Cooking Academy 2: Delicious Laid-Back Fun – Weekly Indie Spotlight

Cooking Academy 2: World Cuisine is a sequel to the relaxing cooking sim, Cooking Academy. Like many good sequels, it takes what was great about the original game and expands on it. While it doesn’t do anything particularly revolutionary in its gameplay, it still makes for a fun, relaxing time, nailing the cozy vibe of the first game perfectly. Even if you’re not into cooking, you should still have some fun times with this game.

Cooking Academy 2 – More Delicious Chill Fun

Developed by Fugazo Inc., Cooking Academy 2 continues the storyline of the original game. Having graduated from the original Cooking Academy, you decide to go back to school and take courses in international cuisine. Yeah, these games aren’t big on plot, but it’s not about the plot; it’s about the vibes and the food. 

Much like in the first game, the gameplay involves preparing various recipes. You chop, boil, bake, mash, and more. This time around, the recipes are grouped together by country. There are Chinese recipes, French recipes, Indian recipes, Mexican recipes, and more. There are also some new features, such as the ability to use a food processor or raid the fridge for ingredients. As you cook, you get a sense of process, as if you’re actually preparing a delicious dish and going through it one step at a time.

Like in the previous game, the instructors are humorous and full of personality. They give you fun food facts for each recipe, meaning that you can impress your friends with some of the food tidbits you learned from a cooking video game. In addition, you might find yourself making some recipes you’re not familiar with, but they might look delicious. You might even find yourself trying out some recipes in real life. I’m terrible at cooking, but even I’ve wanted to try some real-life cooking thanks to these games.

Some Quality of Life Improvements

The first game was a relaxing time, but it had its flaws. For one thing, you needed to be perfect at everything to get an A grade on a recipe. If you made one mistake, you had to start the entire recipe over in order to get an A grade, which could get frustrating if you were going for a perfect run. This time around, you get the option to restart individual steps if you make a mistake. For example, if you burn a piece of chicken, you can retry frying the chicken without having to start over the whole recipe. 

In addition, the previous game had a flaw when using cookie cutters. You couldn’t see the actual cookie cutters, meaning you had to just click somewhere on the dough and hope you weren’t messing things up. In Cooking Academy 2, your cursor is shaped like a cookie cutter during the cookie cutter activity, meaning that you can see exactly where you’re cutting the dough. This makes the experience far less frustrating. 

The first game also had only one piece of music that played over and over. However, the sequel has multiple music pieces that capture the flavor of their respective nations. While the tunes aren’t particularly memorable, they still provide a nice ambiance and contribute to the calming vibes. 

If You Liked Cooking Academy, You’ll Like Cooking Academy 2

There’s a certain charm to the old indie games made during the 2000s, and Cooking Academy 2 captures that charm. It’s simple, wholesome, and addictive. Fans of the first game should definitely check out the sequel, and even if you haven’t played the first game, Cooking Academy 2 is great for fans of cozy games or cooking. Just like the first game, it will make you hungry. It can be purchased on Big Fish Games for $9.99.