I have been smitten with Hungry Horrors since I first played it during Steam Next Fest during fall of last year. This is a roguelike deckbuilder with permanent progression made by a two-person team known as Clumsy Bear Studios. It features dishes from England and Ireland, and the monsters present come from English and Irish folklore. Hungry Horrors launched in Early Access alongside a new demo in mid-January. It’s available now via Steam for both PC and Deck. For full disclosure, I received a key from the devs via Press Engine in exchange for a review.

Let’s Talk about the Story

The tale revolves around a princess who wakes up in a dungeon. How she got there was a mystery to both her and me. The princess does know she is supposed to wait for her prince to come and rescue her. Strangely, he hasn’t arrived yet but he’s definitely going to arrive any second now

Until then though, she’s mostly on her own. And while she does escape the dungeon with the help of a cat named Lady Catherine, she’s still trapped in a mysterious castle that exists between realms. Most of how the castle works is a mystery – Lady Catherine seems to know, but she treats Princess with disdain and is very selective with the knowledge she shares. There’s definitely something strange about Lady Catherine as she mysteriously can’t leave the dungeon at all. The two may not like each other, they must work together to escape.

And since Lady Catherine is stuck, it’s up to the Princess to do the legwork of escaping. There are eight realms, filled with many terrible beasts. Only by feeding every monster of each realm will she be able to leave. And well, the hunger has kind of driven each monster into a homicidal rage, so if she fails she dies. But it’s okay – when she dies she wakes up back in the castle. Which sounds horrific, but the game has a very light-hearted tone to it and nothing is meant to be taken too seriously. It feels as if the writers had a lot of fun and a few good chuckles when writing this story, and in turn, I’m having a great time playing it.

Let’s talk about the GAMEPLAY

Hungry Horror is a roguelike deckbuilder, and many of the usual genre trappings are present. There’s the randomized runs, the sense of progression, the careful building of decks to win against more powerful foes. However it does a few things differently that help it feel fresh. The inclusion of resource management mechanics is a welcome wrinkle to the usual deckbuilder formula. At the beginning of each run players build a deck of ten cards (recipes) from the resources they have on hand (ingredients). Ingredients don’t reset between runs, and can be accumulated. As the game progresses the princess gains access to better recipes, but those require rarer ingredients. It becomes a balance between trying to keep a decent amount of the good stuff – like fish and fruit – in stock while trying to make the most of each run.

The Princess has a handful of dishes which she uses to feed the monsters. The dishes come in one of five flavors, each leaving the monster who eats it with a new craving. Cravings can be manipulated, however, through cards and potions. The idea is to create combos over turns, called “craving chains”, to fill a monster’s belly. Complicating this is the fact that each monster has a set of loves, likes, dislikes, and hates, which all affect how a craving chain scores. It’s a race against time as the Princess must fill a monster’s belly before they cross the battlefield. Failing to do so results in her demise and the end of the run.

All and all, it’s wicked fun. I found myself flinging pickled eggs and roasted potatoes at redcaps (a little goblin man with a red cap), pucas, and so much more. The combat feels quick, responsive and snappy, with most battles taking a couple minutes.

While there’s a small bit of a learning curve, the game makes this all clear through communication with text menus, symbols and colors. While the first couple biomes are pretty forgiving, after a couple runs the difficulty does ramp up, requiring players to understand how all the pieces fit together to progress. That said, it’s very easy to understand the building blocks in place.

Of note, I mostly played this on my Steam Deck. It’s suited perfectly for the device, and I had no issues with performance or input. It’s a very easy game to pick up and put down, and was very useful as I recently was traveling for a family emergency and definitely needed something I could sit and play, but also pull away from if I needed to

Let’s Talk About the Pixel Art

One of the selling points for Hungry Horrors is without a doubt the pixel art. The game employs an expressive and charming cartoon style. Of note, each monster has a unique death animation for the Princess when they cross the field that kinda makes losing fun. Plus there are so many other details. One of my favorites is for a monster called a puca, whose eyes become hearts upon receiving their favorite dish. The dishes themselves are lovingly recreated on their cards, and are lovely to look at. I even have a favorite, the Crempang with all it’s pink and icing (maybe I’m a monster myself)

(From The Collector’s Hub on Youtube)

Let’s Talk It Being Early Access and What That Means

Ultimately, Early Access means the game is still in development. This means games in EA are published in a wide range of states from early alpha to fairly complete. For Hungry Horrors, the game is still very incomplete, and the story can’t be completed yet, but there is a core gameplay loop present and quite a sizable chunk of content to play through. The game features five biomes of the eight planned biomes. The devs have content planned all around – more dishes, monsters, story, etc. Clumsy Bear Studios also has a Discord where they’re very hands-on with fans despite being a two-person team, answering questions, taking suggestions and addressing any issues. While what’s present isn’t the full game, there’s enough of an experience that it felt justified in the asking price. It’s been mentioned that when the game exits Early Access, it’ll most likely increase in the price, so if this game is of interest, it’d better to pick it up sooner than later.

In Conclusion

This is a tale of the Princess learning to fight for and eventually save herself. While it’s a narrative I’ve seen before, seeing it in a deckbuilder is a first for me. While I’m fairly sure of what the end point will be, I don’t know how it’ll get there or the twists and turns along the way. What’s here though is a game full of potential that, even if it’s never fully realized, is already an excellent experience worth the time and money. What really stands out is the game’s ease of access – this is an excellent entry-level deckbuilder that’s not obtuse the way many deckbuilders are.This game also has an appeal outside the deckbuilder niche – there’s a story and humor and outlandish pixel art that will only continue to be expanded on from here. As the game is not complete, I will not be issuing the game a score. It absolutely gets a thumbs up from me though, and I highly recommend checking it out.

WISHLIST HUNGRY HORRORS HERE