Taking place on a desolate meat planet, Meat Madness is a horror game where you play as a “Recovery Specialist” to find a lost space crew. Miners were sent to gather the meat to bring back to earth for food, as all of Earth’s resources have been depleted. However, not all of them always return.
As the recovery man, you have to slowly walk down the sides of the meat hole and cut off the flesh of the survivors. Ingesticorp needs a bit of flesh from them to make clones from the crew, so their families and the public will never know their awful fate. If you’re not careful and fall too far, you’ll end up with broken legs and be stuck with the rest of them.
It was actually pretty frustrating at how easily you can fall and be doomed. You have one shot at redemption with a short rocket boost though. If you use it right before landing it will save you, but if you miss then that’s it. The last parts with just the small circle patches to land on was the toughest.
The art style used for the meat made it a really spooky atmosphere and brought out the hopeless situation the crew is in. I also really loved the pixel art background of outer space they used for the menu. It’s really colorful and well done pixel art.
Meat Madness Story Explained
For a short horror game, Meat Madness has a great story and concept. The game takes place in the year 2104 and earths resources are entirely depleted. So a menacing company called Ingesticorp sends out expeditions to the meat planet to gather up the meat to being back for food. However, the planet is a hospitable place, taking miners victim. They could probably make a horror movie out of such an idea.
In Meat Madness, you set out in search of the miners from the DSV-Provender ship that haven’t been heard from in weeks.. The fate of the crew is absolutely horrifying. They are left alone on the meat planet in constant agony in the darkness, the meat perhaps even keeping them alive longer. Their existence is only to be a part of the planet monstrosity. Nobody is there, and they will never see their family again. Then their last glimmer of hope is shot down when you arrive and recognize you as the recovery man.
It’s made even worse by the fact clones are made by the chunks of flesh you bring back from the crew. It’s Ingesticorp’s master PR strategy. They could still be suffering on the planet far away while their family and clone are none the wiser. I thought it would be best to end their suffering. Meat Madness was so unsettling, and a very thought provoking horror game.
All Endings Conclusion
There’s four different endings you can get depending on how you react to Jackie Voss, the Captain. If you choose Yes, you’ll kill the captain and leave the planet, united families with clones of their loved ones. Selecting Listen Further will result in probably the worst ending where you become one with the meat and then Earth is also taken over by it.
If you choose No to killing Jackie, then she stays alive, but you still get the same ending. Lastly, if you fall too far at any time and break your legs, then you’ll be stuck there just like the rest of the crew. These endings happen no matter whether you spare or kill any or all crew members.
