Cook Serve Forever (Switch) Review

The Cook, Serve Delicious series has grown and changed over the years, never quite staying the same but always retaining its spirit. Cook Serve Forever might be one of the bigger changes we’ve seen. Now it has finally left early access and is available on the Switch.

Cook Serve Forever takes a slight detour. Instead of a cooking/menu management sim where you’re responsible for the running of a restaurant or food truck, CSF is delivered more as a visual novel journey with cooking as part of progressing the story.

You play as Nori Kaga. Nori has grown up following in the footsteps of her cooking mama, now determined to earn the three stars at a chance-of-a-lifetime major culinary event: The Couteau d’Or. With partner Brie in tow, the pair move from their run-down apartment to the big city of Helianthus. As Nori continues to cook up a storm through the districts of Helianthus, she inches closer to her dream, gaining the attention of her cooking idol Chef Rhubarb. Cooking your way through the different districts of Helianthus, you’ll meet a bunch of characters as Nori’s food cart business becomes involved with the likes of a librarian opposed to food carts in libraries and a detective needing a helping hand catching some crooks.

The game is fully voice acted, allowing you to enjoy the conversations happening in the background while you’re cooking. It’s also a fun delve into the world of Cook Serve. The main games in the series went post-apocalyptic over the course of the series; Cook Serve Forever manages to lean into the futuristic aesthetic while still feeling like it fits within the wider setting of the series.

So how does CSF play differently from the other games in the series? Previous games have been about selecting food menus and perfecting memorising the different meals in your repertoire. CSF mixes this up by focusing more on set meals and managing dual button combinations between the left and right buttons and triggers on the controller.

Some prep might just involve repeated button presses of the same button on one side of the controller, while the directional buttons need to be alternated between, sometimes with holding down a shoulder button. The more you play, the more familiar you get with the different combinations. The real challenge is intended to be syncing these dual combinations at the same time, which is easier when they’re mirrored combinations but trickier when you’re holding down buttons on one side of the controller and tapping a completely different combination on the other side.

Initially, the goals you need to meet to pass and ideally win a shiny holo sticker are to complete orders, either with good or perfect timing. For about the first half of the game, it feels very manageable; the times are intentionally generous. Once the story stakes start getting a little higher, the challenge also ramps up. On top of getting good ratings, some days will also have you needing to meet a certain percentage of performance, meaning you can’t afford to fumble combinations as much while you’re speeding for perfect order times. If you do have difficulty with some levels, there is a setting to unlock all of the levels, which is nice if there is a particular challenge you’re stuck on; you can still enjoy the game.

Outside of the usual challenges, every now and then you’ll also come up against a Blitz Mode chapter. This is a time-based challenge, with the need to cook and serve speedily to earn either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze. Even if you don’t get these by a second, the next chapter still mercifully unlocks. I found the Blitz times to be pretty unforgiving, but then I was more focused on getting close to perfect quality when maybe it was a time to strive more for speed over perfection. They were my least favourite challenges, but given that they don’t keep you from progressing, it’s much easier to overlook.

I am definitely happy for more Cook Serve games to play, and not having to learn a whole heap of food layouts and combinations was a nice change. Simultaneously, though, it feels like the change in structure, with the focus on essentially quick-time events, limits the game. Throughout the game, the idea is that you’ll improve at being able to remember the combinations for the different techniques, getting faster and better. But it never feels like there’s that much variety in the cooking techniques, even if there is a decent amount of different foods to cook for customers.

It means that the story and style behind the game at times need to do more of the heavy lifting, while some levels feel like going through the motions. All that said, the game serves as a nice comfort game. The term “cozy” or even “comfort game” can feel a little reductive at times, and this review isn’t the place to write an article on the diversity and meanings of the cozy genre. Cook Serve Forever feels like it is intended to be like a nice warm nourishing soup, one to sip away at instead of chugging down. It feels like rushing through the hours of gameplay here would be to do yourself a disservice, and you may find it a little less enjoyable.

If you’re a fan of the Cook, Serve, Delicious series, the deviation from the traditional structure might be a little much. Personally, I enjoyed the story and getting some more time within the world Vertigo Games has built upon over the years. Not having to manage a menu to what will generate the most cash/buzz means I could just enjoy the fast-paced cooking instead. If you love the vibe of the Cook Serve series, then there is a banquet here for you. Between the at-times goofy sense of humour, pleasant visuals, and the musical stylings of series mainstay Jonathan Geer. Also, for those who know, “The Ryan Davis” burger remains.

Accessibility is in the form of some visual changes, more lenient timing (although perfect timing remains unaffected), and unlocking all chapters. There are some slight visual adjustments that can be made too, although I am not sure why, but if it makes the game more accessible so more people can feel comfortable playing it, I’m all for it!

Cook Serve Forever takes a nice breather from the hectic menu management of the main trilogy while still keeping the spirit of the series. While Cook, Serve, Delicious: Re-Mustard! is still in the oven, this side adventure is still a fun time.

Rating: 3.5/5