As a parent who has to feed two horrible little monsters on the regular, Hungry Horror can hit hard at times. This fun little deckbuilder from Clumsy Bear Studio about feeding mythological beasts has just launched into Early Access, and it does so in a very palatable state, based on my first hours with the game.
What’s this Hungry Horrors all about, then?
I’ve already spilt the beans and mentioned that it’s a deckbuilder, but Hungry Horrors also feels a bit like an old school point and click; the sort of whimsical fantasy adventure that LucasArts and Sierra used to make back in the day. The writing didn’t always land here, but overall, I enjoyed the tone and the setting, which is steeped in British and Irish folklore, which, as a Brit, I always appreciate.
In Hungry Horrors, you take control of a princess who, despite her best efforts, doesn’t have the prince that she thinks she deserves. While meeting a series of interesting characters, including a talking cat and Merlin, you must head out into the caves, the woods, and several other fairytale environments, and find out exactly what the hell is going on around here.
While exploring, you’re going to meet a whole bunch of monsters, who, as mentioned, are inspired by British and Irish folklore. The key difference between Hungry Horrors and the majority of deckbuilders out there is that, instead of fighting them, with cards or otherwise, here you must cook for them, and you must cook well.
Cooking up a storm
Everything is geared towards your cookbook. There are loads of recipes, and as you learn more, you’re able to make more complicated combos. Combos work by playing complementary dishes, and by giving your enemies different tastes that work together in sequence.
You might start by throwing a stack of pancakes, follow up with some pickled eggs, and then round off the combo with a plate of roast potatoes (the food of kings). It’s a super cute setup, and I really like the way it works, as you’re encouraged to have fun and create rather than be violent and destroy. It’s all rather charming.
The system grows in complexity thanks to a broadening array of recipes and cookware (think trinkets in other games), and you can improve your situation with spices that further sate the hunger of the monsters you meet, this time by boosting the effectiveness of certain ingredients.
Permanent progression
There are loads of different recipes, and I was unlocking several new things after each run. That includes silver ingredients, which increase your starting resources for future runs, plus there are all the normal stat boosts that you get in games such as this, making you stronger for the next attempt.
All of these things combine to create a really engaging loop. You’ll cook up some food, feed some monsters, get as far as you can before getting splatted, and then wake up and do it all again. It’s nice and simple, and I think quite accessible, too.
The plan is to have this in Early Access for under a year, and it sounds like the developers really want feedback from the community, so expect an active process if you want to get involved. As it stands, there are already five biomes, and the first act is in place.
Naturally, there’s more to come, with new biomes, a conclusion to the story, and potentially even more game modes. Of course, that’s all as well as the usual planned serving of fresh NPCs to chat with, and more food, flavourings, and cooking gear.
I rather enjoyed my first taste of Hungry Horrors. It’s already in decent shape and offers plenty of content considering the price of admission. I wouldn’t blame you for waiting for the finished article, but Early Access diners will still find plenty of flavour in the pot!
Hungry Horrors is out now in Early Access on Steam PC (Lin, Mac, Win), and I played via access kindly provided by the developer.
