This year, the game Hungry Meem has come out of the Japanese studio Drecom. Drecom Co. is a Japanese company for software, web, and the development and publishing of video games. It was founded in 2001.
What is Hungry Meem actually about? No, it’s not about any internet memes, but about some strange yet cute creatures that need a little help gathering food and other necessities. Mostly food. Here are the features of the game – you, as a player, are the so-called Guardian of the Meem creatures that live beneath the World Tree, let’s call it that. In the story, there was a magical pot that could cook any food and thus feed the insatiable Meems. Unfortunately, one day it gets destroyed. Because of this, the Meems are threatened with extinction. Your task is to restore the pot so that food can be cooked again for your hungry... creatures. In addition, you need to help them build a new settlement.
Among your first tasks is to learn how the metabolism of the creatures works, as you will need to send one of them to some strange pyramid where all sorts of goodies can be collected. Sometimes these will be resources for rebuilding the settlement, and sometimes actual food. Since the Meem gets hungry very quickly, it’s wise to prepare some snacks for it to take along to nibble on the way and thus avoid health troubles. However, it’s not all that simple, as in some parts you will have enemies who will make your life difficult by stealing what you collect.
You collect resources by carrying a bag with you, so be patient and don’t be too greedy. It’s safer to visit something multiple times and explore carefully than to allow yourself to be robbed because you didn’t escape in time. Meems can also reproduce by combining two Meems (who would have thought) to get an egg and raise an offspring. Be in the role of protector of these children with many needs and help them with the reconstruction of the settlement, houses, decorations, and take care of their physical and mental health. It should be mentioned that there is a feature called “Feast” or “Great Banquet,” which is an event when Meems eat special meals, and the World Tree receives “light of joy” and begins to progress and grow. As the tree grows, you gain new exploration zones.
The gameplay itself is not without certain problems. The tutorial can sometimes be vague, so it takes a while to figure out what you need to do and how to proceed. A lot of things operate on a trial-and-error basis, which can sometimes be frustrating. Sometimes the creatures themselves can cause problems (it's a bug, not a feature this time) and can ignore tasks and make suboptimal moves. However, it’s worth mentioning the positive sides – once you catch the rhythm, the game can become fun. The game design itself is aesthetically very pleasing, as are the sound effects.
Once you figure out what the game requires from you, exploration and settlement development become somewhat solid. Watching the Meemes evolve, change appearance, and have different abilities is certainly an interesting experience. This aspect of evolution and cultural development of the settlement should be noted as a significant plus of the game. The game has character in a visual sense. If you are a player willing to invest a little patience to deal with the initial frustrations of the tutorial, Hungry Meem is available for PC on Steam and for Nintendo Switch, ready to build a colony of small, yet cute and eternally hungry creatures.
A copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the development studio Drecom Co.
