Medieval co-op chaos: an Overcooked-style hit starring kitchen rats

A new co-op kitchen caper has scurried onto Steam and, judging by an early wave of roughly 90% positive reviews, it’s already plating up exactly what party-game fans crave: fast, readable tasks; escalating pressure; and a theme that’s equal parts cozy and mischievous. The twist is delightfully on the nose—a medieval fantasy setting where the entire brigade is a clan of anthropomorphic rats. One top-voted quip sums up the vibe with perfect shrugging confidence: "We're rats. What did you expect?" That single line captures the game’s tone—self-aware, cheeky, and committed to comic truth in advertising. Underneath the jokes sits a familiar yet refined lineage: the moment-to-moment loop is all about triage, communication, and rhythm. Orders tick down, stations bottleneck, and a team either gels or spirals. The early sentiment suggests that, even with clear inspiration from genre leaders, this one earns its own seat at the long table by threading medieval flavor into the frantic choreography.

What makes the formula sing here is how medieval kitchen logic rearranges the choreography you already know. Instead of modern prep, you’re heaving cauldrons, torching hearty stews, carving rustic loaves, and hustling platters across stone floors that love to sabotage your routes. Level layouts lean on theatrical obstacles—swinging gates, narrow ramparts, conveyor-like tavern benches—and demand that the squad designate roles quickly: one rat on raw gather and wash, another on chop and simmer, a third on plate assembly and delivery, and a floater who patches holes when the queue spikes. The tension isn’t cruelty; it’s tempo. A well-timed handoff, an improvised reroute, or a mutual decision to let one order lapse to save two others can flip a run from chaos to control. Success feels earned because small optimizations stack: staging ingredients near heat sources, building a cadence around the longest cook, and calling out hazards before they cascade into a room-wide stall.

Co-op friction, the good kind, is the star. The game’s readability and snappy response help friends settle into a shared language—short callouts, job swaps on the fly, and a running clock that keeps everyone honest. If you’re playing on PC, you’ll want to confirm the feature mix that fits your crew: local split seating on a single machine for couch nights, online lobbies for dispersed friends, and Steam’s Remote Play Together as a handy fallback when only one person owns the game. Controller support matters in this genre, and tight analog movement with clean radial pickup makes a bigger difference than any cosmetic. The 90% positive launch window points to two crucial wins: friction-free starts (menus that get you to a match in seconds) and a difficulty ramp that welcomes new players while still letting veterans chase perfects. A smart scoring curve rewards recoveries, not just pristine runs, which keeps laughter flowing even when the order board starts to look like a lost cause.

Presentation amplifies the charm without fighting the clarity players need under pressure. Warm lighting sells candlelit halls and hearth glow, while chunky silhouettes and bold ingredient palettes ensure you can parse what’s where at a glance. Animations lean into character—scampering steps, proud little plate lifts—and sound design ties it together with kitchen clatter, cheerful stings for completed tickets, and an urgent percussive rise as timers thin. Crucially, the interface stays out of the way: large order icons, legible timers, and a forgiving pickup radius reduce “I was aiming for that” moments. Accessibility touches like color-safe ingredient markings, scalable text, and remappable inputs can turn a good party game into a staple; if those are present, they’ll lengthen its life in living rooms and dorms alike. As for depth, variety is the long tail: new map gimmicks, special recipes that reframe priorities, and mode variants that challenge optimal habits will keep the meta from settling into autopilot.

Conclusion

Seen from a distance, this looks like a playful riff on a proven template; up close, it feels like a confident execution with a personality strong enough to justify the encore. The medieval setting gives the designers license to throw playful wrenches into the workflow without stranding teams in pure chaos, and the rat brigade anchors the humor with unapologetic identity. If you’re building a game night menu, pencil this in next to your favorites: it hits that precious sweet spot where five minutes is enough to learn the verbs, and two hours disappear while you chase one more three-star run. Before you buy, skim the store page for your must-haves—online and local options, stable performance on your rig, and input flexibility for mixed devices. If the launch reception is any guide, you’ll find a polished co-op loop that respects your time, celebrates teamwork, and proves that sometimes the best kitchen managers are the ones with whiskers and an inexhaustible supply of one-liners.