Eating is a thing that all humans do and need to survive. However, video games often use eating on a basic level and don’t put a huge focus on the mechanic. The thing is, some games do break the mold.
Eating can be a huge mechanic, justlike great combat, or have deep importance for other factors. It’s surprising there haven’t been more games in this fashion, as it’s a no-brainer idea. Games often let you do things you’re able to’t do in real life, but eating is the complete antithesis of that.
2010
Xbox 360 (Series X|S Backwards Compatible), PlayStation 3, PC
Despite how iconic and classic the original arcadePac-Mantitles are, they can seem a bit basic. There’s depth to it, for sure, but future instalments pushed the series greatly, and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is a fine example. It’s a standard game of Pac-Man on the surface, but there’s so many refinements and additions.
The little dots appear in clumps one at a time, which heightens the chase, and even the ghosts have more depth. Since there’s much more of them, a great tactic to rack up points is to eat a power palette and just eat a whole line of them, which is so satisfying. The OG games are still classics, but objectively, Championship Edition DX is superior.
2011
Wii, Switch (Deluxe ver.)
Along with Pac-Man, Kirby is one of the most obvious eating characters. To gain powers, he literally sucks up an enemy and eats it. There’s been a variety ofKirbygames, but most of them are 2D platformers, and the best has to beKirby’s Return to Dream Land. It was the game Kirby fans had wanted after the divisive Epic Yarn and one of theWii’s better exclusives.
With the classic Kirby gameplay and beautiful graphics, it held its own compared to other Wii 2D platformers. After beating the game for the first time, you unlock Extra mode, which is a harder version of the main campaign with many differences. This added a lot of replay value, more so thanNew Super Mario Bros. WiiandDonkey Kong Country Returns.
2006
Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
The core game ofDead Risingdoesn’t have a huge focus on eating, but that can’t be said for the unlockable Infinity mode. As the name suggests, you can play as long as you want, but survival is key. Around every two minutes, one block of health will automatically drain. This means you can’t hold out in one spot forever and must eat to keep your health up.
Getting the 7 Day Survivor achievement in this mode requires a lot of patience, as you will be waiting in one spot to drain your health and then fully restore with a food item. The 14-hour gauntlet can be brutal, but it’s immensely satisfying once you’ve finished it and gotten 100 percent completion.
2004
PC, Mac, Arcade, Xbox, Xbox 360 (Series X|S BC)
When you think ofthe titles from PopCap, games like Peggle,Plants vs. Zombies, and Bejeweled will come to mind. Another that should come up is Feeding Frenzy, a classic PC game many played back in the mid-2000s. It has a very basic concept with you playing as a marine animal and must eat fish of your size.
Over the course of a level, you grow bigger and bigger, allowing you to eat larger fish. It remains a solid time, but you have to be careful because you can die so fast from an out of nowhere predator. It’s great to play in short bursts, and weirdly enough, the title never came to mobile. Feeding Frenzy would be a great fit there.
Platforms
PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 (Series X|S BC), Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Nintendo 3DS, PC
Metal Gear Solid 3had a lot of gameplay changes from MGS2. The CQC system, healing injuries, and using camouflage were a few, but another big one was your health bar. This game has your health slowly regenerate over time, but while that’s happening, your stamina is draining as well.
Running out of stamina has a lot of negative effects, so you’ll want to keep eating when necessary to regain it. Certain bosses like The End actually aim to drain your stamina, which will result in you having to backtrack quite a bit to reach him again. You’ll want to hunt animals when you have the chance, and this adds a lot more depth to the gameplay than any previous MGS title.
2014
Xbox One, PC
Deadly Premonitionis one of the biggest cult games of all time, and as such, any game that the creator Swery65 works on after that will have some attention. D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die was an Xbox One exclusive anda real hidden gem. Swery’s creative storytelling and gameplay shine here; an example is the odd stamina system.
Interacting with virtually every object in the game will drain stamina to some degree. If you run out, you die. This means you must eat food to regain stamina, and there’s a bunch of options. You might get hungry playing this game with all the various good-looking foods. It is weird, though, that you may even die in the first place. Imagine opening a fridge and just dropping dead right then and there.
1985
PC, Mac
There might be no bigger classic PC game than The Oregon Trail. It’s a title that educates you not through walls of text but by the actual gameplay itself. Throughout your playtime, you’ll learn just how brutal the Oregon trail really was, as you have to manage your supplies of food, money, tools, and more on your journey.
Plus, you also have to deal with the health of your party members, who can die at the most random times. Food is very important here, and having none will lead to a surefire, quick ending. It’s still an enjoyable game to play today if you’re able to get around how old it is.
2020
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC
After the success ofGoat Simulator, many titles came in its wake with similar gameplay but with different animals to play as.Maneateris in that group, and it’s a fantastic shark game. Not only do you eat humans, but all sorts of sea creatures, and the controls are great here.
Previous shark games like Jaws Unleashed were on the line of being great, but its controls and general polish did hold it back significantly. That’s not present in Maneater. While not worth full price, you’ll definitely get your money and enjoyment’s worth if you buy it on sale.
