With Cookie Clicker's arrival on Steam in Fall 2021 comes a resurgence in the popularity of the classic browser-based idle game. The Steam version of the game comes with some additions that justify the small $5 price tag, and there's plenty of reasons to go back to the game that started the clicker genre craze.
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It's one of the most addicting games ever made thanks to its simple but effective gameplay loop – but the best Cookie Clicker players don't treat it like an idle game. Instead, they treat it like a strategy game on par with the most respected resource-based games out there. It's a game with surprising depth, and there's a lot more to it than just clicking cookies.
Leave The Game Running...
The best thing an aspiring Cookie Clicker aficionado can do for themselves is to never turn off the game. This might seem like a bad idea for such an addicting game, but the easiest way to rack up money is to keep the game running while doing other things like working, watching videos, or even playing other games.
Cookie Clicker is an idle game at its core, meaning that players don't have to be constantly watching the screen to get the most out of it. With enough upgrades, the cookies literally make themselves. It's satisfying to come back into the game every so often to check on totals, select some upgrades, and tab out again to continue with other tasks.
...But Check In Regularly To Snag Golden Cookies
Keeping the game running will rack up cookies over time, for sure, but there is one mechanic that keeps players engaged even when passive cookie production outweighs clicking: Golden Cookies. Every few minutes, a Golden Cookie will appear on screen and only lasts for a short time before disappearing again.
When the player clicks this Golden Cookie, they'll get a random reward containing anything from huge passive production boosts to cookie-generating minigames to flat-out cookie rewards. They don't stay around forever, though, so it's a good idea to tab back into the game every so often to check if one is available. Lucky players might even get the x777 production boost, a game-changer at any stage of Cookie Clicker.
Avoid Buying Farms
In Cookie Clicker, there are several tiers of passive cookie-producing facilities available. The game starts by offering Cursors and Grandmas, and players quickly unlock the ability to build better producers over time. However, some passive production facilities are not worth investing in. Number one among these is the Farm.
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The Farm looks good on the surface, especially early in the game. However, it is quickly outpaced by previous tiers as it doesn't have powerful upgrades associated with it. While Cursors get a boost based on total items owned, and Grandmas have unlockable synergies throughout, Farms don't produce enough to justify the price tag except at the very outset of a playthrough.
Small 2% Boost Upgrades Don't Matter Until Later
Upgrades in Cookie Clicker vary wildly, from increasing the number of cookies generated by clicking to changing how certain cookie producers work. Other upgrades simply increase cookie production across the board, but these aren't worth investing in until the mid to late game.
A 2% boost might not seem like much — and it's not. Other upgrades that can be bought at the same time as the first flat-out 2% boost increase cookie production far more than 2%. It's a good idea to let these minute upgrades pile up until the player can buy a significant number of them at the same time, as they aren't individually powerful enough to justify their high price.
Synergy Upgrades Are Better Than They Seem
Another type of upgrade in Cookie Clicker is the Synergy upgrade. These take multiple forms. For example, Grandma production can be increased with acquired Milk (earned through Achievements), while several later-game upgrades increase production based on the number of a specific item owned.
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Future Almanacs, for example, increases cookie production for Farms by 5% for every Time Machine and conversely increases Time Machine production by 0.1% for every Farm owned. These numbers might not seem like much, but they add up significantly over time, justifying their absolutely enormous pricetags.
Cursors Are Worth Buying, To A Certain Point
Cursors are the first passive cookie producer players can buy in Cookie Clicker, and at only 0.4 cookies produced per second, they might not seem like a good investment. However, Cursors are home to one of the best upgrades in the game: the Thousand Fingers and subsequent
These increase Cursor production significantly based on the total number of non-Cursor items owned. With the Trillion Fingers upgrade, for example, every Cursor receives a massive 100 cookies per second boost for every non-cursor item owned. If a player has 150 Cursors and 100 non-cursor items, this amounts to an extra 10,000 cookies for every single Cursor.
Only Ascend When You Have Enough Prestige For A New Skill
Cookie Clicker has its own version of a New Game Plus system in the form of Ascension skills. When a player has hit a certain milestone in total cookies produced, they will earn a point of Prestige. These Prestige points can then be used to buy permanent upgrades for the playthrough, but Ascending will also end the current game and start a new one.
These upgrades can be extremely powerful, significantly changing how fast a player gets through the ranks. However, there is no benefit to restarting a game without also unlocking an Ascension skill. Before using Prestige, check the Ascension skill tree to make sure there are enough points for an upgrade, or all efforts will have been for naught.
Cookie Clicker is available on the Apple Store, Google Play, on PC via Steam, or in its original browser-based version.