Cooking games have evolved over time, from the frantic time management like the iconic Cooking Mama, to the chaotic fun of Overcooked, where players transform into real chefs (seriously, check out those hilarious Tiktoks). But cooking isn’t just about chopping onions and flipping burgers. Some developers have gone beyond the surface, inserting rich stories that give players more than just a kitchen or restaurant to manage.
These games use cooking as a backdrop to explore deeper themes, whether unraveling a dark mystery, connecting with cultural traditions, or navigating personal challenges and ambitions. Here are some cooking games that serve not only delicious dishes but also delightful stories. After all, food connects us all.
8 Good pizza, great stories
Pizza brings everyone together
In Good Pizza, Great Stories, you run a pizzeria and fulfill some pretty bizarre requests from customers. The narrative emerges through everyday situations and these strange requests, but that’s where the charm lies: as the title itself says, each good pizza you make is a small step in building a relationship with customers, each one with their own unique personality, making each interaction a mini-adventure.
And the laid-back, cozy art style only adds to the game’s laid-back vibe. The only downside? You’ll want pizza.
7 Kitchen companions
Doki Doki literature club with talking vegetables
“This game is not suitable for children or people who are easily upset.” From this ad, it looks like you are about to play a Doki Doki Literature Cub, but with cooking. Don’t worry, there is no manipulation of the system, but Cooking Companions will surprise you in their own way.
In this game, you’ll find yourself in a “cozy” cabin in the middle of the woods (classic horror setup) with your friends, cooking meals alongside… talking about vegetables. Cute, right? Well, until one night when things got dark. As food supplies dwindle, tension rises and your decisions are not just about what to cook, but also how to manage relationships, leading to different backstories and sinister secrets. When you’re done, you may lose your appetite.
6 Epic chef
Be an epic chef
In this hilarious cooking adventure RPG game, you play as Zest, who moves to the magical city of Ambrosia, famous for its food culture. Your goal? Become the best chef in town by taking on other chefs in epic culinary showdowns.
Challenges are at the heart of Epic Chef’s gameplay: cooking unique dishes by combining ingredients in creative ways. Epic Chef never takes itself seriously, with witty dialogue, satirical jokes, and even references to other games. But this approach doesn’t mean it lacks a well-structured plot: secrets about the city and even Zest itself await you to discover.
5 Battle Chiefs Brigade
If Delicious In Dungeon was a video game
Imagine an RPG, a puzzle game and a cooking genre mixed into one magical cauldron. This is Battle Chef Brigade, set in the fantasy world of Victusia, where warrior chefs battle monsters and cook them into gourmet dishes.
You play as Mina, a young chef competing for a spot in this elite group. She leaves her small village to participate in a tournament where competitors must hunt monsters, collect ingredients and use them to create dishes to present to the judges. Are you ready to join the battle chef brigade?
4 Happy’s Humble Burger Farm
Don’t be upset, happy
From the first scene you have many questions, but no answers. Then you wake up in your bed and are introduced to your first day as an employee at Happy’s Humble Burger Farm. As you cook burgers, the story slowly shows you what’s really going on in the mysterious town and why your boss, Happy, can easily become… so unhappy.
Be careful with your orders because one wrong move and things start to get weird… we’re talking “possessed cow chasing you around the kitchen” weirdly. In addition to the cow terrors, the game offers a layered narrative, where exploring the city before the night shift begins reveals the dark truth and, most importantly, why you are here.
3 Cook, serve, delicious! 3?!
The dark souls of cooking
This fast-paced cooking series took a dramatic turn with its latest game: The War. Set in a dystopian future, your once-thriving restaurant is destroyed, but luckily, two helpful robots save you and provide a food truck.
Now, you’re traveling across war-torn America, trying to build your culinary career (again) and serving up meals with lightning speed and precision. As you serve customers, the game explores themes of survival and resilience and your food truck becomes the last symbol of human connection in a broken world.
2 Dave the diver
Day diving, night sushi
In this unique mix of exploration and restaurant management, you play as Dave, a lovable and clumsy diver who collects ingredients by day and runs a sushi restaurant by night. Through food, you also unlock hilarious scenes filled with pop culture references. But the story isn’t just on the surface, literally.
As you dive deeper into the ocean, you will discover not only new fish, but also underwater mysteries and civilizations. With twists that keep you hooked, this is the classic “just five more minutes” game that you can’t stop playing.
1 Venba
Indian Culture through Food
A short but deeply moving game, Venba tells the story of an Indian family who immigrates to Canada. You play as Venba, a mother who tries to pass on her cultural traditions, especially through cooking, to her family. It is a moving narrative about sacrifice, identity and the immigrant experience, told through the preparation of traditional Indian dishes.
This game beautifully shows that food is not just material, but a powerful symbol of love and connection between generations. In the end, you will have learned more than just recipes. It’s a story that could be real life and that’s what makes Venba so special.
#cooking #games #great #stories