Cookie Clicker Steam Review: ‘The definitive version that’s worth paying for’

Cookie Clicker review for PC (Steam).

On the surface, Cookie Clicker appears to be an innocent little idle game about starting a cookie business. However, since 2013, the web-based version has been ensnaring players with its addicting cookie production simulation, which often takes supernatural dark turns that call into question the user’s morality. “Should I enslave grandmothers to bake millions of cookies?” is the first troubling query players will ask themselves and it only gets worse from there. Now, this time-sucking title is out on Steam and has a price tag attached. Is it worth it?

A timeless click-a-thon

Depending on how active a player wants to be, certain paths can be taken in the race to bake a choc-ton of cookies. Active players can use spells and click Golden Cookies to boost their production, with combinations of the two often resulting in a thrilling spurt of “CPS” (Cookies Per Second).

Of course, as an idle game, players may prefer to leave the game running in the background. Those who choose this route to cookie overpopulation can sacrifice Golden Cookies for boosts to the AFK production, grow buff-bestowing plants in the garden, and take advantage of the stock market.

Too many cookies?

Above are just a few examples of the ways in which players will graduate from manually clicking the cookie themselves to earning an enormous passive cookie income with little to no effort.

The end goal of each run is to reach Ascension with enough Heavenly Chips to buy the next few perks. Think of it like Prestige in Call of Duty, only with baked goods. You start the game again, but with some new Perks to help significantly boost production. I’m 100 hours deep and the cycle is still exciting.

Cookie Clicker Steam Review: The final verdict

“Why pay $4.99 on Steam for something that’s free on your browser?” is a common question that’s popping up. For me, Cloud Save alone is worth the price of admission, as I no longer have to worry about cookies (the other type) and backing up my saves manually. This combined with the music from C418 and support for Steam Achievements makes Cookie Clicker Steam the definitive version that’s worth paying for.

Cookie Clicker was reviewed on PC (Steam) with code provided by the publisher.