With Gus Harper's exclamation, the Overcooked chaos kicked into overdrive!
Orders flooded in, turnips and tomatoes flying everywhere.
Zoey Parker's kitchen knife was practically smoking, but she couldn't keep up with the Spaghetti Monster's appetite!
Worse, Gus, that smug jerk, played waiter like a pro!
"One cabbage salad! Let's move!"
"Cabbage and tomato salad! Kitchen, hustle!"
"Another cabbage salad! Tomato-cabbage order's ticking down!"
Orders piled up faster than Zoey could chop.
Gus was like a 6 a.m. alarm clock—relentless, unstoppable.
Zoey's head was about to explode!
Her blood pressure skyrocketed!
But just as her inner volcano was about to blow, a plot twist saved her sanity.
The Spaghetti Monster, bored of salads, waved a giant fork, ready to trash the city.
The Onion King, seeing the chaos, opened a portal, yeeting Gus and Zoey through to "gain experience" before returning to battle the pasta beast.
Twitch chat erupted—
"Holy crap, the game's just starting?"
"That was just the tutorial?!"
"This game's intense, I'm sweating."
"That's the WindyPeak flavor I love!"
"Who came up with 'WindyPeak flavor'? Feels weird…"
"Hahaha, don't overthink it."
"Good thing it's over, or Zoey would've snapped."
'No bombs allowed? That's torture.'
"An Inch Challenge, huh?"
"????"
"Hahahahaha…"
Level one loaded!
Zoey took a deep breath.
Now she got why Gus told her to "stay classy" before the stream!
Chill, Zoey, chill, she told herself. It's just a game. That tutorial was a scripted loss, cranked up to stress me out. This'll be chill now.
Her eyes flicked to Gus, and she nudged him with a sly grin:
"Hey, you're on veggie-chopping duty."
Zoey's look was pure mischief.
She'd noticed Gus coasting through the tutorial, relaxed as hell.
Wheeling around, reciting orders, even checking her blood pressure with that smug vibe.
She'd been a fool, grabbing the brutal chopping job while he slacked!
Time to flip roles. She'd be the chill boss, barking orders, roasting Gus, and spiking his blood pressure.
"Chopping veggies?" Gus shrugged:
"Cool. What about you?"
"I'll do what you did!" Zoey said, all confidence.
"What'd I do?" Gus raised an eyebrow:
"Took orders, prepped sides, served dishes, passed plates. I was slammed!"
Pfft!
Zoey nearly rolled her eyes to the moon.
Trying to fool her again?
Nice try, buddy!
"No problem!" she declared, all righteous:
"I got this!"
Hmph!
Cunning worker, hyping up his job to seem tough, tricking his clueless boss while slacking off, huh?
Not fooling her!
"Don't worry about me! Just chop veggies! Go!" Zoey smirked.
"Uh…" Gus blinked, stunned by her bold move: "No take-backs, right?"
"No regrets!" Zoey shot back, squinting.
She shoved her controller into Gus's hands, snatched his, and hit start with gusto:
"No time to explain, Chef Gus! Chop those veggies!"
In the original Overcooked, level one's just onion soup, one dish.
Boring, per Gus.
So, he spiced it up with onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms.
Chop the ingredients, toss three into the pot, stew, plate, serve.
Simple enough.
One player preps and selects, the other stews and serves. Dishwashing? Whoever's free.
But here's the catch!
Zoey, thinking she'd nabbed the easy job, took all the work except chopping, which she dumped on Gus as the "hard" task!
Ding ding!
The bell rang, roles swapped, level one began!
The menu popped up. Zoey flashed her pearly whites, mimicking Gus's waiter tone:
"Two onion soups, comin' up!"
She strutted to the ingredient crates, diving in like Gus did, tossing onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes at him.
But in under ten seconds—
The chopped veggies flew back at her.
"What the—?" Zoey froze, gawking at Gus, already done.
Something's off.
She'd been drowning in chopping during the tutorial, but Gus made it look effortless!
"Look at the menu, not me," Gus said, nodding:
"Soup's quick to cook."
