Cook Out VR Review – A Sandwich Tale

Let’s get started on this Cook Out VR Review.

What is Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale?

Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale is a fun cooking sim. You will chop food and prepare tasty sandwiches for fantasy creatures.

Want to chop up food and make sandwiches for Werewolves and Rabbits with your friends in VR? Of course, you do!

Who Makes Cook Out: A Sandwhich Tale?

Cook Out VR is developed by Resolution Games. Resolution games are a developer from Sweden. They have released many VR games including Bait, Angry Birds, Acron, Blaston, and Demeo. These guys get VR!

Which Headsets is Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale on?

Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale is available on Oculus Rift, and Oculus Quest 2. It also recently launched on Steam VR.

Cook Out – A Sandwich Tale Review Gameplay

Cookout is a fun and simple “cooking” game that has some very addicting gameplay. If you have ever played Overcooked before, it’s similar to that. If you have never played it,  no worries this game is PERFECT for people new to VR or looking for a simple yet fun experience. It does get VERY challenging though!

You start with a fridge with four ingredients in it in front of you. You also have a knife and a chopping board. Various animals will come up to the counter like a mouse, a werewolf, a cat, or the king. Each animal will have different requirements for how their sandwich needs to be served or how rapidly.

The sandwich recipe the animals are requesting will appear above their head. You need to chop up the ingredients located in the fridge in front of you, and then place them on a plate in the exact order requested – all before time runs out. If you don’t do it in time, the plate will begin to shake and eventually break.

Although this all starts pretty simple, as the game progresses there is a natural increase in difficulty level. Soon on top of sandwiches in the right order, you will need to do things like wash dirty plates before serving the sandwich or grill certain items on the grill. Don’t leave those ingredients too long though or they will catch on fire!

There will also be some pesky customers like a thief raccoon who will steal ingredients from other sandwiches if not severed in time and a jester who will hide the next ingredient on animal’s requests.

The graphics in the game are fairytale fun, cute and simplistic. Having a look around the room you can see fireplaces with arms and funny photos of sandwiches on the wall.  There is zero violence. This is a great game for younger or more senior players. Even someone who’s not familiar with VR gaming can play this tutorial, have a good time, and get up to speed quickly.

Cook Out VR Tutorial – Walks you Through Everything

There is a detailed tutorial that walks you through each part of the cooking steps.

Each round will give you 3 “star goals” when you start. To progress, you need to have earned at least one star. At the successful completion of a round, you will receive various prizes, cosmetic items, potions, and gold. You swipe these away with your hand and start the next round.

If you choose to play by yourself, you will never truly be alone as there is a robot in the station next to you.  If there is an item next in the order he can create, he will do it. Otherwise, he will just fall asleep. He will occasionally require you to wind him up.

Cook Out VR Potions Make Everything Easier

Before you start the round you can pick 2 different types of potions. These potions can help make your life significantly easier. Sometimes you are given potions at the end of a round as a reward but you can always purchase them with the gold you also get at the end of every round. The gold is only used for purchasing these potions so you should definitely pick two potions for each round every time.

I fully recommend that the blue sharpness potion be one that you always get. Applying the sharpness potion to your knife allows you to chop one time instead of multiple times. This is a game-changer and will ultimately allow you to progress through those higher levels.

Some of the other potions are things like a faster grill, washing by dipping in the tub only, slowing down time, or perfect sandwich portions. There are tons of different potions that you can unlock as you progress through the levels. Don’t forget your potions!

Cosmetic Item Rewards

As you finish the various levels, cosmetic items will unlock and your fridge will have different skin or color to it or your knife can turn into Thor’s hammer instead for example. Just a fun little extra.

Never-ending Sandwiches in Cookout VR Endless Mode

There is also an endless mode where you just keep serving sandwiches as long as you possibly can to increase levels. Occasionally the potions you are using will get mixed up and that means, unfortunately, the sharpness potion will be switched out sometimes. Now you are stuck with the dreaded multiple chopping to chop an item. Each item in the fridge will then need to be chop-chop many more times than before.

You will need to work together with your teammates to progress in endless mode. It is very difficult at higher levels!

Never-ending mode is a ton of fun and a serious workout!

Cook Out VR Creative Mode and Cook Out Recipe Book

Another fun part Of Cook Out a Sandwich Tale is the Creative mode and the Recipe book. This low-key part of the game will allow you to have access to all the various ingredients in the game in your fridge. Then you will take these items and attempt to make different kinds of unique sandwiches that appear in the recipe book.

The book gives you a few clues, but there will definitely be much repeating of sandwich making, which is good practice for the other levels.

If you get close to a recipe that information will appear in the middle of the screen and tell you a possible suggestion. Something like, make this sandwich again but with different grilled ingredients. It’s a lot of trial and error but it’s fun and additional gameplay included at no extra cost.

