Developer: It’s happening
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Action, Strategy
Publisher: Yogscast Games
PlateUp! is a restaurant management game. PlateUp! was developed by It’s happening and published by Yogscast Games. PlateUp! is similar to cooking games like Overcooked or Penguin Diner. This review was done for the PC, but the game is also available for the Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.
PlateUp! can be played multiplayer or single-player. You can have a total of four people playing locally or even online. Whilst having tried the game in both single-player and multiplayer at times, it feels like PlateUp! is heavily leaned towards a co-op experience rather than a lonesome game. For instance, I had been playing this game on my own, and it was fine when trying to cook meals that were 1-starred, but in wanting to achieve a higher-starred meal, the game was more difficult. It seemed like there was an imbalance between the multiplayer aspect of this game. We found the ideal number of players to efficiently carry out a restaurant to overtime was 2-3 players. Four players would sometimes leave a player astray with no job or make too much clutter in certain floor plans.
The game features simple visuals where you play as characters that look like board game peg pieces, but I love the amount of customization that you can work with. The game allows you to make several profiles in which you can customise your character with different colours, headwear, and effects or even use the pre-set chef/server/cleaner outfits. The customization is fun to mess around with, plus it makes it easier in the game for you to differentiate between yourself and your friends. The customers are orange peg characters, which sometimes can have accessories depending on the location you have chosen. I would say for sure that the minimalistic visuals of this game make it accessible for anyone to play and make it so the gameplay is better to work around without being entirely distracted.
The controls are basic in PlateUp!, consisting of mainly two interaction buttons and movement keys. The game starts you off with a tutorial, one that is not highly necessary. Especially because some of the players we played with had skipped the tutorial but were easily adapted to the game once starting a restaurant. The main mechanics of the game that differ are the prepping of meals and understanding what each item in the game does. You start off the game by deciding between two-floor plans and beginning your restaurant with the only available meal steak. When starting each restaurant, you are shown a pop-up card that explains the recipe for the meal, and the steak is not too difficult. All you need to do is put steak on a hob and cook it one of three times, depending on how they want their steak. When starting the day, you get customers occupying tables (depending on group sizes), you wait to take their order, then cook the steak to their liking, serve it on a plate, wash the dishes, clean up any mess and serve the next lot of customers. Customers flow in through the progression bar at the top of the screen, which allocates the time of day. At the beginning, you are also provided with a booking desk that lets you reserve customers ahead of time to earn a little more cash. The game runs on you earning money from serving food and making sure each customer is attended to before the end of the day. After completing a day, you earn a set amount of money that you can use to unlock more furniture for your kitchen or even upgrade blueprints.
PlateUp! is a game much more than just cooking and serving dishes; it allows players to strategize their approach for the restaurant to complete 15 days, earn five stars, reach overtime and run a franchise. The importance of the game comes from picking the floor plan for your restaurant and then managing the blueprints/functions for the best efficiency at completing each day. As the days increase, the number of customers increases, which adds to the progressing difficulty of the game and, at times, can make everything extremely stressful. It doesn’t just stop there after; every three days, you get to choose between two action cards that can add sides/meals to your restaurant or give you buffs such as more customer patience time. Whilst playing the game throughout several different meal options, one that we found to be so annoying was the coffee restaurant we had started. In the coffee restaurant, after day three, we received two action cards that asked us to pick from burgers/dumplings, and we did not want to add meals to a coffee run because it was a breather from another meal restaurant we had started. I do get that action cards are randomised, but I wish for something as simple as coffee. The action cards at least gave you some sort of choice between a meal and something else rather than getting you to add a meal.
Now PlateUp! doesn’t just stop there but includes a lot for you to unlock and test out when running your restaurants. For instance, at first, a conveyor may not seem like an ideal buy, but later, you come to realise that automation, for some mechanics, can really help your business run. After the restaurant reaches five stars, it goes into overtime, which gets even more stressful, so researching blueprints is such an important thing to be doing. Each research for a blueprint is also randomised; for instance, a sink can get you anything from a wash basin or powered sink to a dishwasher. Trust me, the dishwasher was one of the greatest discoveries we made and always try to buy. Research blueprints will unlock better and more useful items that will only grow your business and get you to overtime day 15! PlateUp! is quite a fun game and does a good job at creating a management restaurant cooking simulator game where you have to keep on your toes; otherwise, you will have to go back to square one. Levelling through playing a number of restaurants will also unlock new floor plans and meals; the game currently has 15 meals (that vary in difficulty) for you to choose from. Honestly, the game is highly recommended if you wanna play something challenging in the cooking genre with friends.