Zoey snapped out of it.
The order timers were ticking down fast!
"Pot, pot, pot… where's the pot?!"
"Corner," Gus said.
"Ohhh, three onions… why can't I serve?"
"You need a plate, genius."
"Ohhh, plate, plate… uh… plate…"
"Your pot's catching fire."
"Hey, no, no, hold up, plates, uh, serve!"
Ding-dong!
The tip flashed on-screen. Zoey sighed, barely finishing the first order in time.
But before she could breathe—
"Here's three mushrooms for mushroom soup, three tomatoes for tomato soup, and another onion soup…" Gus called.
Chop chop chop—
His knife blurred, waves of prepped ingredients flying at Zoey, just like her tutorial nightmare.
"Tomato soup's almost due…"
"I know, I know!"
"Onion soup's prepped…"
"Toss it on the floor!"
"Your pot's on fire again…"
"Got it!"
"No clean plates to serve…"
"Argh—!"
Zoey had never been so frazzled!
She spun around, glaring at Gus.
That jerk was twirling with a fire extinguisher, cosplaying Elsa from Frozen!
"Let it go… let it go… blah blah blah…"
His cutesy chef sprayed foam, spinning in a wheelchair, radiating pure chaos.
So chill!
Then Zoey snapped:
"Gus Harper! You jerk! I'm spinning like a top here!"
"You're twirling with that stupid extinguisher?!"
"Wash the damn dishes!"
"Why don't you see any work?!"
"Huh—?!" Gus gaped, stunned at her rage:
"Didn't you say I just chop? You're not making sense!"
So unfair!
He was just a disabled raccoon, chopping veggies!
How could she flip like this?
But Zoey, erupting like a volcano, wasn't hearing it:
"I'm a mountain of rage! RAAAH—!!!"
"Go, go, I'm going!" Gus flinched, spooked by her fire. He wheeled to the sink, muttering:
"Unreasonable…"
Twitch chat lost it!!!
"Hahahaha, Zoey's scary as hell."
'The mountain of rage! Straight outta the Pacific Northwest!'
"Gus tried to keep her classy, but Zoey broke it herself."
'Zoey: Screw being a lady, I'm serving soup!'
"Poor Gus, his Elsa cosplay was on point."
"Grabbed by the ears and dunked in the sink, hahaha."
"Pacific Northwest couple drama, anyone?"
"Gus is whipped~"
"Property management's knocking from my laughter."
"You made this mini-game, Gus, now pay the price!"
"I'm dying…"
"Addicted to this chaos… what's wrong with me?"
'KSWL' [Killed me with laughter]
'Overcooked (X) Breakup Kitchen (√)'
"So fun, I'm playing with my girlfriend!"
"Bro, you good?"
"Chill, I'm downloading it…"
"Me too…"
"Bought it…"
"You guys…"
The WindyPeak crew, watching off-screen, was floored!
No way!
Level 1-1?!
They're already imploding?!
It's absurd but hilarious!
Zoey, the fiery newbie, and Gus, the timid pro, were comedy gold!
"Forget it," Luke Bennett sighed in the group chat:
"Send Gus the red envelopes as a condolence fund. Half an hour left in the stream—I doubt he's leaving Portland in one piece…"
Silence.
Then Jasper Hill, unable to hold it, cackled.
The virtual conference room exploded in laughter!
The stream buzzed with joy!
Gus and Zoey's bickering birthed the "Five Virtues of Overcooked"—
1. Lovebirds' Bond:
"Damn it! I tossed your soup in the trash!"
"What?!"
"Serving port's too close to the bin, my bad…"
"Gus, I'm gonna kill you!!"
2. Mind Meld:
"Hey, stop shoving, I'm serving!"
"Move! My pot's on fire!"
"This is the only path!"
"You know it's one path, and you're blocking me!"
"Don't—push—argh—!"
"You—get—out—ugh—!"
3. Eyebrow-Raising Teamwork:
"Stop running with that pan, I'm begging…"
"I need to serve!"
"I've got the plate, why're you serving?"
"Why're you holding a plate if you're not chopping?"
