Cooking Companions is a 2021 psychological horror visual novel video game developed by Saint Paul, Minnesota-based team Deer Dream Studios. The story follows a group of friends that find themselves trapped in a cabin as food runs out. The game was released on 7 October 2021 for PC and on 29 April 2025 for consoles. A standalone sequel, Dread Weight, was later released.
Plot
The game follows a group of friends (likely fleeing the Holodomor): Karin, Mariah, Anatoly, Gregor and the protagonist, that find themselves trapped in a cabin deep in the woods of the Tatra Mountains. As time passes, starvation begins to set in and strange events start to occur. The player meets a cheerful group of five vegetables known as the Chompettes and the game starts with light-hearted atmosphere, but growingly becomes more dark and scary with ProgresS.
Gameplay
The player can explore the rooms of The Cabin and decides with which characters to spend time and build their relationship with. The game also offers a "New Game+" mode after completion.
Release
The game was released on 7 October 2021 for PC, and Serenity Forge later released the game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series on 29 April 2025. A Kickstarter campaign was later started for a standalone sequel, Dread Weight.
Reception
Writing for , Cortyn said that "Disturbing images, cruel backstories, and the odd well-placed jump scare make the game a great experience, which you should definitely experience at night in a dark room". The Author also wrote that players that enjoyed Doki Doki Literature Club would probably like Cooking Companions too, a comparison that other reviews made as well. A review in The Outerhaven praised the game's replayability. In TheXboxHub, Richard Dobson wrote that while Cooking Companions "doesn’t quite hit the heights" of Doki Doki Literature Club, it was still able to forge its own identity.