When comparing For the King vs Overcooked 2, the Slant community recommends Overcooked 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best local co-op PC games?” Overcooked 2 is ranked 50th while For the King is ranked 69th. The most important reason people chose Overcooked 2 is:
Whether you played the first Overcooked or not, Overcooked 2 is easy to figure out right from the get-go. The recipes for each dish are familiar even if you're not much of a chef, so you can remember which raw ingredients you need as you make your way around the kitchen and work with your co-op partner(s). Once you play a few rounds, you should have a good handle on things, helping you focus on getting everything done as quickly as possible from there on out.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Old school turn-based D&D-style combat with board game inspired exploration
Combat involves making choices from among each character's class skills and special moves inherent to each weapon. Those choices are tactical and can mean the difference between killing an opponent more quickly or taking more damage--sometimes deadly damage.
Overland movement is individual to each character, allowing you to decide whether to spread out to explore and discover more quickly (and possibly face combat alone) or stick together, exploring the world more safely (but taking longer to do so, possibly allowing the scenario's pressure-based mechanic to build up to uncontrollable levels).
Pro Fun alone, or with one or two friends.
The party is composed of three characters, each selected from among up to 11 different character classes or archetypes. With three players, each person controls all of the decisions of one character each. With two players, one person controls two characters while the other controls one. Each time you load the game, you can choose which player will play which character, allowing two-player groups to take turns controlling the extra character, if they so desire. The gameplay is turn-based, but each player's turn (whether during combat or exploration) resolves fairly quickly, keeping all players engaged. Items obtained and gold found are always able to be traded among characters - there's no "soulbound" mechanic here.
Pro The theme - "regular folk stepping up to become heroes" - is endearing and inspiring.
Players select characters from among "hometown hero" archetypes. You aren't Knights, Wizards, and Assassins that have taken up arms, but instead common folk such as Blacksmiths, Scholars, Minstrels, Hunters, and the like - even a Hobo, which can be unlocked through gameplay! There's a definite satisfaction taking a brave, but unskilled commoner and turning him into an extremely powerful hero who can take down deadly enemies such as demons, liches, and even gigantic dragons by the end of the adventure.
Pro Each adventure is a different experience due to RNG and rogue-like elements.
There are set "scenarios" with set win conditions that introduce differing pressure mechanics: game mechanics that force the players to act, rather than lounge in town or rest every time they lose a hit point or two. However, each time the scenario starts the world is different. Different items are available for purchase or able to be found, different mini-encounters occur, and different opponents will face you, whether in common encounters or infrequently-spawning boss-type creature encounters. Combined with 11 different unique classes and many viable party compositions, this adds a lot of replayability.
Pro Simple to pick up and learn
Whether you played the first Overcooked or not, Overcooked 2 is easy to figure out right from the get-go. The recipes for each dish are familiar even if you're not much of a chef, so you can remember which raw ingredients you need as you make your way around the kitchen and work with your co-op partner(s). Once you play a few rounds, you should have a good handle on things, helping you focus on getting everything done as quickly as possible from there on out.
Pro Hilariously fun couch and online co-op for up to four players
Playing Overcooked 2 with friends is the best. There's so much going on at once in the kitchen, with barriers moving in your way, hazards popping up like cars in the middle of the road separating the two halves of your area, and ingredients, dishes, and half-prepared dishes to move from one place to another. Working together and communicating with your friends through couch co-op or online play is a constant stream of laughter and excited shouting as you mess up, learn, and hopefully get things done. If you don't have anyone to play with, then you can hop online for matchmaking instead.
Pro Fast and frantic cooking action
Overcooked 2 is really fast-paced and keeps you on your toes. You play as a chef in a crazy kitchen with a ton of things going on all at once, with you mixing, preparing, and cooking in between the chaos of moving platforms and environmental obstacles. There's a time limit constantly ticking down at the bottom of the screen; finishing your tasks on time or ahead of schedule earns you a better score in the end. Tossing ingredients to your teammates across the kitchen, or across the moving platforms or obstacles like bodies of water, is a fresh new addition in this game that wasn't in the first Overcooked, making things even faster this time around. It's such a manic yet well-done mix of many different genres and ideas that all come together in the best ways.
Cons
Con A string of bad luck--whether or not set off by an initial bad decision--can end the quest in defeat
There are RNG elements to this game, and sometimes a string of misses by your character or a string of hits by an opponent can put your characters in peril. These RNG elements can be mitigated by game knowledge: the various enemies' possible attacks, when to use precious resources and when to save them, when to flee combat, and so forth. However, that knowledge can take a few games to acquire. Fortunately, there are three different difficulty levels, so if you are more RNG-averse, you can select "Novice" for your first few games while you figure out how the game works.
Con There are few in-game "hint" systems, requiring you to learn by doing or rely on the Wiki.
The game is built on an "explore, experience, discover" model, and so the in-game hint system is minimal. Typically, you learn what an ability does, how an item works, or what a creature can do by experience. If you would rather have such information ahead of time, you'll need to rely on the game's Wiki page.
Con Can be incredibly frustrating
Trying to work at such a fast pace with so many obstacles and general mayhem going on at once can wear on you after a while. There's a lot to keep track of at once, and it's easy for things to spiral out of control as your mistakes pile up. If your group isn't doing well and you're running out of time, you might find yourself losing your patience with your team and yelling at them. This might not be the game for you if you don't have a team that's willing to be patient and cooperative with each other, even when you're not doing so well during a particular round.
Con Single-player isn't as fun as co-op
If you only want to play alone, then Overcooked 2 might not be the best game to pick. All the fast-paced fun from co-op mostly comes from communicating with your team and trying to pull off your task together before the time runs out. You control two characters at once while playing alone, but this still lacks the team-based chaos that makes the game so addicting. You could instead go online for matchmaking, though you might get paired with people who don't want to talk or work as an actual team.
Con The controls are a bit sluggish
There's something about the controls that feels heavy and deliberate, and not necessarily in a good way. The feeling goes against the fast-paced nature of the gameplay that demands you in one place and then the next. If you played the first Overcooked, you may notice the difference right away. This change shouldn't be too much of a hassle, though it's still noticeable.