"You're holding a pan and calling me out?!"
4. Sweet Harmony:
"Wow, Gus, slacking already? Can't chop two ounces of cabbage right?"
"Look at this steak you fried! Oops, it fell in the sink~"
"Gus! That steak took three deaths to cook!!"
"I know you're stressed, but you'll be more stressed soon…"
5. Century-Long Bliss:
"You're giving me a heart attack…"
"You're the problem! You can't even play your own game!"
"I'm bad? Without me, this kitchen would've burned down!"
"Look, your pot's on fire now!"
"I can't play with you. I'm done…"
"Hmph! I don't wanna play with you either!"
"Whoever puts out the fire's a dog!"
"I'll end you—"
The kitchen blazed like the apocalypse.
Gus spun his wheelchair, praying for a fire god to torch the place and end this rookie-boss torture.
Zoey snatched the extinguisher, blasting Gus to vent her rage.
"I'm never playing with you again!!!"
The chaotic stream ended with them bickering like kids.
The host's closing words quivered, barely holding back laughter, leaving viewers howling and heartbroken!
Overcooked blew up the mini-game scene overnight!
Its prank-heavy chaos and wild fun earned it the nickname Breakup Kitchen.
Streamers jumped on the bandwagon, chasing its viral stream energy!
For a week, Twitch, YouTube Live, and Kick caught "WindyPeak Syndrome."
From 8–10 p.m., over 70% of streamers played WindyPeak games:
PUBG pros battling through shrinking circles, snagging chicken dinners.
Overcooked squads laughing, cursing, and mentally unraveling from teamwork fails.
Gus's system racked up emotional value points, soaring past his wildest dreams!
At this rate, he'd unlock Titanfall 2's core data in under two weeks!
Visions of piloting BT in a somatosensory cabin had him hyped!
Better yet, WindyPeak was teaming with IndieVibe's tech team to optimize the full-sensory system for IndieVibe X2's enhanced assist tech.
If they nailed it, Gus's future somatosensory projects would leap to new heights!
As a designer and a player, he was stoked!
But Zoey? Not so much.
A week post-stream, her system settled.
No surprise: the $300,000 Overcooked turned a profit.
Not a big deal.
She'd expected it since agreeing to stream with Gus. A $300,000 loss was chump change—her $71.4M rebate could cover ten times that.
Her sour mood wasn't about money.
It was that "never play with you again" spat from the stream.
They hadn't touched Overcooked together since.
Zoey loved the game—her longest playtime since Plants vs. Zombies.
Its matchmaking let her team up with random chefs online.
But it lacked the angry, hilarious spark she'd felt with Gus.
She'd dropped hints for days, nudging Gus to play again.
He was either clueless or dodging her.
No games, no fun.
Zoey sulked, thinking Gus was fed up with her chaos.
Curled on the Tech Tower, Seattle conference room sofa, controller in hand, she pouted.
Her feet kicked the table: "Ugh, so annoying! Jerk, play or not? You ditch me, I ditch you! I'm fine solo…"
Click.
The conference room door swung open.
Zoey looked up.
Gus stood there, shoulder bag on, eyeing her with a weird look.
Caught mid-tantrum, Zoey puffed up, defiant:
"What're you staring at?"
"Not you, this room," Gus said, leaning on the doorframe:
"Feels like Urban Outfitters in here."
Zoey blinked: "Huh?"
"New vibe every visit," Gus smirked:
"Conference room, theater, temple, or…" He glanced at the Overcooked menu on the projector: "arcade."
"Tch," he added. "Charging conference room rates for this? Total rip-off."
"My place!" Zoey shot back, legs crossed, feet on the table:
"I say it's an arcade, it's an arcade!"
"Boss move," Gus grinned, flashing a thumbs-up:
"What's the rate for this arcade? I got two coconut lollipops for an hour. Enough?"
Zoey froze.
Her pout vanished like a cloud in a breeze!
"Perfect timing," she said, hiding a grin, patting the sofa:
"Usually four lollipops an hour, but today's half-price."
"Sit. Grab a controller!"