As someone who's been playing CSD since the first, eagerly followed 2 from early development and was ecstatic over 3, I always wondered whether this game could really work on controller when so much of its core relies on the keyboard. CSF delivers that in spades, while also allowing the already excellent narrative worldbuilding of the CSD games to really spread its wings and fly. If CSD captures all the stress and excitement of being a prep cook at a restaurant, CSF captures the feeling of learning to cook - of mastering individual parts of a recipe, of knowing your strength and flying within them to achieve something fantastic.
I arrived late, on the recent patch. But if this beautiful feeling of zen that I get when playing is due to that update, then congratulations to chubigans on once again hitting it out of the park.

Also: the music is transcendent. The shift to vocals really elevates what was already an excellent soundscape in CSD.

I am obsessed, and I love this!

Unlike the other CSD games that emphasize memorizing sets of ingredients, Cook Serve Forever has a handful of cooking techniques shared by every dish: dicing, mixing, baking, and a dozen others. Though the techniques are shared, each dish feels unique, and you can usually anticipate what steps are coming next. For example, pizza dishes tend to involve some slicing/grating/topping and always end with a baking step.

The multitasking component of this game is its primary difficulty. To finish dishes fast enough for "perfect" ratings, you'll need to complete different cooking steps with both hands simultaneously. I love this mechanic; it's very satisfying as your skills improve, and new dishes pair the cooking techniques in new ways to consistently challenge you throughout the game.

Lastly, the narrative is engaging, and very cleverly integrated into the gameplay.

Hoping to someday see CSF 2 (: