" (this will be important later)
It's basically a PvP mode (Player versus Player hence the name, Versus.)


Yeah it's basically pick your own character.
You unlock more as you progress through the main game (Story)
(Surf'n'Turf DLC)
(Seasonal update DLC)
and the (Too many cooks pack).


Okay I think if you're understanding this and if this isn't your first video game you should have a rough idea on what this is.

Right, if you're still here through all of this I applaud your patience and dedication.

The game if I have to boil it down in a sentence is a collection of "orders" that come in "recipes"
Think of it like a you're running your own restaurant type of simulator or something.

Oh and obviously each order depending on how much effort you went through (like if it's made from 30 things or just 2 things) you get money for them (or shiny gold coins? stars? i dunno)

Orders have a limited time on them (There's roughly 3-4 bars with them aptly colored Green, Yellow, Red.)
For visual purposes:

• 1. Green
  
• 2. Yellow
  
• 3. Red

Basically the idea is if you deliver DURING the GREEN you get a hefty bonus.
if you deliver DURING the YELLOW not so much.
and finally if you deliver during the RED you'll barely get any tips.

But that's not exactly an important mechanic, it barely changes the outcome in my opinion and it's just used for speed runners or 4th st- nvm I shouldn't say this in the introduction.

Unless of course if you FAIL an order in which case you will lose 25?-
YOU WILL LOSE MONEY
AND WHAT'S WORSE IS THE ORDER STAYS AND GETS RENEWED
So someone asks you for an amazing 4 layered golden cake and you couldn't make it in time, that customer doesn't just disappear NOOO HE STAYS THERE AND ASKS FOR ANOTHER ONE!
basically, please don't fail an order.

What DOES change everything and in my opinion isn't that mentioned in the game (or i'm flipping dumb for not noticing it.) is combos.

Yes, combos.
Basically the order orders..(gosh I REALLY couldn't have thought of another word.)
The way orders come in MUST BE the order they're DELIVERED in.
So if i ask you for a Burger and a Pizza I don't care if you give me whatever first BUT
if you give me my Burger first and then my Pizza second I will LOVE YOU SO MUCH I'LL DUMP EXTRA MONEY ON YOU.

*cough* sorry.

I'm glad you asked! here i'll draw it up for you.
There are 4 Combo levels (after that it's urgh NOT USEFUL FOR OUR CURRENT SEGMENT SO WE WILL IGNORE IT FOR NOW.)

• Level 1 (x1 multiplier to the order's worth.)
  
• Level 2 (x2 multiplier to the order's worth.)
  
• Level 3 (x3 multiplier to the order's worth.)
  
• Level 4 (x4 multiplier to the order's worth.)

After that it's ONLY useful for future secret things but you won't get any extra money.

Nice now we know what we need to do and a single useful tip or something about combos to get there.
how do we control? ourselves there?
Well overcooked is very neat, there are 2 modes in Story for example, you can co-op it or just solo it.

Let's say you're me and you're completely inept in any and all social situations and you for some reason don't have anyone to drag to play this game with.
Well Overcooked has you sorted out!
The way the game works (in a very loose basic theory) when you're soloing is, you get 2 chefs.
remember "ghost chef" I mentioned earlier?
yeah here's where that bit becomes important.
Your actions (like chopping or washing) will be considerably slower but at the up-side of having TWO playable chefs so it changes things up abit.

Here's an image of you being able to control 2 chefs:

Let's say you managed to finally drag someone and force them to play this game with you.
well instead of two chefs and ghost chef and all of that you actually get another player!
So action times (chopping washing etc..) will not be considerably slow, IN FACT they will be rather fast (imo) but at the down-side of having to coordinate with another human being.
which is hard.

But wait, guide man (or woman OOO MYSTERY.) you didn't tell me what that thing "Actions" is! ;-;

Basically almost everything you do in Overcooked can be considered an "Action"
You will need to grab "things" and "chop" said things, grab "dishes or cups" wash said "dishes or cups"

An example of an "Action"

yaknow what no this is sloppy let me make it more visual (as always.)

