Video game developers often strive for realism in their attempts to immerse players into their games. One way to do this is to include ways for players to eat, cook and rejuvenate their characters. People need food to survive, and thus so should video game characters.
The problem with that is sometimes video game developers either enjoy causing cruel appetite loss to their fans, or they have an awful taste in food. Sometimes it’s unintentional, other times it’s part of the game design; but either way, the result is these horrible food recipes in video games.
8Any “Koffing Class” Curry – Pokemon Sword & Shield
Pokemon Sword & Shieldintroduced a feature called Pokemon Camp that let players interact with their beloved team. Players could set up their camp by accessing it from the menu anywhere in the game map. Trainers could play games, pet their Pokemon, and cook an assortment of 150 curry recipes using ingredients and berries found in the wild area.
Depending on the ingredients and how well players cook the curry during the mini-game, it will receive one of five class medals, with Koffing Class being the absolute worst and Charizard Class being the cream of the crop.If a player is unfortunate enough to make a Koffing rated style curry, they, and their Pokemon, are forced to eat a boring curry with black smoke rising from the whole thing.
7Moist Tomato Cake – Final Fantasy XV
InFinal Fantasy XV, players can cook recipes in a campsite to boost party stats. Ignis,the chef and driver of the party,uses ingredients found after battles and in shops. Players can level up Ignis' ability by cooking more often and allow him to cook more extravagant meals as the game progresses.
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One meal Ignis whips up is called “Moist Tomato Cake,” which calls for only one Killer Tomato and Fine Cleigne Wheat. The red cake is served with a tomato and frosting on the side. While the cake will boost the party’s HP, defense and spirit stats, it probably wasn’t easy to choke down before a battle.
6Sinner’s Sandwich – Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonitionis an open-world survival horror game that released to polarizing reviews back in 2010. The game follows FBI Agent Francis York Morgan as he tries touncover the identity of the Raincoat Killer.During a cutscene in a diner, Morgan and Greenvale Deputy Emily Wyatt, run into the town’s resident crazy old man, Harry Stewart.
Harry orders a sandwich consisting of turkey, strawberry jam, and cereal, three ingredients that absolutely do not belong together between two slices of bread. It is called the Sinner’s Sandwich because it is a form of self punishment intended to atone for past sins, but innocent players were punished for having to imagine the taste of such a nasty diner lunch.
5Apple Cabbage Stew – Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrimreleased way back in 2011, andplayers are still putting hundreds of hours into it,Like so many other RPGs that have come before, players can use ingredients found in the sprawling open world to cook meals and craft potions to boost health and other stats.
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In a good indicator of the time periodThe Elder Scrollsseries are set in, players can cook Apple Cabbage Stew and their Dragonborn character will eat the whole thing. However, its appearance caused many fans lose their appetite. Consisting of only apples, cabbage, and salt, the stew somehow raises the player’s stamina and health. It is also the only soup inSkyrimthat gives more stamina than health, perhaps from the adrenaline of consuming such a gross concoction.
4Dubious Food – Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildis one of the greatest video games of all time, and in it is one of the grossest video game foods of all time. In a first for theZeldaseries, cooking is a necessary addition to Link’s skill set as he looks to take down Calamity Ganonand rescue Princess Zelda. But what setsBreath of the Wildapart from other cooking features in video games is in addition to cooking on a campfire, certain foods can be obtained by hitting ingredients with a flaming weapon or by leaving an ingredient out in freezing weather.
One thing a player shouldn’t do, however, is attemptto cook anything that leads to Dubious Food. There are several recipes, or mistakes, that can leave Link being forced to look at whatever is behind that pixilated mess. Thankfully, the actual meal is blurred out, so players don’t suffer.
3Crunchy Spider Skewer – Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Onlineis an MMORPG playable on PC, Stadia, PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/X/S. It is very similar to how the main single playerElder Scrollsgames play and feel, but there are now other players whom can help complete quests with or get in the player’s way,and some of its series lore has been retconned. Much like in its mainline counterpart, players can cook food and craft potions to boost stats.
If a player’s Dark Elf finds themselves hungry enough, they can stick spider eggs, Crawlers, acai berries, and seasonings on a stick and call it a meal. This “food” raises Magicka and Stamina for 2 hours, but it lowers fans' appetites, because no amount of berries and salt will cover the guilt of consuming that.
2Dog Food – Wolfenstein: The New Order
Wolfenstein: The New Orderis a reboot of the beloved Wolfenstein series after it switched from Activision to Bethesda as its publisher. The New Order found longtime Jewish protagonist WIlliam “B.J.” Blazkowicz in a parallel universe where the Axis Powers won World War II, and players attempt to prevent the Nazis from taking over the world. In maps where dogs appear, dog food can be found as a health pick up.
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Players don’t see Blazkowicz scarf it down, but it doesn’t take much to conclude he eats it. While it’s not necessarily gross by a dog’s standards, it is edible, and it provokes a stomach churning response by players who are immersed in the game.
1Everything On Marguerite Baker’s Table – Resident Evil 7
Resident Evil 7saw a shift in the style of gameplay previous entries employed. It was less “action zombie shooter” and more “Oh God, how do I get out of this house?” In a game featuring dead wives, hand mutilation, a cannibalistic matriarchand one of the most evil kids ever to appear in a game,it is safe to assume that any mention of food is going to be just a horrible.
And horrible it is. Players are “treated” to a family dinner cut scene after Ethan Winters is trapped in a house with the Bakers. The lovely feast, prepared by Marguerite Baker, was cooked from the human remains of the victims the Bakers had trapped in their ranch.
