Январь 2010 Февраль 2010 Март 2010 Апрель 2010 Май 2010
Июнь 2010
Июль 2010 Август 2010
Сентябрь 2010
Октябрь 2010
Ноябрь 2010
Декабрь 2010
Январь 2011
Февраль 2011 Март 2011 Апрель 2011 Май 2011 Июнь 2011 Июль 2011 Август 2011
Сентябрь 2011
Октябрь 2011 Ноябрь 2011 Декабрь 2011 Январь 2012 Февраль 2012 Март 2012 Апрель 2012 Май 2012 Июнь 2012 Июль 2012 Август 2012 Сентябрь 2012 Октябрь 2012 Ноябрь 2012 Декабрь 2012 Январь 2013 Февраль 2013 Март 2013 Апрель 2013 Май 2013 Июнь 2013 Июль 2013 Август 2013 Сентябрь 2013 Октябрь 2013 Ноябрь 2013 Декабрь 2013 Январь 2014 Февраль 2014
Март 2014
Апрель 2014 Май 2014 Июнь 2014 Июль 2014 Август 2014 Сентябрь 2014 Октябрь 2014 Ноябрь 2014 Декабрь 2014 Январь 2015 Февраль 2015 Март 2015 Апрель 2015 Май 2015 Июнь 2015 Июль 2015 Август 2015 Сентябрь 2015 Октябрь 2015 Ноябрь 2015 Декабрь 2015 Январь 2016 Февраль 2016 Март 2016 Апрель 2016 Май 2016 Июнь 2016 Июль 2016 Август 2016 Сентябрь 2016 Октябрь 2016 Ноябрь 2016 Декабрь 2016 Январь 2017 Февраль 2017 Март 2017 Апрель 2017 Май 2017
Июнь 2017
Июль 2017
Август 2017 Сентябрь 2017 Октябрь 2017 Ноябрь 2017 Декабрь 2017 Январь 2018 Февраль 2018 Март 2018 Апрель 2018 Май 2018 Июнь 2018 Июль 2018 Август 2018 Сентябрь 2018 Октябрь 2018 Ноябрь 2018 Декабрь 2018 Январь 2019
Февраль 2019
Март 2019 Апрель 2019 Май 2019 Июнь 2019 Июль 2019 Август 2019 Сентябрь 2019 Октябрь 2019 Ноябрь 2019 Декабрь 2019 Январь 2020
Февраль 2020
Март 2020 Апрель 2020 Май 2020 Июнь 2020 Июль 2020 Август 2020 Сентябрь 2020 Октябрь 2020 Ноябрь 2020 Декабрь 2020 Январь 2021 Февраль 2021 Март 2021 Апрель 2021 Май 2021 Июнь 2021 Июль 2021 Август 2021 Сентябрь 2021 Октябрь 2021 Ноябрь 2021 Декабрь 2021 Январь 2022 Февраль 2022 Март 2022 Апрель 2022 Май 2022 Июнь 2022 Июль 2022 Август 2022 Сентябрь 2022 Октябрь 2022 Ноябрь 2022 Декабрь 2022 Январь 2023 Февраль 2023 Март 2023 Апрель 2023 Май 2023 Июнь 2023 Июль 2023 Август 2023 Сентябрь 2023 Октябрь 2023 Ноябрь 2023 Декабрь 2023 Январь 2024 Февраль 2024 Март 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Game News |

Dungeon Munchies is an RPG platformer where you're a zombie, and worse, an unpaid intern

 Dungeon Munchies is an RPG platformer where you're a zombie, and worse, an unpaid intern

Sometimes, a whole game sprouts from a tiny seed of an idea. In the case of Dungeon Munchies, it's a simple, jokey premise: you're an unpaid zombie intern. A necromancer-chef named Simmer raises you as part of her plan to unleash a new generation of magical cuisine on the world. Why? How? You're not being paid enough to ask those questions, because you're not being paid at all. So off you go, searching the dungeon for ingredients. Don't worry about dying: endless, inescapable revival is part of your employee benefits package.

This concept dovetails neatly into a mechanical foundation. You explore an (almost completely linear) side-scrolling world, marching along, avoiding traps and fighting monsters. Then you harvest ingredients from those monsters and cook magical dishes that visibly mutate your body, Binding of Isaac-style.

That would be a fine little game by itself—maybe some sort of roguelite. But that's not what we've got here. During the three years Dungeon Munchies spent in Early Access before its full release, it grew into something far stranger. From what I've played and seen (about half completed myself, half watching a friend stream the tail-end) Taiwan-based three-man indie studio maJAJa let their ideas get away from them in the best possible way. 

