Some things are just better if you use your hands, and cooking is most certainly on that list. During the summer Flat Hills Games launched Clash of Chefs VR for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 – as well as moving the PC VR version out of early access – serving up a multitude of cooking options. Today, the studio has announced the launch of a free update adding hand tracking to the Oculus Quest version.
So now you can put down your controllers and enjoy the frantic cooking experience with that added touch of realism, using your hands to cut veg, construct burgers and more. As the demo video below showcases, you can interact with everything, squeezing the sauce bottles, crushing paper cups, patting the pizza dough flat and waving to your opponent in multiplayer.
Clash of Chefs VR challenges you to keep customers happy by dishing up orders as fast as possible without making a mistake, with American, Mexican, Italian, and Japanese cuisines on offer. Featuring an 80 level single-player and a competitive PvP multiplayer, Flat Hills Games has squeezed a lot into this cooking title.
Reviewing the Oculus Quest edition of Clash of Chefs VR, VRFocus said the videogame: “has everything you could want from a VR cooking game, plenty of food, loads of modes and a nice wedge of lemon. The gameplay is fluid and once you get into a rhythm very satisfying to pump out order after order.”
Hand tracking updates have been few and far between of late, with few developers seemingly keen on utilising the technology. Unless you talk to the likes of Anotherway and Vertigo Games who released the entirely hand tracked air guitar title Unplugged last month. Let’s not forget that the new Lynx-R1 – which recently completed a successful Kickstarter – doesn’t come with controllers, hand tracking is the defacto control scheme.
Clash of Chefs VR is available for Oculus Quest and Steam VR headsets for $19.99 USD. For further hand tracking update additions, keep reading VRFocus.
If there’s one positive thing that has cropped up from this damn pandemic is that a lot of people seemed to have improved their cooking skills. Whether that’s learning to bake for the first time or figuring out how to make an awesome lasagne, being stuck at home has forced us all to appreciate the kitchen a bit more. Or you can always order a pizza in grab your Oculus Quest and play Clash of Chefs VR, the mess-free way to test those culinary skills.
Frantic cooking titles are nothing new in the world of virtual reality (VR). Trying to see how fast you can put a burger together whilst defying the laws of physics with a tower of ten patties and way too much cheese. However, a lot of these types of videogames tend to be one-trick wonders, usually involving one cuisine and hectic gameplay so you don’t notice straight away.
Flat Hill Games’ Clash of Chefs VR on the other hand is a welcome addition to the genre because it is packed with content, and most importantly four world cuisines for you to try your hand at. American, Italian, Japanese and Mexican flavours are all available for budding VR chefs to try their hands at, some slightly more complicated than others. Everyone’s flipped a burger at some point in their lives but have you tried rolling sushi or spun your own pizza base above your head?
Ok, so first and foremost Clash of Chefs VR isn’t some cooking simulator, it isn’t going for high accuracy on the culinary front. Workstations are designed for speed and some artistic cobbling together of ingredients. As you might expect, over in the American diner you’re going to be grilling patties, cooking up some fries, slicing onions and pouring beverages. In fact, all the cuisines have some variance on this setup. Rather than frying, the Japanese kitchen has you boiling noodles and serving tea whilst the Mexican restaurant is all about frying up nachos and carefully rolling a tasty burrito.
Initially, each kitchen doesn’t look like it has a massive variety of components but rest assured once those orders start flying in the cooking process soon becomes taxing; especially if you want to keep those customers happy. Orders come in via a nice easy to read screen just under the counter, with a colour coding system indicating when customers are about to go from happy to really pissed of that they’re waiting so long (none of them is very patient). Provide a speedy correct service and you’ll get more points that all tally towards a global leaderboard.
As mentioned, Clash of Chefs VR has plenty to keep you busy because not only are there multiple cuisines to master but also modes aplenty. Each kitchen has its own Campaign mode with 20 levels to try and bust a sweat through, and it does get intense! So heading to the Casual mode certainly helps as there’s no time or customer pressure, orders come in and make them as fast as you like. It’s also a great way to learn some of the nuances if you’re one of these people who ignores all the tutorial info.
Flat Hill Games has stuffed Clash of Chefs VR with tutorial videos so there’s no introduction whatsoever, dive right in and learn on the job. Although, the videos were handy when it came to learning how to make a damn burrito, who knew it could be so technical! And that’s one of the main points to understand in Clash of Chefs VR, sure it’s a frantic arcade-style videogame but it has those kinds of Job Simulator elements everyone loves. Plus, because you’re nestled in one cosy kitchen location there’s no locomotion, most players should find the whole experience super comfortable.
