Cooking Companions
Developer: Deer Dream Studios
Publisher: Serenity Forge
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $14.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
If there is one thing that the visual novel genre can be known for is its flexibility. Developers and writers of visual novels can explore all manner of topics and even delve into creepy and uncomfortable territory if they so wish, either going for it blatantly or putting it all together in a cute package that hides its sinister secrets beneath a bright veneer. One such title happens to be Cooking Companions from Deer Dream Studios, where a cute and colorful package complete with chatty vegetables called Chompettes belie the psychological horror within. Originally releasing on PC back in 2021, Serenity Forge has stepped in to help the developers bring the game to consoles with some touch ups, a few new animated scenes, and other additions. So now that Cooking Companions has arrived to a wider audience, is this meal a fulfilling one or will players be left hungry once these bowls are clean?
Story
Four friends and yourself find themselves in a cabin deep in the woods of the Tatras Mountains, determined to apparently rough it out using your talented cooking skills and their ability to forage for food as a step away from the busy world. Things are going swimmingly as you make these four friends a vegan friendly dish to cater to Mariah’s eating habits all while the perky Anatoly does his best to use his knowledge of edible plants for ingredients, the always hungry and mighty seeming Gregor ready to take on any challenge, and the cunningly smart Karin holding the group together. These four along with you get along for the first few days in the cabin perfectly, with only a few odd nightmares based around Eastern-European folklore plaguing your dreams.
Players interact and talk with the boys and girls when they are in the cabin, raising their relationship level with them and even uncovering little hidden secrets scattered throughout, including some talkative and wonderfully cheerful fruits and vegetables called Chompettes. Only some things they say are not quite right… and things only start to get worse from there. As a rainstorm sweeps through the area and floodwaters rise trapping everyone inside the cabin with limited supplies and no way to scavenge for more food, it is going to be rather dicey to keep everyone properly fed, especially when the emergency food supply is already shockingly low.
Cooking Companions does a very solid job on building up its creepy elements, not throwing them right at the player out of nowhere. Yes, a complete run through of the game through to one of its eleven offered endings might only take a little under three hours, but the pacing is handled masterfully here. First things seem like a simple getaway with friends, then as things grow more dire and creepier things begin to happen around the cabin only for more horrific aspects to develop as players progress, the growing eerie elements, off-putting flashes of something horrific, and not-so-subtle utterings of madness by those around you or callouts from the Chompettes are just icing on this bloody cake. After all, who even are you?
Cooking Companions brings a lot of mysteries to the table and these mysteries and questions aren’t the type that will easily be answered in one playthrough or even multiple ones. As players progress through the game they will be able to make numerous choices on who to interact with, dialogue choices with characters, actions to take, what or where to examine and explore often on a timer, and more. Doing these things will unveil secrets and tidbits about the lore behind the cabin and who might be residing within it. It is also worth noting that upon completing the “core” run of the game players will unlock additional story content such as the Origins of the Chompettes, Nightmare Mode, and even New Game+, though all of these are deceptively different and tie into the grander storyline as a whole.
We won’t go into any details about what these details are, let alone hint at most of them as these revelations and experiences are best experienced first-hand, especially with how hauntingly eerie they are. That being said, there are some issues with the storyline of Cooking Companions and some of it may be due to my lack of knowledge about some more obtuse Eastern-European folklore and horror, but many of the nightmares lack any sense of cohesion beyond the more obvious references that most should understand. Alongside this it is worth noting that, ironically, the core cast of characters feels like they could have been fleshed out a bit more. Yes, replaying the game and building your relationship with them specifically will unveil extra secrets but putting a little extra meat onto their personal storyline would make the impact of certain elements far more direct.
