PlateUp!

PlateUp! is a thoroughly enjoyable, addictive, and oddly calming experience. The background music is strangely soothing, and the repetitive nature of the tasks is comforting. Where others in a similar genre cause arguments, PlateUp! has the true spirit of collaboration.

PlateUp! successfully differentiates itself from the cooking sim next door. While its roguelite elements encourage repeat attempts and reward your failures, fiddly controls, and awkward UI hinder its appeal as an undocked co-op experience. Fortunately, on a big screen, it's great fun.

Plate Up was certainly a fun experience and I enjoyed unlocking each new dish. But in an ironic twist of fate. Despite being a rogue-lite game I ended up putting a similar amount of time in Plate Up as I did Overcooked, a game I criticized for being too short.

We had an excellent time playing PlateUp!, and have no hesitation recommending it for players with a hankering for a decent portion of multiplayer fun. The roguelike mechanics are both solid and tricky to master. It’s addictive to play, and you’ll find yourself laughing and squabbling with your buddies in equal measure, which is great fun. Whilst entirely understandable, the lack of cross-play is one of the only downsides, with perhaps some rather sudden spikes in difficulty coming as a close second. If you’re looking for an engaging, long term multiplayer challenge, tuck in your napkin and take a big bite out of PlateUp!, it’ll satisfy you nicely.

Some games take you on an emotional roller-coaster. For us, PlateUp! was more of an emotional freefall. First impressions were great, it was challenging, but doable, and even failing had an element of fun to it. However the constant new options meant that practised recipes and restaurant layouts meant nothing, each attempt was totally new and this started to frustrate. However, the lack of explanation of how appliances, upgrades, speed-runs and franchises work took away the enjoyment. One of my co-oped friends would rate it as ‘I don’t like it’, bitterly disappointed to have wasted so much time. The other would rate it as ‘I like it’ but would not play it again. I know PlateUp! has a loyal following, but for us, it was undercooked

An alternative take on the likes of Overcooked-style multiplayer food prep chaos that has both ups and downs

PlateUp! is barrels of fun if you’re playing with friends or family. You’ll be barking orders to one-another before you know it. And even if you fail, you’ll find yourself starting another run in this fairly addicting cooking slash restaurant management roguelike.

PlateUp! is an excellent cooking simulator that lets you bring friends to the kitchen. A steep learning curve might dissuade some players but it's a rewarding experience for the chefs that stick around. While it might be too much to handle solo, couch co-op friends can easily multiply the fun and divide the workload.

PlateUp! is a fantastic rogue-lite cooking simulation title. What's more, it is infuriating, addictive, and original. Play solo or with friends as you cook, burn, and serve every meal to impatient customers. Can you make everyone happy, or will your restaurant be shut for good?

In short: if you have 1 - 3 friends, love punny restaurant names and micromanagement, and are unafraid of failure, put PlateUp! on the menu. And for the love of all that is holy, please look out for those beige puddles the customers left on the floor. We really don’t know what’s in them, but judging by the sound effects, it can’t be anything good.