Attack of the Mutaydid Meat Monsters

The illustrator's younger brother supplied the initial "seed" for this story: the idea of a meat monster. He was at a time when he liked making up stories and wanted to write books, but only ever came out with rough ideas. I told him I would use an idea from him as the basis for one of my own stories, and this (plus puns) was the result.

Produced under EvenComp restrictions, it is only constraint and the game's ridiculously over-the-top delivery that make this one stand out to me, which is why I think it could take two stars instead of just one despite its being rather bad. The story strives to hit two extremes, of horror and humor (hoping to bring nuance to a "so bad it's good" shlock style), but fumbles its deepest horror element. The humor becomes sort of awkward next to an image of a man chopping a bloody fountain out of... something with a lot of blood in it. Ultimately the experience evens out somewhere around the level of simple gross-out shtick. Unfortunately, that's a fail for both horror and humor.

Still, some of the humor does manage to amuse me when I look back on it. The hyperbolically mean, old man makes me giggle. Who's really that mean? My favourite line is the one about The Stranger's name.

A work made without seriousness which maybe had more potential in it somewhere, but might still be worth a chuckle... or a squick?

Full disclosure: I thought I would upload this because I saw a poll for Worst IF Titles and figured this might garner a vote (two of its reviews from the ADRIFT Forum mention the quality of the title). Also, though I wasn't when this game was made, I've been a vegetarian for a while now.

Some games present us with a serious issue, but refuse to deal with it in a serious manner: for instance, The People's Glorious Revolutionary Text Adventure Game treats communism and capitalism as jokes. This is kind of okay. But some games present us with a serious issue, seem to engage it with it in a serious manners, but then turn everything into a cheap joke at the very last moment. This is problematic. The game trivialises the issue and breaks its contract with the player at the same time.

Now one could argue that the title of this game should have given me enough warning that it would not be serious. But Bowsman actually presents us with a set of powerful images and ideas, and a slowly rising tension as we contemplate the horrors of meat --

You shudder, knowing as only you may that all butchery hides under the shadow of anthropophagy.

-- and one's expectations change. Attack of the Mutaydid Meat Monsters starts to look as a profound meditation disguised as a cheap joke. And then, at the final moment, it turns out to be in fact just a cheap joke, which is disappointing and in somewhat bad taste.

(Until one starts thinking about the fact that every year, nine billion animals are slaughtered in the U.S.A. alone, at which point "somewhat bad taste" turns into "very bad taste". One might want to continuously chant the nonsense word "Mutaydid" to avoid this thought, because, well, if seen as nonsense, the game is a lot more palatable. The author undoubtedly saw it that way, and you will enjoy it more if you do as well.)

Although I generally like the works of this author, this is one game I cannot recommend.

If you enjoy the author's trademark brand of humor, you will spend a pleasant ten minutes with this game. The implementation is superficial and the interaction repetitive, but the writing is quirky and charming throughout.