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Pizza Bandit Mixes Third-Person Shooting and Chaotic Co-op Kitchen Mayhem

Pizza Bandit Mixes Third-Person Shooting and Chaotic Co-op Kitchen Mayhem

G
GAIAJune 13, 2025
5 min read
Gaming

If you’d told me a few years ago that I’d see a game pitching itself as “Gears of War meets Overcooked,” I’d have laughed you out of the pizzeria. But Pizza Bandit, revealed during the latest PC Gaming Show, isn’t just another throwaway gag-this is one of those off-the-wall concepts that makes you stop, stare, and immediately wonder if it’s brilliant or bonkers. Considering the co-op shooter/culinary chaos combo and not-so-subtle nods to both industry giants, I had to dig deeper to see whether Pizza Bandit is just quirky for the memes or if there’s real dough in this pie.

Pizza Bandit: When Shooters and Kitchen Co-op Actually Collide

  • Shooter + Kitchen Sim in Cooperative Chaos: Third-person combat alternates with intense pizza prep and delivery, all wrapped in a time-hopping campaign.
  • Genuinely Fresh Take-or Gimmick?: This wild genre blend looks both hilarious and strategic, with real potential for satisfying teamwork…or disaster.
  • Loads of Customization: Decorate your own restaurant, gear up your mercenary, and choose your tools before each round-more than just surface-level silly.
  • Early Demo Available Now, Early Access in August: You don’t have to wait to try it for yourself, which is smart for building buzz (and honestly, I’m downloading it as I type).
FeatureSpecification
PublisherTBD
Release DateAugust 25, 2024 (Early Access)
GenresThird-person Shooter, Co-op, Cooking Sim
PlatformsPC (Steam Early Access)

The first thing that sets Pizza Bandit apart: it’s not content to be “just” a cooking game with a gimmick, or “just” a shooter reskinned with pepperoni and mozzarella. Here, you and up to three friends slip into the tactical boots of a former mercenary-turned-aspiring pizzaiolo. Sound unhinged? That’s the point. Across its time-bending campaign, your squad juggles blasting through enemy waves one moment and frantically assembling and delivering pizzas the next, all while navigating unpredictable objectives and environmental hazards.

The elevator pitch clearly takes a cue from Overcooked’s co-op panic and Gears of War’s over-the-top shootouts. But where so many “genre mash-ups” come off as desperate attempts to go viral, Pizza Bandit seems to be leaning all the way into its own ridiculousness. For me, that’s a good sign—if the team can balance both sides, this could be the kind of game that’s ridiculously fun because it’s so unexpected, not in spite of it.

Screenshot from Pizza Bandit
Screenshot from Pizza Bandit

As someone who’s lost ~weeks~ obsessing over the perfect kitchen run with friends and also spent far too long theorycrafting co-op shooter tactics, Pizza Bandit’s blending of frantic teamwork and trigger discipline has real appeal. The fact that there’s friendly fire means you’ll need serious coordination (or accept absolute chaos). And, in what feels like a nod to those of us who love customizing everything, you get to deck out your restaurant—and your merc—in a surprisingly deep fashion for a game that could’ve easily phoned it in there.

Screenshot from Pizza Bandit
Screenshot from Pizza Bandit

The challenge, obviously, is whether Pizza Bandit can stick the landing. We’ve seen plenty of indie games push wild ideas only to collapse into janky half-finished “lol random” territory. But the early access date is soon (August 25), and the playable demo is out now, suggesting the devs are confident enough to let people judge for themselves. That gives me hope: if the core gameplay loop feels rewarding, Pizza Bandit could carve out its own niche in the party game and co-op shooter space that’s been surprisingly starved for new ideas lately.

For gamers, what does this really mean? It’s a game tailor-made for those who thrive on co-op chaos, love wild experiments, or just want something truly different in their gaming nights. If you have a crew that loves to banter and doesn’t mind a bit of mayhem, this could be a party staple—or at least a memorable trainwreck to laugh about in your group chat for weeks. If you’re looking for a more solo story-driven or precision shooter experience…well, you probably already bounced off the title.

Screenshot from Pizza Bandit
Screenshot from Pizza Bandit

TL;DR: Pizza Bandit Looks Like the Bonkers Co-op Left Field Hit We Didn’t Know We Needed

Pizza Bandit isn’t just riffing on memes or surface-level genre mash-ups. There’s real potential here for strategic teamwork, hilarious failure, and the kind of stories that only emerge from games willing to get weird. The demo means you can see for yourself if it’s clever or just chaos, but either way, it’s refreshing to see indies still swinging for the fences. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one—and probably roping my gaming group in for a test run. I mean, how many games let you gun down baddies in the Bronze Age and burn a pizza in the process?

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