Fear & Hunger
Fear & Hunger is a horror dungeon crawler game released on 11 December 2018. It is the first game of the series, currently available in its 1.4.1 version. It was created with the RPGMaker engine. The game is developed by Miro Haverinen and published under Happy Paintings. Fear & Hunger is set in a fantasy medieval setting and centres around delving into the dungeons of Fear and Hunger located by the town of Ma'habre. Aside from the various horror game inspiration the game has, the lore of Fear & Hunger features notable lovecraftian elements both in setting as well as through homages.
CAUTION! Fear & Hunger is a grim dark game made exclusively for mature audiences. It features themes such as gore, violence, drug and substance abuse, self-harm and sexual violence.
The developer has made clear none of these are taken lightly, rather serving to give the game a unique atmosphere of serious consequences and hopelessness.
Official synopsis
Fear & Hunger is a horror dungeon crawler set in the dark and hopeless dungeons of fear and hunger. Four misfortuned adventurers dwell deeper and deeper to the darkness and uncover the secrets this ancient fortress holds inside. The fortress works as an ancient nexus for different planes of existence. The depths are in an eternal turmoil as both old and new gods struggle for power, it’s up to the players to choose their position and stance in all of this. The game is a hybrid of survival horror and dungeon crawler genres with its influences ranging from Silent Hill to Nethack. There are roguelike elements to the game as well as a heavy foundation of a j-RPG. Fear & Hunger is heavy on atmosphere and ruthless in its difficulty.
Features
- Oppressive and relentless atmosphere
- 4 different character classes and many additional characters to recruit
- Unforgiving and unique gameplay
- Randomized elements to keep the game fresh with subsequent playthroughs
- Turn-based Strategic Dismemberment Combat System
- Graphical art style mixing pixel art with digital painting
- Original ambient soundtrack creating a dreary mood
Playable characters
Additional information
THE GAME IS MEANT ONLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES!
The world of Fear & Hunger is extremely dark, depicting casual nudity, sex, rape, drug and substance abuse, as well as graphic body horror, violence, and gore. This game is not meant for casual audiences, as these content warnings and themes are NOT taken lightly. This game has an exceedingly cruel and hostile atmosphere, challenging both the player and the characters to see how far they will go in order to survive. Dismemberment is a core part of the combat and is applied to all characters. Self-amputation is a mechanic of the game, and self-harm via alcohol, drugs and other substances is necessary to keep your characters alive.
Fear & Hunger is built upon trial and error. Your main leverage in these games is knowledge of its world and the mechanics, which are never explicitly explained and only exist, requiring exploration, testing, and most likely research if you wish to "get good." Mistakes are the only way to become proficient with anything in the game, and it's required to achieve a better ending. RNG is also a major part of this game: almost all loot, many enemy placements, certain parts of the dungeon layouts, and more are randomized at the start of each playthrough. This keeps things fresh while disallowing the comfort of relying on certain "guaranteed" elements.
The combat in Fear & Hunger is turn-based akin to classic role-playing games, but with a twist of its own. You can target individual limbs of your enemies to dismember them strategically and thus maximize your chances for survival. Likewise, enemies can also cut the arms and legs off your playable characters. You need to prepare well for every encounter if you wish to stay alive; however, running away from threats is often the best solution as well. There are many ways to survive in Fear & Hunger: you can find better equipment, learn different types of magic, fuse characters into each other, pray to different gods, talk your way out of battles, meet new party members, snipe enemies from a distance, use traps to disable them, and more. The idea is to learn to be creative with the items and gear at your disposal.