We’ve all been there. You’re just a spoiled little princess going about your life in the Britain of the Middle Ages, when a dragon’s curse strikes your kingdom and ruins your unbothered existence. What else is there to do, obviously, than brush off your gown, don your pointy hat and … erm, cook?
Hungry Horrors, out now on Steam (and playable on the Steam Deck), is a card-based deckbuilding adventure where, rather than beat the beasts, you feed them into submission.
Based in real British and Irish folklore, you encounter grizzlies such as Jenny Greenteeth and Queen Mab across eight playable biomes. Turns out these traditional terrors are just hangry, and so each card played represents a meal served in a race to feed the Horror the right combo of snacks before it reaches – and eats – you.
As you roam the lands keeping the hungry hordes at bay, you can collect cookware and ingredients to widen your repertoire, create new flavour profiles, and reshape the menu for the next day.
The 1.0 version, released on October 13th, leaves Early Access after ten months, and boasts 62 playable dishes, all based on real recipes from Britain and Ireland, 13 characters, and 32 unique ways to die, should your cooking not be up to par.
If you’re an existing player, the new additions include a brand new biome: The Megaliths, plus new mechanics, dishes, artefacts, familiars, characters, and the end of the story!
There are two modes: Campaign, a roguelite story mode where you can choose from Vanilla or Spicy difficulty levels, and Banquet mode, a shorter, harder roguelike mode for the hardcore chef-princesses among you.
It’s all set to an original, whimsical score by Henry Taylor, and boasts a colourful, 90s-esque pixel art style. And, like all the best games, there’s even a sarcastic cat hanging around to offer “helpful” commentary on your cooking skills.
UK-based indie devs Clumsy Bear Studios (who we interviewed here) have served up an interesting little deckbuider here, and if you like what’s on the menu, Hungry Horrors is playable on PC (Lin, Mac, Win).
