Cooking Companions Review (PS5) – Let Them Cook

Mmm, can you smell that? It’s the aroma of indie horror goodness. I know that’s a bit indulgent, but I really love a good indie horror game. And I especially love indie horror that’s doesn’t start off with anything spooky, but lets the scares simmer just to toss them on your plate when you least expect it. Originally released in 2021 for PC, Cooking Companions is coming to consoles. And it has a nice little meal in store for you.

Game Name: Cooking Companions
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Developer: Deer Dream Studios
Publishers: Deer Dream Studios, Serenity Forge
Release Date: October 7th, 2021 (PC), April 29th, 2025 (Consoles)
Price: $14.99

If you haven’t played the original, Cooking Companions is ostensibly a visual novel about cooking up dishes for your friends, and maybe finding companionship along the way. It’s right there in the title. It’s gotta be true, right?

And it is—for the first 20 minutes or so. But then things get a little spicier, let’s just say. As you may guess based on the genre-within-a-genre, you don’t want to know too much about what Cooking Companions has in store So I’ll talk my way around story-beats while just giving you the general flavor of them.

The game begins as you arrive at a cabin in the woods with your four friends, Gregor, Anatoly, Mariah, and Karin. The four of them look forward to trying your cuisine, and cooking for them is your responsibility—until a torrential flood prevents you from getting more ingredients, forcing everyone to ration. And you can probably guess where this is going… at least for the next short stretch of the game.

Your Other Cooking Companions

That’s as much as I’ll say about the story, but there are more characters to befriend: Chompettes, talking fruit and veggies that say their names like Pokémon. They serve as the game’s core source of levity, breaking up the bleaker moments. They also give you recipes that you can view by going to Extras from the main menu. And by that I mean the actual recipe on how to make the dish in real life. In the game you just make the dishes automatically, which is probably for the best for some of the… later recipes.

Checking the recipes also gives you for first clue that there’s something else at play here, something wrong. A creepy message plays that suggests all is not as it seems. It’s effective in catching you off guard against the happy tunes otherwise populating the menu. At the same time, the sound mixing makes it a bit hard to hear what’s happening. But the soundtrack itself is a delight. It can switch from upbeat to spooky to surprisingly emotional on a dime. That comes a little later.

Otherwise, the only early clues that something wicked this ways comes are the markers announcing the change of day. In between scenes, the music cuts out as the calendar counts forward in time. Occasionally your character has a folkloric nightmare related to you by text and capped off by a spooky image.

Cooking by the Book

Generally, each day consists of time in the cabin where you make choices such as where you want to explore or who you want to spend time with to strengthen relationships. These two examples are common early on, but are really red herrings for you to think this is a cooking game/dating sim. I would’ve liked it if the game weighted them a little more, as it stands they just kind of exist to throw you off the scent of what this game is really about.

This may remind players of another horror game masquerading as a cutesy dating sim: Doki Doki Literature Club. The two even share the same publisher as Serenity Forge has brought them both to consoles. Cooking Companions has more choices than DDLC, yet these felt a little hollow. I often felt like I didn’t have enough info to make an informed decision or didn’t see any meaningful differences. Ultimately, both games focus more on their own stories than player choice, which is fine once the scares start coming.

And Cooking Companions has few nifty recipes up its sleeve. After the first two acts, the game enters Nightmare Mode. This section is even creepier, and a message welcomes you into it by encouraging you to play in the dark. It’s here that choices are weighted a little more, as the game instructs you to “survive.” I messed up once and it gave me a “bad ending” which I actually quite enjoyed.

Once this run is completed, the game offers up New Game+ which isn’t so much a New Game+ in the traditional sense as it is a shorter version of act one. It essentially serves as an ending. Though it keeps the lid on a few burning questions.

Coming Back for Seconds

For better and for worse, Cooking Companions solves this by offering a lot of replayability. Players can reload saves to unlock secrets, such as hidden notes, by selecting different options in certain orders. Completionists will find a lot to love here, as the secrets share lore. At the same time, I wouldn’t have minded a little more closure from the main route.

Still, the complaint is small potatoes, as Cooking Companions offers a lot of content for an indie horror game. If you want a spooky visual novel experience, the game delivers. The Eastern European folklore baked in bolsters the creepy visuals. I plan on taking a few more bites, and look forward to sharing the experience with friends to see what they uncover. Brief animated sections look great, and serve as a nice dessert for this small yet filling meal of horror delights.

Review Disclosure Statement: Cooking Companions was provided to us by Serenity Forge for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

Affiliate Link Disclosure: One or more of the links above contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission should you click through and purchase the item.