1 
0 I’ve been searching for a game to fill the gap that Cuisineer has left. So when indie developers kopiforge reached out offering the chance to play their new game SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Recently released on Steam for around £13, this game promises a cooking-combat adventure. And even better it’s first and foremost a co-op game!
Wok hard, Play Harder
As one half of a co-op streaming channel, you can often find me moaning that the co-op genre has been brimming with games that are much of the same muchness. Same gameplay recipe, slightly different game dished up. Which is where I’m really hopeful that SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure is different. Let’s head out on this quest together.
Plot
The story begins with friends Som and Gon walking along the beach lamenting about adventure and the need for more recipes when they stumble upon a mysterious cookery book. After getting a hefty loan from the family business the pair head off with a travelling food truck to the magical island of Khaya. Together, you have to search the island for new recipes and uncover local mysteries, all whilst gathering ingredients and making dishes to send to your customers.
Gameplay
It is recommended that players use a controller for SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure. You’ll only ever need three buttons though, well, four if you count a thumbstick. Which I don’t. Press “A” to interact with things, aka cook or gather ingredients. Bash at your “X” button to take on enemies and chop the ingredients, and if you need a little speed boost, you have “B” to help you zoom along. Then, of course, the thumbstick to move yourself, and certain plants, about. And whilst these controls may seem simple, the game is far from it.
SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure bakes you into the action from the get-go. I initially played the game solo, because well, why not? I’ll tell you why not. Between hunting down, and then un-aliving the necessary ingredients, managing my own health bar, prepping and cooking the ingredients and taking the dish to the delivery hatch all before each order timer ran out, I was whisked up into a frenzy. I lost track of the number of times I said “this is too much for one chef” and “where is my sous-chef?”. With no ability to change the level of difficulty, it was safe to say that to progress, I needed my Player 2. So I grabbed Stu and off we set to conquer the island.
Co-Op Time
When taste testing co-op mode I decided to scrap my save file. I know, I know, but I felt it best to start fresh for the sake of integrity. That, and a hint of not having to explain the controls or what each plant was to my significant other! Loading into the game as two people immediately felt different, and not just because some of the early game hints were now relevant! You can tell the game is meant to be enjoyed with more than one person.
As we progressed through each level, however, it became more and more apparent that there was just a little bit too much to do. Even as a duo. With needing to hunt, gather, chop, cook, assemble and deliver to customers, all within a set time, things got hard quickly. As in, within a level or two after the tutorial. There is a slight input lag that didn’t help matters. It certainly gets frustrating when trying to assemble things on the table, and due to lag, you keep missing your mark, meaning your whole dish needs to be scrapped.
Now neither of us are newbies to this chaos cooking genre. In fact we are well-oiled machine. However, even games such as PlateUp! will only give you a certain number of ingredients to have to deal with in any one level. SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure does not do this. All is fair game. What isn’t fair game is trying to remember what ingredient needs to go through 2 steps before it can even be used in a recipe, whilst a giant chicken comes and attacks you.
Graphics & Audio
Now according to the kopiforge website, there are just 4 people that make up this Singapore based indie studio. Which blows my mind a bit. I’ve played many games from studios that have at least four times the amount of staff members, and not many of them have made games with as much obvious love as SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure has baked in.
I love the art style. It’s stylised without being overly so. The white outlines surrounding the character images when they are speaking to each other adds a cartoon style but without going overboard. Some of the character designs gave me Legend Of Zelda Gerudo vibes, which I mean as a compliment being a big Ocarina of Time fan!
Moving on to the live ingredients. Each food “enemy” had fun designs and individual traits. I had never thought what a cross between a Pineapple and Turtle may look like, but now I know! However, I will never get over how bad I feel chasing after a crying ginger plant as I try to chop it up! I really loved that at the end of each level you could read reviews from the customers who had your meals delivered to them. Whilst you can’t actively do anything with them, or indeed re-read them post level, it was such a fun little immersive bonus.
The environments are colourful and add to the immersion of the magical island. The only thing I would say is that sometimes when in more grassy areas it can be hard to spot certain plant types, and I wish the option to see the ingredient name was a constant not just as a quick option in a menu when holding down “Y”. However this is where you take full advantage of the camera spanning the area before starting the level. It really helps get the lay of the land.
In terms of sound design the team have done a great job. Nothing is ever jarring. From the menu screen jingle that definitely had me humming along, to the base camp crickets chirping that lowered my stress levels. The sound effects when in combat and cooking are exactly what you want them to be. All in all, the soundscape is great.
Longevity
I can sum up playing SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure in one sentence. Too hot to handle, too tasty to quit. It was difficult to stay on top of ingredient gathering whilst cooking, especially as the ingredients go bad quite quickly. That didn’t stop me from trying again and again, though! In terms of co-op replayability, there is no denying that this is not a one-and-done game.
Whilst the Steam page says it has around 10 hours of gameplay, I would say that overall the game has plenty within it that will have you coming back for seconds. Be that trying to achieve gold on every level, upgrading all the available equipment or even swapping co-op partners.
Final Thoughts
Sedap is actually a popular Malaysian expression meaning delicious, and this game really tried to be. Much like a succulent meal, SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure is a game that is best enjoyed with someone by your side.
There is enough similarities that if you enjoyed games such as PlateUp! or Overcooked! you will enjoy the chaos of this game. However, SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure is also different enough that it will have you playing not just for the frantic cooking. I loaded into this game with the hope it would be a new Cuisineer and it isn’t. It has taken the core combat ingredients of Cusineer, combined them with the spices of cooking party games such as PlateUp! and let them marinate. Although there is still the garnish of stress.
For this reason, I give SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
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