The Steam version of the classic browser game Cookie Clicker was finally released at the beginning of September and it's quickly become one of the most popular games on the platform. In fact, in just two weeks it's amassed more than 9,000 reviews and hit a concurrent peak of 67,806 players.
While it has no narrative or many features present in most of the popular video games out there, Cookie Clicker is nonetheless one of the most addicting and popular games of all time. The Steam version introduces Steam achievements, cloud saving across devices, and a variety of other small features that make its $5 price tag more worthwhile. Here's what players should know before jumping in.
7 It's One Of The Most Addicting Games Out There
The gameplay loop of Cookie Clicker is simple: amass cookies by clicking or passively, upgrade production abilities, watch cookie totals go up, and repeat. It's surprising how addicting the game can be, thanks to such a simple and serotonin-triggering formula.
It might seem like it gets repetitive, but add in a permanent upgrading system and restarting the game for bonuses, and it starts to make sense. It even features mini-games and more than 500 achievements. It's a great game to leave running in the background while doing other things, too. Cookies will still flow in as long as Cookie Clicker is running.
6 Milestones Unlock New Upgrades
There is a small number of upgrades that can be unlocked at the outset of the game. As players buy more and more of each passive cookie generator like Auto-Clickers, Grandmas, and Farms, new upgrades unlock. Typically, at every increment of 25 a new upgrade will unlock for the associated generator.
Some of the best upgrades to unlock as soon as possible are the Auto-Clicker multipliers based on the number of other generators that the player owns. Because Auto-Clickers are so cheap, and these upgrades offer such a large jump in production per unit, they are worth focusing on for the rapid jump in cookie production they bring.
5 Buy Grandmas, But Skip The Farms At First
Grandmas, alongside Auto-Clickers, are the first cookie generator a player can buy in Cookie Clicker. Their base cookie production rate is a little bit higher than the Auto-Clicker, and they have great later-game upgrades that significantly improve their cookie output en masse.
While the Auto-Clicker and Grandmas turn into late-game powerhouses if focused on correctly, the Farm is not worth the effort at the start. They aren't worth the significantly higher price tag for only a marginal increase in cookie production. In fact, early Grandma upgrades quickly make the much cheaper unit out-produce the Farm very quickly.
4 Golden Cookies Appear Randomly — Pay Attention!
Golden Cookies appear at random times in Cookie Clicker, and the player must click on them to activate their bonus. These bonuses range wildly. Sometimes, a Golden Cookie will just straight-up give the player a ton of cookies, but it can also change the game's cookie multiplier for a short while, begin mini-games, and reward other bonuses.
It's easy to spot Golden Cookies if a player is actively playing the game, but if Cookie Clicker is running in the background, these can be missed. Keep the game open in another tab and check on it regularly to catch a few of these passively, or keep the game running on a separate monitor while doing other things.
3 Clicking Doesn't Matter Later On
At the start of the game, the only way to get any cookies is to rapidly click the gigantic cookie in the middle of the screen. Buying Auto-Clickers and Grandmas later on starts earning the player some passive cookies, but clicking still tends to be useful in increasing the production rate.
Around the time that the player upgrades to the Temple or Wizard Tower cookie generators, clicking starts to have a less noticeable impact on the rate cookies are earned. At this point, save finger muscles some ache and let the game do all the work – that is, until the first Ascension level is unlocked.
2 Unlock The First Ascension Level As Soon As Possible
When the player hits a certain amount of cookies, usually in the billions or trillions, they unlock the ability to Ascend. This restarts the game, but gives the players a number of Heavenly Chips based on their Prestige earned, which can then be used to unlock permanent upgrades.
Ascension is the only way to unlock upgrades that continually affect the game from the outset. The Ascension skill tree is pretty massive, with the cheapest upgrades costing as little as 3 Heavenly Chips and the largest requiring more than 1 Trillion. There are production upgrades, clicker upgrades, special Demon and Angel paths, and other upgrades that change how the game is played from the very start.
1 Steam Workshop Compatability Is Coming
One of the major benefits of integration with the Steam platform is the possibility of mod support. For the longest time Cookie Clicker was an unmodifiable browser game, but the game's developers have planned to add Workshop compatibility to their nearly decade-old title.
Nothing has been announced officially yet, but Steam workshop mods are likely to take the form of cosmetic changes, additional skills and cookie generators, as well as other gameplay changes not possible in the base version of the game. There is a small modding community out there already for previous versions, and hopefully some of their work gets translated to Steam.
Cookie Clicker is available on Google Play, Steam, and the Apple Store in addition to its original browser-based version.