I'm an idiot sandwich

Dungeon Munchies takes its silly scribbled-on-a-napkin concept and expands it into a character-led, story-driven adventure. Its cast of screwball weirdos, mostly undead or talking vegetables, somehow develop into a deep well of pathos as the story explores just how strange the world would be if guava fruits were carnivorous and corn was philosophical. (All this while somehow sneaking in a side-plot about a canceled manga series called Captain DUI, which is about a man who fights crime with the power of drunk-driving.)

The jokes come thick and fast. The fast-travel 'teleport' shrines you use to backtrack just slice you into chunks, which are then ferried to another station by skeletons to be reassembled. You discover some deeply questionable 'alternative' recipes involving poppy seeds and cocoa plants, and you get your air-dash ability via installing a jet-turbine sphincter.

While not every joke finds its mark, there's enough deeply silly bits of dialogue, item descriptions and wacky monster designs to make exploring this weird dungeon world a joy—even when the story takes darker, more serious turns. Dungeon Munchies is carried by its narrative and its characters, as well as a genuine sense of adventure as the stakes (and steaks) keep rising. It's a world built on jokes, but taken surprisingly seriously. Anyone who watched the entirety of Adventure Time will feel right at home. 

(Image credit: maJAJa)

Not to say that the combat in Dungeon Munchies isn't interesting—it is—but it's also scrappy. There's an excitedly amateur feel to it, like that other bizarre indie gem, Vampire Survivors. Movement is simple and a bit stiff, with not especially satisfying jumping physics, while combat is fundamentally just about holding down your attack buttons and positioning yourself so enemies run out of health before you do. But, like the premise, what looks one-note has surprising flavor and depth.

While movement and combat gradually get more complex as your zombie body is given more upgrades through surgery, most of the subtlety comes from character-building. You don't level up in Dungeon Munchies, but you are what you eat. Your stomach can hold seven dishes at once, some giving simple stat boosts like increased HP and others giving complex powers like accelerating consecutive melee hits at the cost of slightly decreased damage.

(Image credit: maJAJa)

Between these food-based powers and separate weapons equipped in your left and right hands, a savvy number-cruncher can turn their shambling sous-chef into a magical Magimix, albeit sometimes at the cost of visibility. When a half-dozen effects are going off with every hit, combat can feel like two angry balls of particle effects smacking into each other. This is probably why many boss fights have phases where you can't do any damage and have to just focus on evasion.

Soul food

Thanks to the limited contents of your stomach and the linear nature of the game constantly introducing you to new recipes and equipment, you'll be switching up your character build constantly. It's messy, but oddly compelling and I can see myself getting into deep theorycrafting territory after the credits roll—there's a New Game+ mode awaiting me there.

(Image credit: maJAJa)

Dungeon Munchies is a game with a lot of heart, and that's especially clear in how much bespoke art there is. Enemy sprites (bosses in particular) are large, distinct and playfully animated. There's also a shocking amount of incidental art used in dialogue. Even if combat sometimes devolves into a hard-to-parse ball of pixels, it's easy to see there's real passion behind this game. It's an infectious kind of energy.

Much like a crew of talented yet casually amateur chefs, maJAJa brings a lot of tasty ideas to the table with Dungeon Munchies. Even if the individual ingredients aren't the freshest and the presentation won't be winning any Michelin stars, there's something special about it. Warming and home-made—it's almost pointedly indie. It'd be a bit of a cliché to say the special ingredient is love, but this isn't a game that's shy about well-worn tropes. 



Читайте также

Distant Horizons mod blows past Minecraft's max render distance, pushing viewable terrain out to an unbelievable 512 chunks

A year after being removed from Steam, Dark and Darker is coming to the Epic Games Store

Ayaneo Kun review

Москва

«Трактор» победил «Динамо» в овертайме и вышел вперёд в серии Кубка Гагарина

Новости тенниса



Game24.pro — паблик игровых новостей в календарном формате на основе технологичной новостной информационно-поисковой системы с элементами искусственного интеллекта, гео-отбора и возможностью мгновенной публикации авторского контента в режиме Free Public. Game24.pro — ваши Game News сегодня и сейчас в Вашем городе.

Опубликовать свою новость, реплику, комментарий, анонс и т.д. можно мгновенно — здесь.



Персональные новости

"Известия": Песков оценил идею переговоров РФ и США о контроле над вооружениями

Признали невменяемой. Мать, зарезавшую сына в Москве, отправили на лечение

Алексей Заварухин: Никто не ожидал, что «Трактор» заберет две игры в Москве

Кажетта Ахметжанова: почему нельзя стричь волосы самой себе — 5 опасных последствий