Developer: Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
Genre: Action, Strategy
Publisher: SchuBox Games
Omelet You Cook is a chaotic, cosy cooking game where players create omelets for demanding customers by assembling ingredients from a constantly moving conveyor belt. This game blends time pressure decision-making with strategic planning, combining the quick chaos and roguelike progression loops into an addictive core gameplay experience. It is currently available only on PC. Omelet You Cook is developed by Dan Schumacher & Hjalte Tagmose and published by SchuBox Games.
The story of the game follows you as an overworked cook, more specifically a cafeteria worker, who has recently been hired and has to satisfy Principal Clucker, along with a cast of many different quirky and unreliable customers. If you fail to meet the requirements, then you will be dismissed, and it’s time to start all over again. Omelet You Cook is a game that gives you a challenge in what seems like a simple concept.
The controls are quite straightforward and are supported for both the controller, keyboard and mouse. I preferred the mouse and keyboard as I found them easier and less demanding while dragging and dropping the ingredients. Mainly, everything was just through point-and-click interaction.
In Omelet You Cook, you are tasked to create omelets for an array of students who require you to meet their specific needs. You play the game in rounds, where each is one specific order. What may seem like a simple premise can become a puzzle-solving scenario where you try to live out your omelet-making dreams.
The game plays out in a way where one round is a student. Each student will ask for certain requirements, like no meat or having buffs/debuffs like ‘ingredient will decrease in size per dispense’ that you have to work around to successfully cook their omelet. You start with a certain number of dispenses, which will dispense 3 ingredients from your ‘stock’. In other words, the run will start with a conveyor belt that is filled with random ingredients. Each ingredient has points associated with it, even multipliers if they are paired with certain ingredients to debuffs like -0.5% if touching meat. There are several properties these ingredients can have and are categorised accordingly, from crunchy, chewy, etc., that can appease some students’ liking. The whole premise of the game is to create synergies with ridiculous ingredients and arrange them so the points increase more and more (it’s such a satisfying feeling when you see the points add up once the omelet is served). The omelets you cook can have the simplest ingredients or have weird, sweet, and fishy combinations. I mean, if it pleases the customer, then there are no complaints whatsoever by the cook!
You are presented with an omelet on a plate on a lunch tray, where you have a limited amount of space to add your ingredients. Each student will have a certain number of points that they need to exceed to pass. You can drag on ingredients like bell pepper and bacon, which you can pair to add multipliers for points. After each round, if you are successful, you will earn some money that you can use in the shop to buy helpers and items to help you with your orders. After reaching the third round and completing it, you can receive a free item from the shop through a stamp card.
This game will have you failing several times before you finally find the right way to meet the requirements of students. If you are dismissed from the job, you can restart the round, and the students are randomised with varied orders and requirements. You can even access select 13 different pantries with different starting ingredients to spice up your culinary skills.
I was drawn to the art style of this game; it has a bright pixel art style visual, which almost reminds me of that one game called Toca Kitchen. The art and cartoon style of the game match the game perfectly and make it more appealing. It’s bright, colourful, and 2D, which makes the characters look more exaggerated and adds levity to the strong personalities. The overall aesthetic of the game is approachable and fun, and it’s not superbly polished. This game is the epitome of a chaotic cooking rougelite. The soundtrack is light, upbeat, and whimsical, which perfectly matches the chaotic kitchen’s energy. The ambient cooking noises and the sound effects when completing an order, along with the goofy voice, add a nice layer of charm to the game, which doesn’t overwhelm the gameplay yet makes it more satisfying.
The gameplay mixes fast decision-making with strategy. Starting each run by picking your set ingredients, assembling the customer’s omelets and each round that has succeeded the target with the shop that can help purchase more perks. On the other hand, if you fail, that means starting over, but progression still carries over, yet you just don’t get the colored apron you are aiming for. The colored apron is basically the set medals you would receive in any other game, bronze, silver and gold. It makes the game progressively harder and harder, where you can really put yourself to the test. You can progress through five different difficulties. The game has many stages with tons of ingredients, taking ages to finish the game while aiming for 100% competition.
Overall, I personally liked the game, but it can be a bit difficult and did take me a while to figure out. It’s still an addictive loop with player progression and amazing visuals. And the developers have allowed for community support and feedback.
We were provided two codes to test out the game, and Sapphire had the following to say, “I have previously played the game Balatro, and I can see the inspiration that was taken from that game and incorporated into Omelet You Cook. It’s quite funny how this game wants you to put pretty much everything into an omelet and the way it plays out is a great challenge. This is the type of game I would see myself getting drawn into for quite some time, and coming back every so often to play rounds on rounds. Omelet You Cook almost creates this ‘endless’ kind of loop, and I love having the ability to challenge myself even further. The replauability is insane and has an addictive nature.
When I first started playing this game, I was an hour in and still trying to figure out the best combinations between the ingredients to maximise my points. After each round, it also makes you think of the items you want to buy that may help you in the long run and just for the upcoming rounds. What made the game promising is that you are able to see the orders you will receive in the upcoming rounds, so you can plan and create the best ‘deck’ for your omelets.
Omelet You Cook is a wonderful game that combines math and ridiculous ingredients all to keep quirky animals happy. I love the personality of the game, especially with the hearty, charming visuals and the menacing chicken principal who will fire you even if you fail by one point. That would have to be the most frustrating part about the game, where you miss your order by one point, but that only makes you think about other syringeies. It may come across as math hell, but it’s so much more fun than actually doing math in school.”
Omelet You Cook is the perfect blend of chaotic fun and clever strategy wrapped up in a bright, charming pixel game. What starts as a simple omelet-making job quickly turns into a satisfying puzzle of ingredient synergies, risky debudss, and point-stacking perfection. Whether you enjoy experimenting with ridiculous food combos, mastering tougher difficulties or chasing the highest apron, this game will keep you constantly engaged. If you are looking for a cooking rougelite that is frantic and fun, Omelet You Cook is worth checking out!
Overall: 8.5/10
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!!!!
