This is just a pending review. Just my initial thoughts about the game. I'm making this since i don't know if i'll finish it.

I went into this game fully knowing that it's very punishing, but there's a goddamn line. This game isn't "punishing", it's just so unfair to the point where it's borderline unfun. Shin Megami Tensei is punishing in the way that if you don't understand the basic gameplay fundamentals (Press turns, weaknesses, absorbing & repelling, etc) then you'll get fucked because you don't know the game. Here in Fear & Hunger, even if you do know the game (I'll get more into that sentence later), you'll still get fucked because it's not fair at all and there's nothing that the game does to make it fair.

It's RNG at it's worst. Every single thing is decided by RNG in this game. Gonna search a barrel? RNG because it's different each time. Want to start a new character because you fucked the last one over? RNG becase the layout of every room is different each time, which does not contribute to a goddamn thing except dissorienting you. Want to do literally anything? Do a damn coinflip. Everything, everyone, and their goddamn mother needs a coinflip in this game. It's cool the first time, but gets tiring fast.

And back to what i said about "knowing the game", you can't. Unless you use a guide. If you don't use a guide then you won't find the good items, know what items even do, know where to go, what to do, basically everything. It's so tedious when you go into the game blind that i don't see how people can bother.

And the atmosphere is just boring. It's the same issue Bloodborne has, where you start up the game and get really freaked out by this creepy atmosphere, and then 1 hour later you don't care anymore because that's all the atmosphere the game has. If your game is constantly creepy, then after a while it's not creepy anymore since it just becomes normal because there is nothing else.

Other small issues i have with the game is that some corridors are slanted but your character can only go up, down, left or right so it makes traversing them hella tedious. The Hunger bare is just annoying and not implemented well. And sound design for sound effects isn't very good.

But i don't know, maybe Fear & Hunger isn't my cup of tea, and it just caters to some specific, sadist audience.

Fear & Hunger es un juego injusto y brutal a partes iguales. No es para todo el mundo, pero seguro que hay un nicho que va a amar este juego. Su presentación es interesante, y ciertamente es lo que hace que lo recomiende. Al menos para probarlo.

No considero que su dificultad sea causada por un mal diseño, para nada. Al contrario, creo que encierra un mensaje claro y potente. Desde el inicio sabés que este es un juego que no te lo va a hacer fácil, y te pide que abandones bastante concepciones del género RPG por turnos. Cada pequeña victoria se siente como un gran paso. Cada vez que podés guardar la partida, conseguís una efímera pero necesaria sensación de seguridad.

Este juego me recuerda al primer Dark Souls en una forma muy particular. Y es la familiaridad que adquirís con los niveles sin la necesidad de un mapa o una guia. Aprendés estos lugares porque lo vas a necesitar si querés avanzar; el propio descubrimiento de mecánicas e interacciones son gran parte del juego. Y estoy seguro de que hay muchas cosas por descubrir.

Este juego no es para mi. No tengo intención de completarlo. Pero eso no me impide apreciar lo distintivo de Fear & Hunger.

Es un juego duro, con temáticas polémicas y bastante grotesco en más de un aspecto. Si eso no te supone un problema, puede merecer la pena que le des una oportunidad.

This is one of those games that is really hard to represent on a simple 5 star scale. There are elements that I think are 4-5 out of 5 and there are elements that I think are less good. The atmosphere, a lot of the mechanics, the story and the lore are really good. But, I would be very reluctant to suggest this game to most people. I think a lot of the trial and error elements go a little further than they need to. There's also quite a bit of "edgy" material in this. The developer is exploring a lot of dark ideas and I think usually is doing something interesting with the edginess. I think there are moments where to goes further than it needs to, which as i mentioned earlier makes it hard to recommend this game.

There are three ways to approach Fear & Hunger. Yes, this is an overly reductive take, but bear with me.

The first approach is casual. Load it up, wander around, lose your shit at the first sight of a stinger, die early, and then quit and experience the game vicariously via YouTube. Approached this way, F&H is actually a great experience. It has a unique aesthetic and broaches topics that rarely appear in the medium of games.

The second approach is hardcore. Play for a while, die a lot, double down, study the wiki, learn the best strategies, take advantage of the game’s secrets, and become an F&H expert. For gamers who want to dig in deep, F&H can also be an excellent game. It offers all sorts of mechanics, many of which are hidden, for tenacious players to discover and exploit. Likewise, it’s packed with rewarding secrets for those willing to put in the work. Notably, players who play this way are also the ones who make captivating Let’s Play videos of the game.

Which brings us to the third way, a middle approach which falls between the first two. More dedicated than casual, but not as deep-diving as hardcore. This is where I fall in the F&H spectrum, and as you probably guessed from the two-star rating I slapped on this review, I did not have a good time.

The biggest issue for me is time. Fear & Hunger is a slow game. Your character walks like they’re wearing stone boots. Yes, there are ways to move faster, but you won’t find them unless you engage in lots of trial and error or read a guide.

The slow pace is exacerbated by the fact that life or death is often predicated a literal coinflip. Yes, there are many ways to avoid coinflips – methods which you can learn via extensive trial and error or guides. If you’re really crafty, you can even find a way to turn the coin flips in your favor – but it’s a secret you’re unlikely to discover without the help of a guide.

Personally, I found that the slow pace and chance-based deaths worked against the horror elements. Horror works best when there’s a sense of relief every now and then, but here it’s all tension all the time. Likewise for the obscenity: The game turns the flesh up to 11 early, and after ten or fifteen minutes I was completely inured to the depravity. When everything is obscene, nothing is.

After a few failed runs, I grew tired of the tedium. Under most circumstances I would’ve just dropped the game, but it was the game of the month for a group I’m in, so I felt compelled to finish it. So instead of quitting I downloaded a “Game Genie-fied” version (whoops – my age is showing) of the game that gave me lots of extra weapons and items and plowed my way through.

A few hours later, I limped across the finish line. Burnt out as I was, I was still feeling curious about why everyone else loves this game, so I jumped over to YouTube and watched a few Let’s Plays. Taking a step back like this, extricating myself from the brutality, helped me appreciate the game more. The art is lovely, and there are all sorts of cool mechanics that I didn’t even know existed.

That’s good and all. But it doesn’t change the fact that my experience playing the game was less Fear & Hunger and more Tedium & Frustration.