Meet the developer using food as fuel for unsettling horror scenarios

polygon.com:

If you’ve ever pulled open a drawer in a video game only to sigh in relief as you find a full rotisserie chicken you can scarf down for health points, then you know the allure of food in gaming. Food is a source of life. Link watches his ingredients happily hop around the pot in Breath of the Wild, Cooking Mama is up there with Gordon Ramsay when it comes to household names, and Leon S. Kennedy chugs eggs by the dozen to heal up between battles with infected villagers in Resident Evil 4.

In games, food is often associated with healing and comfort, with only a few rare exceptions — like the scenes of family dinner with the Bakers in Resident Evil Village. But one developer has made the visceral and uneasy nature of food-related horror its bread and butter. Bad Vices Games is the developer behind Ravenous Devils, a recent indie hit from 2022 that sold over 200K copies. The studio’s next title, While We Wait Here, is in development. Both games share a similar premise: There are hungry people who need to be fed, and there’s more than one way to acquire meat.

In Ravenous Devils, the player assumes control of a crime-loving married couple in an old-timey city. The player controls both partners. Percival runs a tailor shop upstairs, where he stabs unlucky patrons and throws their corpses down a short shaft. Hildred takes their corpses and cooks them into delicious meals for the downstairs restaurant. The customers are the product.

“This kind of management game, especially the kitchen ones, are very cute and with a cozy atmosphere,” says Cristian Gambadori, co-founder of Bad Vices Games. Ravenous Devils is downright gory in comparison; Hildred takes a corpse and beheads them, severs their limbs, and then grinds them into sausage