Gameplay
As mentioned earlier, Cooking Companions is far from a static visual novel as players will have quite a few different choices to make throughout their playthrough that will determine various factors and steer them towards different endings. Even exploring a certain room or examining an object a few times might be required to either unveil a new bit of lore or interaction and time is limited in most sequences. That being said, for the most part the game does play like a standard visual novel but surprisingly lacks an “auto” function which is quite tedious. There is a skip previously read dialogue option and even a rewind feature that is nice for players who don’t want to rely on the game’s save system too much. There are also occasional points where players can search in the dark using a flashlight to pick-out certain objects in the dark, and if they take too long they’ll begin to glow to point them out, but perhaps there are other secrets hidden in the darkness first. Also, it is interesting to note that the game does feature a fight sequence at some point but it is rather simplistic and almost randomized in nature outside of calling upon the obvious help of the Chompettes to win, though doing so isn’t a necessity if players get lucky.
Players can save and load at any time while playing the game, even in its other game modes, but more on those in a bit. This includes standard saves from a save slot or using a quick save option that will automatically overwrite anytime it is used, though since accessing either requires using the controller to either move off of the text box into the menu bar on the right or pull it up manually they are both as quick, ironically. This is partially thanks to how little the difference in shading between the highlighted menu item on the quick-bar on the right is from the standard text box, making it difficult to determine if players have swapped off of it accidentally. This control issue is also quite annoying when having to access the game’s bonus gallery which contains not only CGs but concept art and backgrounds as well.
It is also odd to say that, while this version adds animated scenes and does feature additional character portraits and variations of CGs, none of the animated scenes and most of the character portraits and CG variations are not viewable in any way through the gallery which is rather unfortunate. Another minor but notable issue is that, despite the age of the game’s original release, there are still more than a few spelling errors and missing punctuation scattered throughout the dialogue, and this isn’t simply to be spooky. These issues arise during normal conversations, not the twisted ones that arise later in the routes.
One thing that is rather nice about Cooking Companions is that, as players complete specific parts of the game they will unlock additional “modes” that make replaying the game easier by giving players faster access to specific choices, hidden lore, and endings that reveal more about the overarching story told by the game. While we won’t go into detail about the modes too much here, players will find that they eventually start the game from scratch, from the “Origins of the Chompettes,” the Nightmare Mode, and even a special Chompette exclusive mode. These, plus other secrets including a fun but surprisingly long hidden message, and other bonuses can be located throughout playing the game multiple times, making for a surprising amount of replay given the amount of endings available.
Audio & Visuals
Deer Dream Studios has done a wonderful job creating what at first seems like a warm and welcoming atmosphere of the cabin and the bright smiling faces of the four friends that join the player in the cabin only for things to slowly grow worse and more dire looking as time progresses. Whether it is the haunted faces of the character portraits as they discuss their increasingly dire circumstances to the twisted abominations and horrors that start to appear and flicker just out of frame or flash on the screen, the progression of warm to psychological horror is handled masterfully. Ironically, the ever bright and cheerful Chompettes are just as off-putting, especially with how some of them act towards the player when they break out of their character. The CGs are well done and nicely detailed and the few animated scenes are also nice looking, taking the character portraits and transferring them over flawlessly though it would be nice if, as mentioned before, they could easily be reviewed in the Gallery.
There is unfortunately no major voicework throughout Cooking Companions. There is some minor chirps here and there from the Chompettes as they say their vegetable or fruit name and players can occasionally hear the haunting whispers of the damned if they stay on a pause screen too long or linger on a scene, though it is difficult to tell if they are speaking English, another language, or mad gibberish. The soundtrack is delightfully haunting, especially during the more dire and spooky moments of the game and it is interesting to note that there is an upbeat and incredibly unsettling insert song that players can trigger at a certain point that really drives home the overall feel of the game.
Overall
Cooking Companions does a fantastic job of building up the feeling of anxiety and dread over the course of its fairly short length, delivering just enough eeriness before throwing players right into the deep end of how horrific things are becoming and have been. While it may be a shorter visual novel, multiple endings and a narrative that is designed to be explored more than once to understand as much as possible make this indie horror game one that is certainly worth checking out, even if it has controller issues and the gallery to view its lovely and haunting artwork are lacking.
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