• Chopping
  
• Washing
  
• Cooking
  
• Mixing (okay this is technically just cooking)
  
• (More things that are just related to cooking)

So we can deduct that any VALUABLE Action that gets you closer to your goal will take anywhere between a few seconds or A LONG A-word TIME.
The player can influence this via "Parallellizing?" (is that a word?) their actions.
You cannot exactly or simply CUT down the time it takes to Wash,cook,etc..
But you can do things at the same time.
As in wash the dishes and cook at the same time.
And here's where the main fun of the game comes from.
It's like an Industrial Engineer's wet dream, or any Engineer for that matter.
(or softwa- YOU GET IT.)
If you played with any micro-managing thing and you LOVE that then this game is a different more entertaining take on that.

So a change from Overcooked 1 (I think?) is the new Throwing mechanic.
I decided to put this in a different category cause to me it feels abit advanced (At least utilizing it perfectly for the maximum reward, that's abit advanced as in people rarely do this based on what i've seen.)
So what's throwing?
Well you can basically throw the following:

• 1- Undone ingredients
  
• 2- Chopped or done ingredients
  
• 3- Ingredients that are automatically done (yes there's those and they usually just have a symbol floating above them.)

Yaknow what just anything with a symbol above it can be thrown, other than that NOPE.

Also important sidenote: anything you throw has a "magnetizing?" effect.
For example throwing it near or at another player will (depending on if it's facing them or on their sides, so let's say anywhere between 25%-50% depending on where it hits them) they will AUTOMATICALLY pick it up
And not just people, cookers, mixers, grilling, any "objective" thing that needs to be done you can just chuck that freshly chopped tomato into and it'll get done without you having to walk there.

This is by far the MOST important mechanic to master for further progression into the game, It's also the hardest imo.

One last thing, you can only throw in certain directions (boo boring.)
You can throw in 8 directions (you can probably guess them by now.)

• North
  
• North-east
  
• East
  
• South-east
  
• South
  
• South-west
  
• West
  
• North-west

So the 4 classic directions with their 4 other...hyphons?
If i'm not inept I'll probably do a cool drawing at some point or something.


Here's the poorly done "cool" drawing.

Urgh..side quirk here uhm:

So we mentioned orders before? right?
Well each order has a tiny cute symbol telling you how they want it done
think of it like steak with Medium/Well-done/something idunno i'm not a steak dude




but again, I put this in "Advanced" for a reason.

The funny thing is (atleast sometimes) You can for example put an item in the oven and as long as it's NOT DONE YET you can move it to the frying pan for example and FINISH IT THERE and it will still work.





Under certain circumstances this might be helpful, however it's a very small quirk and it's probably gone by now or something.

This game has a few items that function over a certain range.

Like fire extinguishers/water gun/the BBQ puffing thing.
The way these work is they're all tiles, like chess

So for example if you want to use any of those items to effect something else it needs to be aligned perfectly on that tile.
This is mainly here because alot of people me included have gotten confused at how ranged items function.

You try to put down a fire or something and you're like EEHEHE WHY ISNT IT WORKING until you realize OH WAIT ITS LIKE A CHESS TILE SO I NEED TO COVER THE TILE, or align myself to- nvm just eufugh

Well by now I hope I helped you realize something about the game mechanics and to be fair there's not a whole lot so the Introduction can only go so far.

I'd like to leave the rest up to you to discover, I might add further information on here but again I just wanted a simple intro guide to a few quirks like Throwing,cooking,etc.

In order to completely finish all aspects of the game you don't really need advanced tactics (GRR EXCEPT FOR YOU 6-2 AND THAT LEVEL IN 5 I FORGOT)
And in case you do I hope you discover them as you go, please add any further information in the comments because one person is never enough for anything.

Most in-game achievements are all related to grinding, or just playing and seeing all the game has to offer so for all intents and purposes I don't think it deserves an addition here.
If people want it or need it i'll add something related to them here.

The rarest achievement is "Soaker cola" which is basically washing 150 dishes with the water gun.
Not only is this impossible without the DLC "Surf'n'Turf" but it's also the most annoying achievement by far.
The easiest way is to just go to level 1-3 (since it has 3 plates with a relatively close delivery point.) And basically deliver the 3 dishes empty and wash and deliver empty and wash...etc.
Also special thanks to pops for the suggestion but level 2-1 works aswell (only 2 plates but an unlimited timer.)



Just a simple screenshot example.


I would like to personally thank all of you for reading this and keep chopping those tomatos.