If you are looking for tips on how to complete your Cook Out VR Recipe Book, a good idea is to go into a public creative lobby and hammer this out with other players. Share the ones you have unlocked, and get ones you are missing in return. Do this a few times and you will have all the recipes!

The creative mode can also be a fun thing to do solo to try and unlock some new recipes that you can later share with friends or in these public lobbies.

The people I play with load up this mode while we are waiting for everyone to load into the game for our multiplayer time. Someone will usually be late or they might need to plug in the headset etc and this is a fun way to pass that “getting ready” time.  As you unlock more recipes, you unlock unique cosmetic items only available from this mode.

How long is Cook Out VR?

There are over 50 levels in Cookout!  You also need to get 3 stars on all the levels to be perfect. This is NOT a short game. There are endless hours of fun and gameplay here!

Not to mention the game also includes the creative mode and endless play levels. This game is a great one-time purchase for extended playtime.

Some Cookout VR Tips

Some Cook Out A Sandwich Tale tips I recommend for getting to higher levels after much gameplay.

• Always have a blue sharpness potion and one other potion ready depending on the goals on the level
• You can have about 8 extra pre-cut items in the center as well as some around your station. Try and always have the extras ready to go.
• Figure out which item at your station is the “only you item”. Make sure those items are cut up extra in advance and placed in the middle so anyone can quickly add them
• Have one person be the sort of leader and call things out, although everyone should be doing this somewhat
• Always be scanning for your “only you” item to make sure you are not causing a hold-up in recipes!
• If you really need to, you CAN reach across to another player or the robot’s station to grab something and chop it. This might confuse other players though, but you can do it.
• Not all sandwiches need to be perfect. Especially on werewolves or longer recipes. Figure out if you need any perfect sandwiches for goals, and stop making perfects when you don’t have to.

Occasional Glitches in Cookout VR

Occasionally the game will glitch. This will cause perhaps an animal to be stuck in place, not all the serving spots to open or some people in multiplayer will not be able to see all the animals. This can happen sometimes when people join and leave mid-game. If this happens, you can restart the match to fix the issue.

Cook Out – A Sandwich Tale Multiplayer Experience

I have to say in my experience, this is one of the most fun Oculus Quest 2 multiplayer games. You can play with up to four people. Invite your Oculus friends or join a random group. It’s the same game but there will be more animals to serve and more ingredients in the recipes.

One person usually takes the lead and calls out what is missing and the other individuals will chop and add components to the various sandwiches as they can.

Why is this game so much Multiplayer fun? Because although the game is pretty simple it does get SUPER hard! It’s fun to hop in with your friends in their VR avatars and start chopping up sandwiches. Ketchup flies everywhere. Someone needs to cut a radish! Who is toasting the long roll? You will make up words for the ingredients in your little group, be laughing a ton, and get a workout at the same time.

Although not required, It is usually best to play this game in multiplayer to help progress through the higher levels.

I honestly feel this type of multiplayer VR experience is what VR is made for.

Party Mode in Cook Out- A Sandwich Tale Review

There is no party mode. This game is designed for solo and multiplayer.

Can you work out with Cook Out- A Sandwich Tale? Is Cook Out- A Sandwich Tale a Fitness Game?

There are tons of fitness games in the VR stores, and Cook Out VR might not be the first one that comes to mind…. but let me tell you… some of the higher levels when you are chopping away, frantically grabbing items, and washing plates… your heart rate will go up.

I specifically recommend endless mode if you want to get a good workout in because it will mix in potions with no sharpness. You will be doing lots more chopping this way. Without fail when I play this game for an hour with some friends of mine I’m sweating at the end. Cook-out VR is definitely something you can add to your workout mix that will allow you to increase your cardio heart rate.

The fitness companies that I usually link in this section have rated Cook Out VR very low in fitness. I’m assuming they are playing at much lower levels or not in endless mode. There is no way that this is the same level of ‘resting’ when you are serving hundreds of sandwiches back to back. I’d rate this is equal to Ellipticals and 4-6 Kcal/min based on my fitness watch.

Does Cook Out VR A Sandwich Tale cause motion sickness?

You play Cook Out- A Sandwich Tale in a stationary environment. There are zero movements required beyond chopping and placing food on plates. No teleportation or anything else needed.

Cook Out- A Sandwich Tale should not cause any motion sickness issues.

Final Thoughts On Cook Out – A Sandwich Tale Review

I really enjoy this game and feel it adds a different flavor (pun intended) of experiences to the Oculus Quest 2. It’s simple enough that anyone new to VR could pick it up and play it, but complex enough that it’s a real challenge as you progress through the levels.

I also like that you got a decent workout from playing this game and it truly is playing a game, not doing squats or dancing around to get that workout in. I think Cook Out VR A Sandwich Tale is a must-have in everyone’s VR game list.