Official Score
Overall - 60%
60%
The Cooking Class’ dive into survival horror is a mixed bag. Those that enjoy stumbling around for clues will enjoy visiting the DuPont family, but those less inclined to stumbling around will lack an appetite for this title.
Players will be invited to a delectable meal that’s not quite what it seems with the release of Another Dev Company’s first person horror title The Cooking Class. Should players set out to escape, or is an Irish goodbye in order?
The Cooking Class Review
After players start the game and pop on their headphones for that true immersive experience, they’re given one simple task: Find the VHS tapes with the code for the safe in the basement. Do that, and players can obtain the key to escape the house they are stuck in.
Unfortunately, that’s all the help players are given in The Cooking Class. With no hints and no clues to go off of, players are on their own in an attempt to escape from this predicament that they managed to entrap themselves in.
And what a predicament it is. After being invited by the DuPont family to learn how to cook and handle meat, they learn that they meant something else when they said that it would be a “once in a lifetime experience” and that “they “we’re gonna take care of you.
For those that don’t stick around to make steak and figure out what kind of “alternative” meat your host is alluding to (hint: it dives toward cannibalism), one will quickly need to make themselves scarce before gathering up the ingredients for the next dish she has in mind. However, the members of this family are keen to have you for dinner – literally. It is at this exact moment that the real “meat” of the game begins.
Rummaging around for clues and tapes proves to be a mixed experience. There is certainly enough macabre content to keep players on edge; this family does dabble in death. However, the constant heavy breathing and stumbling proves to be more annoying than anything else.
The same goes for the notes that tell more about the family and can get you out of a sticky situation. While it is great to figure out how one can get ahead, it is also unfortunate that players have to read multiple paragraphs in order to find the fact that they are looking for. While this does provide some subtlety, it also falls under the old trap of telling, rather than showing.
A short game at its core, the average playthrough of The Cooking Class lasts between 20-30 minutes. Granted, this can be shortened down the more people play and get to know the house, but this title is more of a one-and-done type of experience.
The Cooking Class’ dive into survival horror is a mixed bag. Those that enjoy stumbling around for clues will enjoy visiting the DuPont family, but those less inclined to stumbling around will lack an appetite for this title.