In addition, PlateUp! recently announced a free update called ‘Fully Loaded’, which includes the following content. First, there is a new dish, The Tacos, which you can unlock after reaching level 10 (just so players are aware, levelling does take some time even; with 16 hours of gameplay, I have only reached level 5). Tacos are convenient in the sense that customers will get tacos from the tray itself rather than needing to be served on a plate. Another feature is the advanced building mode, where you can grab a crane and move around your kitchen layout to your liking. This feature was one of my favourites in the new update because sometimes the given floor plans were constricting on space, and the tiny room took up too much space, which could easily be broken down into one larger space. The third feature is leftover bags where customers will take their whole dish straight home, and the fourth feature is a dish cabinet. The dish cabinet allows players to choose from any main dishes and can only be unlocked after reaching level 16. The new update gets both old and new players to check out, plate up and grind towards the new features that definitely make the gameplay ten times better!
Now, we played PlateUp! with a few other people, and they had a few things about the game they wanted to say. First Vroggo said the following, “Some aspects I liked about PlateUp! was the rogue-like feel that’s been incorporated into a cooking game. Having options to choose between cards that add some variability to each run makes the game feel more complex and fun to play.
However, something I noticed is that the game does seem a little co-op-heavy. Of course, it’s more fun to play with other people, but it would be nice if there were more features added to aid solo players. Automation is a necessity for solo players, like the dishwasher, but it requires a lot of the player’s time upgrading at the research desk each round, and it can get tedious doing it repeatedly. I also think that supplementing players with a short dashing ability would make up for the lack of mobility the players have throughout the game, especially for solo players or 2-persons co-op.
Overall, still, the game is very fun to play solo or co-op. The visuals are simple and appealing to the eye, restaurants and characters are customizable, and the background music and ambient sounds are super nice to listen to (especially the chopping sound effects).”.
Second, Randomnamez said the following, “PlateUp! combines some of the best features of Overcooked and its twist on the cooking-based games. PlateUp! lets you pick the food or beverage of your choice that you will serve your customers. The game also allows you to customise your restaurant, and as you complete each phase, you will gain coins that will enable you to upgrade your restaurant and serve customers. At specific points, and with a successful batch of satisfied customers, you can add complementary products or new product lines, and your cafe can serve other items apart from coffee. This seems like a solid feature, but turning your coffee shop into a hybrid coffee/burger/pizza place is odd! If you want to run a burger/pizza place, you can do so too!
The game has fantastic multiplayer gameplay and is designed for multiple players; it’s a mixture of fun and chaos. The controls are super simple and intuitive, while the main premise of the game—making food and serving customers—seems like a chore. The pace of the game and the multi-tasking make the game tons of fun. Super simple, with lots of customisations and lots of achievements —makes PlateUp! a fantastic addition to the kitchen simulation series.”
And lastly, Moody had the following to say, “I love PlateUp! so much. I like how the game is funny in its mechanics and, at times, can be so smooth sailing, whereas other disasters can occur. I do wish there was a bit more past the franchise build, maybe additional mini-games. I just did not quite like how some action cards forced you into selling several mains at once rather than keeping your restaurant focused on one dish. Otherwise, I enjoy this game so much with others and definitely recommend it.”
PlateUp! is a game that everyone can play. It can be challenging at some stages, but overall is a really fun game to play with your friends or family. The game gets you to live out your Hell’s Kitchen dreams by managing and automating a restaurant to your liking. Pick between floor plans and dishes and get started on serving, cooking and cleaning your restaurant! PlateUp! is a fun, challenging game to play, so be sure to check it out!
Overall: 9.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