On top of the Campaign and Casual modes, there’s the customary Endless mode where you try if you can really hack a kitchen job. Clash of Chefs VR also has a feather in its cap in the form of a duelling multiplayer mode. Now, this where the fun really ramps up once you’re well acquainted with the kitchens. The online mode automatically fires up, pitting you against another player in a PvP competition to serve as many meals as possible within the time limit. What’s great is that you’re opposite one another, so you can see your opponent and throw food at them if you get cocky. While it wasn’t always easy to find another player early on – which will hopefully improve in time – there’s an asynchronous mode. This allows you to compete against another’s score, just not live in real-time; still counts towards the leaderboards though.
Clash of Chefs VR has everything you could want from a VR cooking game, plenty of food, loads of modes and a nice wedge of lemon. The gameplay is fluid and once you get into a rhythm very satisfying to pump out order after order. Whilst it lacks the insane multiplayer madness of Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale, there’s enough succulent gameplay to keep you entertained for hours. An entertaining VR cooking experience through and through.
Flat Hill Games released its cooking videogame Clash of Chefs VR as a Steam Early Access title back in 2018 for PC VR headsets. This summer Clash of Chefs is set to officially launch, leaving Early Access whilst natively supporting the Oculus Quest platform.
For the last couple of years Clash of Chefs VR has been serving up a fast and frantic cooking experience where players can tackle an 80 level single-player or go head-to-head in the multiplayer. Budding virtual chefs will be challenged to prepare American, Italian, and Japanese recipes as fast as possible, juggling various stations as they create ever more complex meals.
From slapping a simple burger together to plating up a bowl of ramen, to hit the top of those online leaderboards players will need to carefully ensure the right amount of beans go in the burritos, shredded cheese doesn’t overwhelm pasta bowls and the salad is finely chopped.
It doesn’t all need to be serious work though. Have some fun along the way by unleashing your inner Gordon Ramsey, smashing plates on the floor, throwing an onion in the waiters face or grabbing the condiment bottles to create a fountain or sauce.
“Oculus Quest’s catalog is hyper-curated to ensure a high degree of player satisfaction and great return on investment for developers,” says Adrian Djura, CEO and Founder of Flat Hill Games in a statement. “We’re proud that our virtual food frenzy, Clash of Chefs VR, will soon be featured among other quality titles on the headset’s platform.”
As Clash of Chefs VR will be leaving Early Access Flat Hill Games will providing a bunch of new content for current players to enjoy, with a new themed restaurant, achievements, and customization options just some of the new features.
Clash of Chefs VR will be available for Oculus Quest Summer 2021, providing cross-platform gameplay with the Steam version. For all the latest Oculus Quest content updates keep reading VRFocus.
One videogame that most virtual reality (VR) enthusiast should have tried at some point is Owlchemy Labs comedy working title Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives. If like VRFocus one of your favourite parts was the cooking section then you’ll likely want to take a look at Flat Hill Games’ upcoming experience Clash of Chefs VR, due to launch later this month.
Due to arrive via Steam Early Access on 16th November, Clash of Chefs VR is a cook-off title where players have to create delicious recipes against the clock. Featuring both single-player missions and multiplayer modes, players will be able to test their skills in the kitchens of the world each featuring new recipes and 20 challenging single-player levels.
“I’m really happy that we made a game that is fun, fast and addictive. Even happier to see how fast-growing our community is, that was surely unexpected!,” said Adrian Djura, Flat Hill Games CEO in a statement.
Clash of Chefs VR has been designed as a comfortable experience for all, so there are no smooth locomotion or teleportation options. with a room-scale kitchen where everything is close to hand, all players need to worry about is flipping burgers, chopping veg and making sure the bacon doesn’t burn.
For the Early Access launch Clash of Chefs VR will feature one kitchen – the American Diner – with 20 levels for single-player and various recipes for burgers (with vegetables and condiments), fries and two flavours of soda. Multiplayer will also be available.
As for the final version, the team note: “We plan to have several different restaurants with food and drinks, recipes from around the world. We intend for each kitchen to boast around 20 single player levels. Achievements are planned, as well as online multiplayer, with diverse game modes for both single and multiplayer. Further development will include an additional kitchen and recipes, as updates.”
When Clash of Chefs VR arrives on 16th November it’ll support HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, retailing for $20 USD. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.
