[Review] Dungeon Munchies - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: maJAJa
Published By: Chorus Worldwide
Categories: Platformer, Action
Release Date: 12.15.21

If Dungeon Munchies has taught me one thing, it’s that cooking is sort of a form of necromancy, giving new life and using the dead to your command. That and I don’t know quite how to categorize this game.

You’ve died, deep underground in this old, abandoned looking facility. You want out, and you can get that help from an undead cutie named Simmer. First things first, deep fry that mosquito. Dungeon Munchies has a key mechanic I absolutely love and will never get sick of.

Cooking is how you get your abilities and perks. Fried Mosquitos to get you a double jump, Family Style Shroom Stew lets you emit toxic clouds to do poison damage to surrounding enemies, Guava Juice lets you have auto heal. This makes killing anything you see a priority. Of course, you’ll need weapons. The environment, or even some enemies can get you the materials needed. Then craft yourself something up. There’s a lot of weapons from swords, daggers, spears, sickles. Not just these primary weapons, but some secondary weapons like guns or a shield. Dual wield those blades of grass if you want.

In a way, Dungeon Munchies reminds me of a roguelite in the way of how you stack up those buffs. From your weapons, the food you’ve ate. It can make things absolutely broken. Though if you don’t play smart, you can get killed easily by some things. This isn’t exactly an easy game, there’s ways to make it easier, but it’ll still push you around, though for a couple reasons. The platforming feels particularly slippery, which when you’re surrounded by spikes or poison, or the like, it can be absolute hell getting your footing. This is mostly an issue when platforming around, but can sneak up in certain boss fights.

Environments are bland and grey, but that’s the point. The color and life(un-life?) comes from everything else. I love how everything looks, and I love how cluttered your character gets with all of the food you’ve eaten. It reminds me of a game called Neon Abyss. Not just in how nice the sprites and animations are, but life comes with some snappy writing. There’s some referential jokes, but it’s good for the most part. That Lickspittle really dislikes zombies and how he feels and how everyone else doesn’t feel is pretty funny.

Something I didn’t notice at first, since I was concentrating on other things in the game, but when I sat and listened really listened to was how good the music is. Some nice rock, lounge, jazz. It’s all good. Going to definitely track this down when I’m done.

If future updates can maybe make the act of moving feel a little tighter, you have a really great action platformer. As it is now, you have a pretty good one that has sections that feel like the game can be a tad against you. But thankfully those are not the majority. The game has been said to have that early access feel? And I can sort of agree. I look forward to how this game evolves in time.