Cook Serve Forever

I’ve played both CSD1 and CSD3, and I’d read a few reviews saying that Cook, Serve, Forever is more story-driven than focused on the gameplay mechanics of the earlier games. I thought I’d give it a try — bought it a few months ago, but ended up refunding it almost immediately because I found the gameplay pretty boring. Then I saw it bundled together with CSD1 and CSD2 at a pretty good price. Since I wanted to play CSD2 anyway, I figured I might as well give this another shot. After sitting through a few more levels and getting the hang of the keys and buttons (I played with a controller), I found the gameplay somewhat decent. That said, it still doesn’t give me anywhere near the same excitement I get from the other games in the series. I especially disliked the Blitz levels. The time limits feel incredibly punishing, and getting a Gold rating felt close to impossible for me, particularly while playing with a controller. Maybe it’s easier with keyboard and mouse, but I found it more frustrating than fun. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this to avid CSD players who are looking for the same gameplay mechanics and intensity as the earlier games. However, if you’re okay with something…

I haven't played any of the other games in the series, so I can't compare Cook Serve Forever to them. On its own, though, I don't think it's nearly as bad as some of the reviews make it seem. The art is really great, from the characters and backgrounds to the cutscenes and especially the food. I also loved the soundtrack. The songs had a habit of sticking in my head long after I closed the game- which was only annoying when I would rage quit and the music taunted me afterwards. The story was better than I expected, and the dialogue was only cheesy about 30% of the time. The biggest issue is the difficulty. It starts off easy enough, but it gets progressively harder until you're fighting for your life trying to make food. If you're an achievement hunter going for 100%, good luck. I literally had friends over trying to help me out. I don't think it's worth $30. Around $22 feels more reasonable, but thankfully it goes on sale pretty often.

The only CSD game I 100%. This game is very different from the first 3 games and I'm all for it! Plus, it's more forgiving. I love following the story and I absolutely adore the art style and animations. Huge shoutout to the artists because they did such an amazing job! I also love the solarpunk aesthetics! You can really tell how much love and personality went into every character and setting. ❤️

Love it!

While I may prefer CDD2 & CSD3 more to CSF, I really enjoyed my time playing this game. The story and gameplay was fun after getting used to how different it was from previous games.

Personally I wasn't really into this one around the time the game initially released just based on the gameplay being reactive rather than planning-based but with the update they'd done to make each recipe set inputs it still maintains a lot of the feeling of the other games while having a different pacing from the main series. Despite that it's not necessarily easier, the blitz stages made me haul ass and on the other end the cooking school and other stage holo stickers require exact precision. Definitely recommend!