Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together Review Summary

Fun multiplayer and recipe system, but buggy and unstable; worse than the first and feels like early access

Gameplay is excellent and fun: Players consistently praise the gameplay as smooth, fluid, addicting, and overall very fun. It makes the game highly enjoyable.

Fun with friends and multiplayer: Playing with friends greatly enhances the fun, with the co-op mode being described as dynamic, entertaining, and a core strength of the game.

Custom recipe creation system: The ability to create, customize, and tweak recipes is highly valued. Players enjoy the freedom and creativity this system offers, including making blueprints for weird dishes.

Overall quality and potential: The game is considered a good, decent, or great game overall with strong potential, especially for multiplayer enjoyment and future updates.

Better cooking mechanics: The mechanics are more realistic and detailed, with improved cutting and seasoning systems that enhance the cooking simulation experience.

Game is too buggy: Players report a high number of bugs, ranging from minor annoyances to game-breaking issues, making the game feel unfinished and unpolished.

Worse than the first game: Players widely agree that this sequel is a downgrade from the first game, with reduced freedom, fewer features, worse graphics, and less challenge.

Feels like early access: Many players feel the game is not a full release and should be labeled as early access due to its unfinished state and lack of polish.

Performance and optimization poor: The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to lag, frame drops, and low performance even on minimum graphics settings.

Recipe system unintuitive: The recipe system is difficult to follow, especially for new players, with confusing menus and unclear steps.

Co-op cooking simulation sequel: The game is a sequel to Cooking Simulator 1, focusing on co-op multiplayer cooking simulation with solo and co-op options. It includes recipe creation, time management, guest service, and skill unlocks.

Custom recipe creation freedom: Players can create and customize their own recipes, either by modifying existing ones or from scratch, with high freedom and a blueprint system. This allows for limitless possibilities in dish creation.

Cooperative multiplayer support: The game supports online co-op for up to 4 players, with a fun multiplayer mode that works well for cooperative gameplay. Career mode also features co-op functionality.

Kitchen and restaurant upgrades: A kitchen upgrade system allows players to improve equipment, fridges, and the overall look of the restaurant. This progression includes skills, perks, and unlocks.

Realistic cooking mechanics: The game features realistic cooking mechanics, including physics-based simulation and knife physics. These mechanics are central to the cooking and crafting experience.

Severe optimization issues: Multiple players report poor optimization, leading to low FPS, stuttering, and freezing even on lowest settings or high-end hardware. This is the most frequent complaint across many clusters.

FPS drops on high-end PCs: Users with powerful hardware like RTX 3060, Ryzen 7, and 32GB RAM experience FPS drops to 20-30, indicating the game is not well optimized for modern systems.

Stuttering and freezes: Stuttering occurs regardless of graphics settings and on high-end PCs. Some users report game freezes during specific actions like menu interactions or gameplay events.

Crashes are frequent: The game crashes regularly for some players, including spontaneous crashes, crashes when starting a new day, and crashes when hosts adjust graphics.

Specific areas cause drops: Certain in-game locations like the kitchen area, house area, storage room, and central table cause significant FPS drops, sometimes down to 17 FPS.

Not recommended currently: A large number of reviewers currently do not recommend the game, citing bugs, crashes, and unfinished state as primary reasons for their negative recommendation.

Wait for fixes: Many players advise waiting until the game is patched and more stable before purchasing, with some suggesting to check back in late 2027 or after major updates.

Bug fixes needed: Players hope the developers will fix existing issues, specifically mentioning save problems and general instability, before they can recommend the game.

Fun with coop: Players who enjoy cooperative multiplayer experiences find the game enjoyable when played with a good partner or friends, making it a positive for co-op fans.

Do not buy now: A significant number of reviewers explicitly advise against purchasing the game in its current state, often citing high price and game-breaking bugs as deal-breakers.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

The game becomes fun after getting through the tutorial and basic bugs, especially when playing co-op with friends, but early friction from poor tutorial design, progression issues, and multiplayer bugs can delay that enjoyment significantly.

Friction: tedious multi-hour tutorial that dumps mechanics without clarity; multiplayer bugs causing disconnections, lost items, and stuck states; lack of guidance for key mechanics like plating and recipes; crowded kitchen layout in multiplayer with few stations; unrewarding progression and slow business pacing.

Unlock drivers: co-op multiplayer with friends adds fun and chaos; patience to work through initial bugs and stutters; learning the recipe system and plating workflow; community/developer hotfixes addressing major issues.

Freedom-Seeking Veteran: Prefers manual cutting, pouring, and interacting with physics. Often plays sandbox or career to experiment with ingredients. Motivation: Creative freedom and manual control in cooking simulation. Stance: no buy.

Social Kitchen Chaos Enthusiast: Primarily plays in multiplayer with friends, embraces bugs and chaos, less focused on realism and more on social fun. Motivation: Cooperative fun and sharing chaotic cooking experiences with friends. Stance: sale.

Solo Simulation Purist: Plays solo career mode, focuses on efficiency and progression, expects AI staff and robust management mechanics. Motivation: Realistic and challenging solo restaurant management and cooking simulation. Stance: no buy.

Performance reports across hardware cohorts are predominantly negative, with players describing severe stuttering, freezes, crashes, and poor optimization regardless of GPU memory capacity.

Windows <8GB VRAM: mixed. Some players with 8GB VRAM report smooth single-player performance, while those with lower VRAM frequently encounter stuttering, low frame rates, and bugs.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Players with 10-12GB VRAM widely report severe micro-stuttering, freezes, crashes, and poor optimization even with high-end systems, leading to an overall negative experience.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Even with 16GB VRAM, players report terrible optimization, low FPS, stuttering, save-loss, and crashes, though a minority have smooth performance on max settings.

Steam Deck: Tinkering Required

Linux and Proton: The game appears to be barely playable on Linux. Direct evidence shows at least one user could not get it running correctly despite trying multiple Proton versions. Additional reports of crashes, freezes, and performance drops related to a specific in-game table, and multiplayer connectivity issues, further indicate rough compatibility. The only positive note (plays well on Steam Deck) is a single outlier and does not override the dominant negative feedback from dedicated Linux users.

Monetization: The reviews express strong dissatisfaction with the base game's price and the expectation that future paid DLC will be required to get a complete experience. However, no review provides evidence of current in-game real-money purchases, microtransactions, pay-to-win mechanics, or a cash shop. The complaints are entirely about the upfront purchase price and potential future DLC, not about any existing monetization system. Therefore, the score is capped at 10 (within the 0-20 range for games without microtransactions).

Request for creative mode enhancements: Players want more flexibility in creative mode, including instant delivery, editable delivery times, adjustable starting money, and additional food actions.

Suggestion for sushi and uramaki: A player desires the addition of sushi and uramaki as new recipes in a future update.

Recipe ingredient query: A player questions whether ketchup should be replaced with yogurt in the Russian-style beef with yogurt recipe for authenticity.

Rare reviewer behavior: One player notes that they rarely leave game reviews, indicating their feedback is exceptional.