Hungry Horrors is an upcoming roguelite, deck-builder being developed by Clumsy Bear Studio planning to release in 2025. With the success of other games like Slay the Spire and Balatro, a lot of other in-development games are trying to follow a similar theme. How does a game stand out against a sea of similarly tagged releases? It has to put a unique spin on the same addicting gameplay loop to draw in a new audience and keep them coming back for more. For this game, that unique spin is best described by the developers themselves: “In Hungry Horrors, you don’t slay monsters—you feed them.”
First Impressions
When first launching the Hungry Horrors demo I was immediately impressed by how well polished and produced the game appeared to be. Although the initial screen warns the player this is an early prototype build of the game, it was far from a lot of the prototypes you see posted online. The art is hand drawn in a pixel style to create a very solid aesthetic throughout the remainder of the game and the music (which I later found to be an original soundtrack) really set the stage for the mythical, folklore setting soon to come. Even pieces of the world as simple as dialog boxes and torches were well put together and meshed well with the rest. Some of the enemy animations were simple but I don’t feel they need to be complex to convey the actions they were taking. I also appreciate that the game starts with an optional tutorial that not only lays the foundation for the games lore but also introduces newcomers to the core mechanics of the game while allowing veterans of the genre to skip.
Fair Lady Catherine
Arguably my favorite part of the game’s introduction is interacting with Lady Catherine, our princess’ spiritual advisor on our quest to defeat all evil. Lady Catherine is a black cat that we rescue very early on and gives us the key to continue on with the hero’s journey. Although this introduction is quick with very minimal dialog between the characters it sets the stage for the future. Most importantly however, are Lady Catherine’s quips. As the player gets further into the levels and finds unique items or areas, Lady Catherine will have something waiting for us when we wake back up. I won’t spoiler anything deeper but in between her sarcastic and unhelpful she provides additional information on the game’s mechanics.
Feed Thy Hunger, Soothe Thy Soul
Rather than building a deck to do the highest amount of damage or build up the highest scoring poker hand, in Hungry Horrors the way to succeed is to cook delicious meals! Each meal in your deck has different stats applied to it: the flavor, satiety amount, craving type, and ingredients needed. For example, Yorkshire Puddings are a salty food that deals 6 satiety cooked with one flour, one egg, and one milk to cause a sweet craving. Each one of those unique stats will affect gameplay in a number of ways. Satiety directly reduces the enemies hunger (which acts like hit points) while the craving and food type will affect whether or not the cards will combo. The ingredients are less important during the main gameplay loop and are really only used when deck building before a run. Each monster, called horrors in the game, has a certain set of likes, dislikes, and loves. Foods they dislike they don’t eat and the foods they love will immediately clear the cave. As you progress through the run (and subsequent runs) you acquire more food cards, more recipes, and more ingredients through drops, chests, and vendors.
The Final Verdict
The Good
- Composed music and drawn assets – enjoyed not seeing a repack of publicly available assets
- British Folklore setting – gives freedom for expression but keeps game loosely based in reality
- Easy to learn, harder to master – core gameplay loop makes sense and gives room for min-maxing
- Very functional prototype – foundation is set for planned future expansions
The Less Good
- Occasional performance stutters – this seems to occur during dialog and satiety being applied but wasn’t noticeable in the long run so YMMV
- Game Speed controls makes entire game speed up, not just fight gameplay – this ultimately made movement and picking up items tedious at higher speeds
- Some mechanics aren’t explained in the tutorial – vendors, sanctuaries, and curses rely on experience in the genre
- The hunger mechanic was initially confusing – I initially thought we would be reducing a number by reducing hunger but got over that quickly
The Ultimatum
Hungry Horrors breathes life into a genre that is rapidly approaching cookie cutter by putting a unique twist on the classic “do damage to baddies with cards” gameplay mechanic. With hand drawn assets and custom composed music, Hungry Horrors does more to convey atmosphere and feeling than many Triple-A titles and is the opposite of horrifying. If you’re looking to burn an hour or so playing an up-and-coming roguelite, deck-builder then this one is definitely worth the drive space. The British flare is definitely something fun as someone who lives state-side and I’m excited to watch this game develop considering the planned expansions to the game’s content.