Return to the Onion Kingdom Today in Overcooked 2 on Xbox One

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Xbox Wire.

Overcooked 2 has been one of the most difficult secrets I’ve ever had to keep. For months leading up to the announcement, we had hundreds of emails from the community, shocked that we had abandoned the game and angry that we were ignoring the myriad messages from players hungry for online multiplayer.

I’m sure they imagined us lying around in hammocks sipping pina coladas out of coconuts. Nonsense. I hate coconut.

The truth is that Oli and I haven’t really stopped working on Overcooked since its release. We’ve been working on DLC, porting the game to new languages and new platforms and yes, we’ve been secretly working on the sequel… something neither of us ever imagined would happen when we started work on the game four or so years ago.

We made no secret of the fact that as a two-person studio it was never really feasible for us to add online multiplayer to the game. Anyone in development will tell you that you can expect to (at least) double the production time on a project if you plan to add online multiplayer, which for us just wasn’t possible, but it didn’t stop us feeling a little sad when reading messages from players wishing they could play the game with their sibling in another country.

When Team 17 approached us in late 2016 with the proposition of co-developing a sequel we were hesitant. Up until now we’d developed the game entirely ourselves and we were a little sceptical about sharing all our toys, but when we sat down with the developers and spoke about ideas for a sequel we were excited at just how naturally it all came together.

With Overcooked 2 we’re looking to expand on the original in almost every direction. Let’s dive into a few of the new features we’ve added to the game:

The Story

Returning from one of his many adventures, the Onion King has come into possession of a curious book. Despite Kevin’s warnings, the king reads aloud from the Necronom-nomicon and unwittingly raises an army on unbread fiends who quickly lay siege to the Onion Castle. Your task is to explore the Onion Kingdom, learning new recipes, and hopefully find a way to satiate these hangry hordes.

Online Multiplayer

This was one of the most-requested features and it’s something we’re thrilled to bring to the game. Now players around the world will be able to team up and work together to take on the kitchens of the Onion Kingdom. If you can’t play in the same room, why not find a friend online and enjoy the chaos together.

Throwing

A brand-new feature for Overcooked 2 is the ability to throw raw ingredients. Simply tap a button to hurl ingredients to your fellow chefs, toss them straight into a pan, or if your aim is off… chuck them straight in the bin. We’re really looking forward to seeing how pro-players take advantage of this new mechanic.

New Kitchens

Any Overcooked veteran will know to expect new kitchens with new crazy game mechanics and we’re happy to deliver! Whether you’re teleporting through portals in our new Wizard School kitchens or avoiding flaming fallout in our airship kitchens, Overcooked 2 aims to surprise and delight at every turn as you and your friends work your way through the Onion Kingdom. Haunted Swamps, alien planets, underground mines, travelators, moving rafts, controllable platforms the list goes on!

New Recipes

We had so many requests for new recipes in Overcooked and we’re extremely happy to introduce fan requests like sushi and cakes, as well as a heap of new recipes we’ve cooked up for you to enjoy! Overcooked 2 will introduce you to a whole host of delicious new recipes which will really put you and your friends cooking skills to the test.

New Chefs

We have a whole host of new chefs to welcome into the squad for Overcooked 2 as well as some familiar friends from the first game (what would an Overcooked game be without Racoon chef!?) We look forward to hearing which chefs are your favorites and introducing even more as we continue to support the game in the coming months.

We’re really grateful to everyone who has played and enjoyed Overcooked so far, we get so much pleasure seeing pictures and video of families playing the game together and we’re very much looking forward to sharing Overcooked 2 with you all.