CANTI REVIEWS - Fear & Hunger

Info

Drawing inspiration from the likes of BERSERK and Dark Souls, this fantasy RPGMAKER game thrusts you headfirst into the dungeons of Fear & Hunger (lol) and leaves it up to you to figure out how the hell to go about your mission and descent into madness. The game undertakes a very dark and foreboding environment dittoing this, the gameplay is no different. Loss of limbs, broken bones, infection, and more can be dealt and received as you traverse the dungeons, making the journey not an easy one. You will die a lot, and you will learn a lot, and in a sense the game is like one giant puzzle.

Gameplay

Fear & Hunger is a unique RPGMAKER game in regard to the approach it takes with the combat. Every enemy has attacks based on their limbs and general body parts that are alive and kicking, as such, it creates a space where every encounter is to be taken like a puzzle. Should you cut off their left and right arm? Are you fast enough to cut off a part before they get a stab at you? Are you well-equipped to fight an enemy? Are you willing to risk it all at the toss of a coin? Truly a gambler's dream.

I think by far when it comes to mingling gameplay and aesthetics, Fear & Hunger does it best. The approach to combat is quite frankly genius, as the nature of the game expects you to die and retry a LOT, the combat rewards you for efforts in trying to solve it. Every subsequent run's knowledge is built off the backs of the runs prior. You're not failing unless you aren't learning anything. F&H is brutal but not purely for the sake of being brutal, it will constantly challenge your thinking and approach to fights, and I love it for this. Your lack of knowledge leads every fight to being a high-stakes encounter of juggling possible options and ideas. Any and all attempts at will be punished and rewarded alike.
This is where I'd like to make note of another mechanic that excellently tacks on to the aesthetic provided by the world of Fear & Hunger. The danger of saves. Go on, take a rest in a bed within a dungeon known to harbor creatures existing within the corrupted hallways of darkness. See what happens. If you're lucky, maybe you might win that 50/50 gamble! If not, I hope you're prepared for a knowledge check.
I find that structuring saves in such a way works out so well for the game, if you're skilled enough to know how to wipe out all the enemies on the entire floor (yes I mean all of them) then congrats, you can take that 50/50 gamble without a stress in the world. If not, I pray you're simply being lazy and didn't feel like clearing out the entire floor. Something as calming and easing as resting can't even be enjoyed or accessed without fear of the unknown. It's not until after that shitty nap you've had where you can feel at ease about losing progress.

Generally, when I play RPG's, item hoarding becomes a big issue because stakes simply don't exist. At that, most games will have you harbor a "well, what if I need this later" mentality because you're consistently able to scrape by without using the plethora of items at your disposal. This is where Fear & Hunger shines.
Every piece of equipment and every item you get could very well spell out prosperity or ruin for your run. In addition to how you decide to use and partition the uses of items. Allocation of equipment is especially important, if you undertake a companion or 2 (or 3), how should you split up the equips? Death in this game is no joke, especially when it comes to the player character. Numerous enemies will have access to moves that can chop off entire limbs, severely hindering your survivability, some might even take your head altogether.

Replayability isn't quite something I like factoring into my reviews because, although, yes, having a game with replayability does help with the cost per hour or whatever if you give a shit about that. BUT! Fear & Hunger is a game that's meant to be replayed throughout a number of difficulties and starting characters and all the like. Even though you may pick a different character on the same difficulty or the same character on a different difficulty, the layout of the dungeons will change just to challenge you a little bit more. Are you skilled because you know the layout, or is your skill derived from what you've learned mechanically? It's a change that I heavily appreciate because it adds just a bit more personalization to your runs and the knowledge you gather from character to character and difficulty to difficulty.
In addition to the general flow of gameplay being replayable, the game features a plethora of endings. Every character has access to an ending labelled A through E. Though generally these endings are the same across characters, some feature unique interactions or dialogue which do just a little bit more to add to your understanding of the lore. The hardest difficulty of the game features an S ending for each of the playable characters, which derives some canonicity from them each leading to the events of Termina (the sequel).
For a game that's a measly $7.99 it's incredible what Miro has included in the way of gameplay and content that can be enjoyed. Adding on to that, a genuinely captivating world and story that later leads on to one of my all-time favorite RPGMAKER games and sequels, Fear & Hunger 2: Termina.

Story, Lore, Etc.

Fear & Hunger has an incredibly fleshed out world. In game books will detail rituals, gods, folklore stories, and more. Characters of all kinds will have unique interactions with one another, enemies will provide story information either through environmental means or outright trying to talk to them. Numerous NPCs of all varieties can be found and engaged with, providing so many outlets to learn and interact with the world.
Area's encountered within the dungeons provide much when it comes to understanding the world and creatures that inhabit it. Each main character is receptive to their environments in a multitude of ways. Be it the character you play as, or the main characters you recruit as party members. Entire events will play out differently as worlds collide and the story progresses along.
I'm a bit averse to talking about the story in reviews for things because I want this to be as accessible as possible but, rest assured, the game has a very clear understanding of the story and world it wants to share. Though specific characters will not get too far in depth of backstories or lore on them, it's enough to be satisfied with. Especially given how they're built upon in the following game.

Rating

Fear & Hunger receives a clean 4/5 from me. Although I do believe there is much to appreciate here, the game is left in a bit of a buggy and unrefined state as a result of the pivot on development towards adding content updates to Fear & Hunger 2: Termina. Don't conflate this as "game = unfinished" or anything of the sort, there's a number of other more menial reasons of which I don't think it could hold a candle to being a 5/5 game. But that isn't to say it isn't worthy of your time. If you can stomach the more adult themes and interactions of the game has to offer, I cannot recommend it enough. Especially if you're a fan of games like LISA: The Painful or Pathologic. It's truly an incredible game worthy of the experience.