Overcooked! 2: Night of the Hangry Horde Review (Astute)
Night of the Hangry Horde is the third paid DLC for Overcooked 2. It introduces a few new mechanics and a horde gamemode. It ends up being one of the better DLCs available for Overcooked 2, reducing much of the frustration potential from the previous entries. All in all, it's an easier and more enjoyable outing than the first two.
Night of the Hangry Horde is an Overcooked 2 DLC using a Victorian horror motif. Lots of grimy stone brick, ramshackle metal tubing, thunderous coal powered furnaces, glowing green ectoplasm, and spooky fog. As usual, Overcooked 2 DLC tends to be more atmospheric than the base game, and the attention to detail really sells the style they are going for. My only complaint would be that the maps tend to be a bit on the darker side, making it difficult to identify certain objects either lying on the floor or on countertops.
Night of the Hangry Horde introduces guillotines, coal power, and the Hangry Horde mode.
The guillotine is a machine that can be used for batch chopping several items at once. Yon can place up to two items on a guillotine. To trigger the guillotine, you need to press a button found somewhere in the level, usually out of range of the guillotine itself. Both items are chopped immediately, forgoing the need to chop them separately. This mechanic is rather fun to play with, as you often need to coordinate loading and unloading of the guillotine with the person triggering the button. Chopping becomes less of a chore, and more of a logistics game, with you trying to keep the guillotines chopping as often as possible. I actually like this mechanic when it comes into play, as chopping tends to monopolize one or more players, and the guillotine frees up more time to focus on other aspects of cooking.
The fire keeping mechanic from Surf 'n' Turf and Campfire Cook Off returns in the form of coal power. The fire keeping mechanic requires that you keep the fire for your cooking station burning at peak efficiency in order for it to cook at maximum speed. In Surf 'n' Turf, this was the bellows, which was used for stoking the heat in a firepit. In Campfire Cook Off, this was chopping wood and tossing it into the campfire. In both DLCs, this mechanic was often annoying to keep up with, and often was the main point of failure in most levels.
In Night of the Hangry Horde, However, this mechanic has been revised using coal. Coal exists in infinite amounts from a coal box somewhere in the level. Buckets are used to move coal to a central furnace, which powers all of the cooking stoves in the level through a series of metal pipes. Only one bucket of coal is needed to max out the efficiency of all stoves on the level. While I'm surprised they keep trying to push this mechanic as if it's something enjoyable to play with, I'm also grateful that they were able to improve it by making it less obnoxious and easier to maintain.
Coal does not need to be chopped before it is burnt, and buckets of coal can be placed right next to the central furnace and used whenever you need it. Instead of having to baby-sit four separate fires, you only need to watch one. Instead of having to prepare burnables or grab a slow-use tool, you just need a single bucket of fuel. This elevates a previously woeful mechanic into something that's a bit more strategic. I'm quite pleased with this change, so good on the devs for that.
Finally, there is the Hangry Horde mode. Half of the levels in the DLC feature horde mode in leiu of traditional gameplay. Instead of managing incoming meal tickets and sending out dishes at a serving window, Unbread enemies assault various points of entry into your kitchen, and you need to feed them to drive them away. Each enemy can deal damage to your kitchen if left undisturbed. If your kitchen loses all of its health, you lose. Barricades protect the entryways into the kitchen, slowing down the Unbread and buying you time to cook retaliatory meals. Each dish you serve to an Unbread nets you currency, which can be used to repair barricades, or unlock gated shortcuts around the level. There is no time limit in horde mode, instead relying on waves and specific enemy counts.
It's a pretty refreshing spin on the usual fair. For one, you are no longer rigidly paced by the meal tickets and their individual timers. Barricades last a little while, and can be repaired using coins, even while they are being damaged. Meals don't have to go out in any particular order, but rather depending on the type of Unbread that are currently on the field. Sometimes you might want to eliminate the fast ones first, or the heavy ones, or maybe address a certain area. Due to the lack of a time limit, you can actually stall for time by leaving certain enemies alive while doing repairs elsewhere. This flexibility makes the horde mode surprisingly relaxing to play, as you're not constantly on the clock, and you're able to bounce back from small mistakes with no loss to your score.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that horde mode should replace all other modes, as I still have a fondness for traditional tickets, but it definitely is a striking addition to the series. My hat is off to the developers, good job implementing this new mode. I'm almost beginning to wonder if this mode was originally intended for the base game.
Night of the Hangry Horde introduces new mechanics that end up being creative and fun. The new kitchen tools add a layer of strategy without suffocating the gameplay with needless convolutions. The horde mode addition is quite inventive, and ends up being a fun twist on the standard experience. It's an all around good DLC, well worth the purchase.
Steam Curator