🎮 PlateUp! (2022)

PlateUp! poster

I’ve played a bit of this on the PC and bought the Switch version last week. My first thought when I tried it on the Switch was that it looked a bit rough and ready. I’m not sure why but the graphics looked okay on PC, and then just a bit rough and unclear on the Switch (maybe I hold console graphics to a higher standard? 🤷‍♀️)

But the graphics aren’t all that important beyond it sometimes taking a moment to figure out exactly which version of a dish the guest wants you to make. It’s a fun game and I prefer the way you get to re-arrange and evolve your kitchen rather than the static layouts in OverCooked, and I also like that you’ve got the dining room to look after too. It’s overall more fun-feeling and when you’re playing multiplayer there’s more scope for things to get hectic, when you have to be careful with the timings of taking orders, cooking orders and collecting dishes etc.

To be able to finish the game (ie run your restaurant successfully for 15 days) you need to understand and properly use the equipment and upgrades you’re randomly offered, and I don’t think the game explains any of this at all. And maybe this is just me but I didn’t find of it intuitive at all. I have watched some Let’s Plays so I do have a little knowledge of how things work but I think unless you go away and do some reading you’re pretty guaranteed to never get very far. I know it’s a roguelite and as such part of the fun is figuring out how things work and experimenting and stuff, but I think things are too weird to work out, to me.

I still like this game a lot though, I’m glad I now have it on the Switch because I feel like it suits being on a console more than on PC. I also can’t wait to get a couple of family members over and play a bit of multiplayer.