It’s the first time I have ever done a re-review. Back in April, I reviewed Ravenous Devils and I really liked it. It was short but with some solid gameplay and at a fantastic price too. So then, why am I reviewing it again? Because the lovely devs at Bad Vices Games and the wonderful Troglobytes Games publishers have added some new content… for free.
Now, I don’t need to get into depth of how this game plays, because I already did that with my previous review. The basics of managing a Sweeny Todd-styled business, where you turn humans into food, to sell back to humans, is still here. In fact, the main game (aside from some minor tweaks and updates) remains the exact same game. But what Bad Vices Games have added is an all-new endless mode and this is where things get really interesting.
With endless mode, you can run the business, wait for it… endlessly. You start out with one random legitimate indigent. And ‘legitimate’ is the important word here because you do have to run the place lawfully… to a certain extent. Oh don’t worry, the concept of murdering customers and turning them into pies, sausages and steaks is still very much a part of the game. There is still plenty of macabre blood and gore here. Only now, you have to be very, very careful about how and when you do that. This is something that was missing from the base game, there was no threat and no consequence. The way the story mode plays out is that you just keep making a profit and unlocking upgrades until the end with no worry of being caught for your murderous ways. Now, with the addition of endless mode, you can get caught.
One of the new additions to the game is the police. You have a police wanted bar at the bottom of the screen and every time you kill someone, that bar increases. The higher it goes, the more often the local coppers will come into your shop and start poking around. If the police walk in and there is a dead body lying around or a huge pool of blood from where you have recently killed someone, then it is game over. This is where the legitimate side of things comes in, as you can now make food that doesn’t contain human flesh and cut down on the number of dead bodies lying around as well as the chances of being caught.
The problem with the ‘proper’ non-human meat food is that, well, it just doesn’t make a huge amount of money and this plays into another addition to the game, paying taxes. You also need to make enough money to pay your taxes because if you don’t, it’s game over. So, there is this double threat thing going on now. You can manage the place without killing people, but you’ll soon run out of coin and it’s all over. Ergo, you’ll need to kill people to get the ingredients to make better food and more money, but that brings about the local bobbies and the chances of you being caught increases. Endless mode becomes this balancing act between not killing people and turning them into food to avoid the police and having to kill people to turn them into food in order to pay your taxes. You have to pick and choose your business running decisions much more carefully than in story mode and this adds a layer of strategy and planning to the game that was missing from the original release.
On top of that, you also now have to make your own flour. Originally, flour was an ingredient that was unlimited, as it is used in so many of the recipes. Now, you have to grind dead bodies to keep your flour reserves in use (that is how you make flour, right?). Again, this plays into the whole being caught by the police because you’re just going to have to kill at some point to keep even the most basic of ingredients in stock. Flour, on its own, is now one of the ‘legitimate’ ingredients too. You can cook flour alone to make bread as one of the non-human meat foods to sell. Eggs and vegetables are other foods that you can cook that avoids any human meat content.
Then, as well as all of that new gameplay the, endless mode still features all of the story mode’s upgrades and skins for the characters. Only now, there is the addition of being able to change each of the rooms of the business too. You can now have different floors and walls for the kitchen, the pub, the tailor shop and the greenhouse. It is all purely cosmetic, of course, and does not change the way the game plays, but it’s a nice addition so that you can really get the place looking how you want it. You can now change your kitchen from a blood-soaked hell hole, into a blood-soaked hell hole with some nice tiling. This additional feature carries over to the story mode too.
But, do you know what is even better? Even with all of this new content that is very playable, the game is still the same price. Ravenous Devils is less than £5 on PC and all the consoles. I recommended this in my original review because the game was packed with great gameplay at a really low price. Now, with the update and new endless mode, with everything that brings and all still for the same low price? This game is an absolute must-buy. The update is currently available for both the Steam (where it has very positive feedback and reviews) and Xbox versions, with it coming to the PlayStation and Switch very, very soon.
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