Hungry Horrors Review – The Great Foodie Throwdown

When the damsel in distress is forced to save herself from a crisis, what will she do? In Hungry Horrors, she throws British food at various monsters. She’s forced to engage with this roguelite card battler because no one’s coming to save her and there are no other options. Developed and published by Clumsy Bear Studio and having fully launched after ten months in Early Access, Hungry Horrors is an unconventional battler where you feed enemies instead of defeating them.

You step into the shoes of an unnamed princess who has been brought into traditional fantasy narratives. When the kingdom is in trouble, she expects a stunning prince to come along and rescue her while fixing everything. This has not happened in the world of Hungry Horrors, where the kingdom has fallen and she’s the only hope left. Her only way of fixing the problem is doing manual work, throwing food at enemies to placate them.

I found the premise of Hungry Horrors to be humorous and satirical. Various people poke fun at the princess’ reluctance to do anything to help her situation. She acts like a spoiled brat who would rather do anything but save the kingdom, and supporting characters almost have to force her to do anything about it. It’s a funny take on the princess’ rescue that I felt adds charm to your mission.

The princess isn’t a fighter and must cook various dishes inspired by British cuisine. When she meets creatures, she must feed them her creations. Every creature has their own preferences, ranging from acceptance, love, and horrid dislike. By learning the tastes of each monster, you can safely progress through areas and eventually regain what was taken from your kingdom. If you fail, you can try again with the knowledge that you possess.

You have a variety of food items at your disposal, slowly increasing that arsenal as you discover new recipes. Whenever you encounter an enemy, you have the option of playing a card to “throw” food over and feed them. The enemy’s reaction tells you whether or not your dish is effective. The more effective a dish is, the more likely you are to satiate the creature. Should a dish be despised or hated, it can ruin everything you have done up until that point.

The experimentation was my favorite part of Hungry Horrors. Few dishes are safe bets and you are encouraged to experiment with every dish you come across. Sometimes I’d gain enough information to overcome an enemy without displeasing their tastebuds. If I failed, the devastating consequences would end my run. Enemy tricks can also hinder you even if you know their tastes. You must live with the highs and the lows, something that Hungry Horrors does better than many roguelites.

However, the experimentation is a double-edged sword since it can be tedious. Even if it is fun running the risks of feeding creatures, it eventually leads to frustration. I had many good runs spoiled by a single hated dish that was almost impossible to recover from late-game. While this is arguably part-and-parcel of any roguelite, I genuinely found it frustrating. You must also build that knowledge manually, creating a time sink.

Going through every dungeon at a time might seem tedious, but I found that I needed to do so to get lots of resources to succeed. Cooking dishes, finding potions, acquiring seasonings – these aren’t easy to do unless you start from the beginning. That’s also not mentioning the fact that bringing advanced dishes in early dungeons often results in the same testing as before, which the game slightly mitigates by putting an option to reveal all creatures’ tastes as a result.

Hungry Horrors turns food fights into fun-filled events where you learn the tastes of your enemies. It’s easy to get the hang of, and the suspense of trying something new fuels most of the game’s tension. Trying again after each run can be both a chance at redemption and a slog through the game’s levels. But for a roguelite where experimentation is literally crucial to your success, you won’t find a better formula than this.

Victor reviewed Hungry Horrors on PC with a provided review code. This review is based on the version of the game available at the time of writing and our score will not be changed.