Cooking Academy: Some Relaxing Fun for Christmas – Weekly Indie Spotlight
If you’re looking for a chill game to play this Christmas, why not give Cooking Academy a try? There are no monsters to fight, no giant quests to go on, and no massive open world to get lost in. Instead, you just get to cook some tasty dishes in a relaxing atmosphere. If you’re tired after cooking Christmas dinner, cooking some virtual food might help you to unwind and remember why you love cooking.
Cooking Academy Will Make You Hungry
Developed by Fugazo Inc, Cooking Academy tells a simple story where you’re (of course) a student at a cooking school. Your classes are divided into five sections: appetizers, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. Each class is headed by an amusing professor, and you are given “exams” when you complete each section. If you’re thinking that this sounds like an app, well, this game was made in 2008, before smartphones were everywhere. As such, it’s not hitting you with in-game purchases every two seconds.
Your professors at Cooking Academy deliver fun food facts as you chop, roast, bake, boil, and occasionally catch falling food (really). Each step leads smoothly to the next, letting you feel the progress of turning ingredients into dishes. It’s easy to get into “the zone” of cooking, letting you forget about your life’s worries for a while and just concentrate on not burning the chicken or not dropping the egg yolk.
One Non-Relaxing Flaw
While this is a chill game for the most part, there is one flaw that might up the stress if you care about 100%-ing the game. You are graded for each step, and then at the end of the recipe, you receive a grade for the whole thing. This sounds fair, except that one mistake reduces your grade, and you can’t replay the individual recipe steps without starting the whole recipe over from the beginning.
Now, you don’t get any rewards for completing the game 100% except for the satisfaction of doing so. You aren’t missing out on any extra content if you don’t 100% the game, but people who care about completing a game 100% will likely get frustrated at having to restart recipes because they burned one piece of chicken.
Don’t Let That Flaw Deter You
There is no shortage of cooking games out there, but some of them like the Cook, Serve, Delicious! series can be as stressful as cooking in real life. Cooking Academy lets you chill out and just enjoy cooking. It’s a great way to unwind after the stress of the holidays. You might get hungry for Christmas dinner all over again. The game can be purchased on Big Fish Games for $9.99.
