GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Overcooked! 2 vs Payday 2

Overcooked! 2 is a simulation strategy game from Ghost Town Games Ltd. (2018) while Payday 2 is an FPS simulation game from Overkill Software (2013).

Quick answer: Overcooked! 2 rates higher, 8.0 to 7.9 on the GamingPickz Score, and Payday 2 is the cheaper at $9.99.

Overcooked! 2

2018 · Ghost Town Games Ltd.

8.0GamingPickz Score

$24.99

Steam: Very Positive

Payday 2

2013 · Overkill Software

7.9GamingPickz Score

$9.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Overcooked! 2 is filed under Simulation and Strategy. In contrast, Payday 2 under FPS and Simulation.

Overcooked! 2

Overcooked returns with a brand-new helping of chaotic cooking action! Journey back to the Onion Kingdom and assemble your team of chefs in classic couch co-op or online play for up to four players. Hold onto your aprons… it’s time to save the world again!

Description from its Steam store page

Payday 2

PAYDAY 2 is an action-packed, four-player co-op shooter that once again lets gamers don the masks of the original PAYDAY crew - Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains - as they descend on Washington DC for an epic crime spree.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Overcooked! 2
Plot

The game is set in the Onion Kingdom, where the player’s chefs travel across regions to stop zombie toast, known as the “Unbread. ” Through the regions traveled, players encounter environments and kitchens reflecting different areas of the kingdom. ^ published, Sam Loveridge (August 7, 2018). (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Overcooked 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 87% of critics. Several reviewers noted that while it did not feel like a significant evolution of the formula established by Overcooked! (Wikipedia)

Payday 2
Plot

Payday 2 follows the events of Payday: The Heist , with three of the crew members – Dallas (portrayed by Eric Etebari , voiced by Simon Kerr), Wolf (Ulf Andersson), and Chains ( Damion Poitier ) – as well as their operator Bain (Simon Viklund) returning. Hoxton (portrayed by Josh Lenn, voiced by Pete Gold), the fourth member in the previous game, has been arrested by the FBI and replaced by Dallas' brother Houston (Derek Ray). After a brief hiatus from… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Critical reception Reception Payday 2 has received generally positive reviews from critics with general praise from the cooperative elements, but heavy criticism for the friendly AI. Vince Ingenito of IGN praised its cooperative gameplay, stealth mechanics and sound design, but was not as impressed at graphical quality. David Hinkle of Joystiq was impressed at the depth of customization, level progression and random elements. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

Overcooked! 2Payday 2
GamingPickz Score8.0/107.9/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (90%, 84,093)Very Positive (89%, 674,295)
Critic aggregate81/10079/100
Price$24.99$9.99
Install size3 GB32 GB
Steam Deckverifiedverified
Released20182013
DeveloperGhost Town Games Ltd.Overkill Software

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Overcooked! 2 vs Payday 2, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Overcooked! 2Simulation strategy game
    Payday 2FPS simulation game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Overcooked! 2Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op, Co-op
    Payday 2Co-op, Action, FPS

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Overcooked! 2Score 8.0 · 90% on Steam · 81 critic
    Payday 2Score 7.9 · 89% on Steam · 79 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Overcooked! 284,093 reviews · 6 add-ons · 3 GB
    Payday 2674,295 reviews · 81 add-ons · 32 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Overcooked! 2$24.99
    Payday 2$9.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Overcooked! 2Verified
    Payday 2Verified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Overcooked! 2 and Payday 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Nintendo
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The cheaper right now: Payday 2 ($9.99)
  • Lighter on storage: Overcooked! 2 (3 GB)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Payday 2 (674,295 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

MultiplayerOnline Co-OpCo-opFunnyActionSingleplayerSimulationStrategy

Where they differ

Overcooked! 2 is also

Local Co-OpCasualCooking4 Player LocalIndieLocal Multiplayer

Payday 2 is also

FPSHeistLooter ShooterStealthCrimeShooter

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Overcooked! 2 is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Payday 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Overcooked! 2Payday 2
Minimum GPUGeForce GTX 630 / Radeon HD 6570NVIDIA & AMD (1GB
Minimum CPUIntel i3-2100 / AMD A8-5600k
Minimum RAM4 GB4 GB
Install size3 GB32 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Overcooked! 2 · Payday 2.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Overcooked! 2 and 6 for Payday 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Overcooked! 2 and Payday 2 in scope?

Overcooked! 2 has drawn 84,093 Steam reviews, ships 6 add-ons and installs in 3 GB. Payday 2 has drawn 674,295 Steam reviews, ships 81 add-ons and installs in 32 GB.

Is Overcooked! 2 or Payday 2 better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Overcooked! 2 rates higher (8.0 to 7.9). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Overcooked! 2 or Payday 2?

Payday 2 is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $24.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Should I get Overcooked! 2 or Payday 2?

Overcooked! 2 rates higher, 8.0 to 7.9 on the GamingPickz Score, and Payday 2 is the cheaper at $9.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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