Ominous Stew Review (PC)

I’ve taken everything I’ve learned from the likes of Cooking Mama and Chef Life and, like a good salad, tossed it straight out of the window to opt for another dish—a slightly more brazed delicacy of sorts. Simply put, I’ve essentially removed that beloved Bob Ross energy from the chopping board and channeled Gordon Ramsay—a strategy that has, regrettably, allowed me the opportunity to make idiot sandwiches out of half-baked connoisseurs and dimly lit stoves blazing infernos of cascading chicken bones and porcelain dishes. I feel bad—ashamed, even. But Ominous Stew has taught me an important lesson: The best chefs don’t wait; they fan the flames and burn bridges, even if it means losing friends along the way. And I’ll be honest, I can get behind that. Like any valuable piece of advice, if it sounds beneficial, then I’ll be the first to bite.

I’ve endured enough rounds of Overcooked over the years to know exactly how ruthless a culinary game with a multiplayer option can get. Here, specifically, there are no friends. There are, however, enemies, as well as a whole bunch of utensils, warring restaurants hacking it out for supremacy and Michelin standard delights, and enough flying sparks and culinary tricks to stoke a bonfire on the Fourth of July. There is some basic level of camaraderie between dishes, I’ll admit, but that’s a rarity in my book, for where there’s smoke there’s fire — and I can’t for the life of me remember the last time someone didn’t want to urinate on the ashes. But that’s what I love about games like this: the brutality—the ravenously competitive nature of the experience. I loathe cooking, but I love a bit of good old-fashioned online rivalry.

Let’s Eat

Ominous Stew is a 1v1 cooking-centric game—a fast-paced, oftentimes ludicrously overstimulating feast for the eyes that more or less prioritizes witty recipes and brash cooking techniques as opposed to calmer, more authentic strategies. A time-based game at heart, Ominous Stew invites two players to wage war against one another over a series of stages, with each stage providing two separate restaurants, dozens of picky eaters with unique dietary preferences, and a generous handful of playable characters, all of whom boast their own skills and weapons. And yes, I did say weapons. But more on that later.

The idea here is somewhat similar to Overcooked: two players mindlessly duke it out in two different restaurants, both of which are stacked alongside one another, and create dishes for their guests, with each successful meal providing an income (Foodji Points, if we’re getting technical) for additional boosters and perks. As the game progresses, and as a player quells the appetite of a guest, new avenues of action become available, with both chefs gaining access to abilities that can either boost their own game—tools such as speed control, for example—or wreak havoc on their opponent’s game, with the latter having drastic consequences if used correctly. The aim of each game is simple: outmaneuver your opponent, and utilize the tools in your arsenal to accrue as many points as possible in a short five-minute wok around the clock.

Any Dietary Requirements?

Ominous Stew doesn’t offer a menu, as such, but a list of over a hundred different ingredients that you can throw into the melting pot. Unlike your traditional cooking game, you don’t have to create dishes here, or even follow recipe instructions to satisfy your guests. Instead, you have strict dietary requirements and personal preferences to keep tabs on, with each guest possessing their own unique tastes. To that, you have to ensure that the ingredients that you use are filled with the best possible nutrients. The better the food, the higher the score, and so on and so forth.

To state the obvious, Ominous Stew is a lot of fun to play — especially with friends. It’s certainly chaotic, and it doesn’t exactly hold back on the punches, what with its ever-changing environments and culinary curveballs serving only to shake up the experience and provide some original flavor to each session. For that reason, you should expect something of a learning curve, though, truthfully, nothing that’s as daunting as your bog-standard authentically crafted cooking game. Also, the uphill battle is half the fun, given that your perseverance is often rewarded with various gifts—new chefs to toy around with, ingredients to cook, and restaurant layouts to evolve, etcetera etcetera.

More Bang for Your Buck, Buck, Buck

The good news is, Ominous Stew isn’t restricted to the one gameplay mode; in fact, it comes strapped with two equally entertaining modes—Versus, and Single Player, with the latter having its own special storyline and accompanying levels to work through. Add the fact that it possesses a handful of unique maps across a wide spectrum of dynamic environments, including a meadow locale and a graveyard, plus a great deal of replay value in its bread and butter multiplayer mode, and you’ve got yourself quite the banquet.

Verdict

Ominous Stew hand cooks that same competitive edge as so, so many of its adversaries have done in the past, with its high-octane gameplay and bombastic style attributing a unique and flavorful palette that we can’t help but love. It’s a little “out there” and far-fetched, but that’s exactly what makes it so seamlessly satisfying to chomp on. Is it the best multiplayer game on the market? Probably not, no, though it does deserve some recognition for being able to tick a lot of the boxes that often chalk up for ourselves before jumping into the fray. Could it become better with age? Like a fine wine, absolutely — and I’m super excited to see which course of action it’ll opt to throw in the blender next, truly.

Suffice it to say, then, that if you love culinary co-op games à la Overcooked, then you’ll surely find enough of that spirit to chow down on in this rather unruly appetizer. There’s plenty of room for it to grow, too, with the opportunity for fresh restaurants, chefs, and stat-boosting ingredients openly ripe for the picking. If that’s the sort of dining experience that tickles your taste buds—an experience that, with any luck, can go on to serve second desserts and coffee in the form of DLC—then you ought to get your money’s worth from Ominous Stew — and then some.