Disclaimer: Fear & Hunger 2: Termina and its prequel Fear & Hunger are rated as "Adult Only" (AO) according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Such a rating is the highest in the ESRB system and indicates it is only suitable for mature players aged eighteen and over. The Fear & Hunger series contains explicit violence, gore, and drug and alcohol abuse. Scenes of self-destructiveness, suicide, and self-mutilation. Along with nudity and themes of depression, mental health, and sexual violence including rape, child abuse, war, and death. The developer has made it clear that none of these topics are meant to be taken lightly, and are prominent to give the games serious consequences and hopelessness. The games, their developer, fans, reviews, and the sites that you can purchase them on ensure to give potential players multiple trigger warnings and it's only fair that I do the same even though I have no intention of displaying the game's graphic content on my page. If these topics cause you distress, discomfort or agitate symptoms of PTSD please skip this entry. Your safety and convenience are of the utmost importance. Also, I want younger readers to respect the games' ratings and refrain from engaging with them or any of my blog entries about them. Discussions on dark themes will be diluted as an extra precaution. Quick spoiler warning too! If you're exiting after this content warning I wish you well and hope to see you at another time.
Fear & Hunger 2: Termina is an indie survival horror RPG that features turn-based combat while implementing resource management. It doesn't hesitate in introducing you to the brutal world you're entering as the sense of dread is always present even in the quietest areas. Despite being a sequel that takes place in the same universe as its predecessor it is a stand-alone story and no prior knowledge of the series is necessary.
I was introduced to the series when coming across a recommended Youtube video titled Fear & Hunger: An In-Depth Look at the RPG That Hates You by Zulhim. The video was incredibly considerate through Zulhim's careful explanations of game mechanics, plot summaries, villain designs, and the cruel consequences players may encounter throughout their journies. It was because of his praise and enthusiasm I became interested in the series despite it only promising to bully anyone that plays it. At first, I enjoyed different playthroughs of both games and became more and more intrigued by the lore of the world and its characters yet I still heeded the advisories surrounding the series and continued to appreciate it from a distance as much as possible. After catching up on some users' lets-plays I found myself impatient for their next upload. Even as I watched newly released videos I was unsatisfied by the direction of their actions and decided to play it for myself. Upon further research, I learned Orange received heavy criticism for the gruesome death scenes in the first Fear & Hunger entry, especially those that featured rape or sexual assault - the sequel was made with this feedback in consideration which made it more accessible for people like myself.
The story takes place in Europa in 1942 after the Second World War. Fourteen passengers on their way to the medium-sized city of Prehevil are chosen to participate in the three-day Termina Festival, a sinister battle royale that occurs every green moon. After waking up from a shared dream, the contestants find themselves stranded in the woods just outside of the city. None of the other passengers or train staff can be found as a mysterious fog engulfs the landscape forcing everyone to explore the surrounding areas for resources and other materials while trying to figure out what's going on.
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| The content warnings presented shortly after booting up Fear & Hunger 2: Termina |
I never played a survival horror game before - only experiencing the Silent Hill and Resident Evil franchises, the Amnesia series, and others secondhand. I was either too young, didn't have the necessary consoles to play them, or was straight-up chicken so this is a very exciting development!
If you skimmed the initial content warning, please note that moving forward I'll be spoiling the game. This series is best enjoyed when going into it without any prior knowledge so if you're interested and can handle the explicit themes please exit this entry and come back after you're done experiencing Fear & Hunger 2: Termina.
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| ". . . A moon that happens to be grinning and watching your every step... There is only one that walks away once the three days are over." Rher, the ancient Trickster Moon God, still oversees the world of Fear and Hunger. He is allegedly responsible for orchestrating the Termina Festival and selecting its contestants. |
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| I hosted a quick Twitter poll on who my protagonist should be which resulted in Marina being chosen as my champion. Marina is an eighteen-year-old occultist who was born and raised in Prehevil. After receiving a strange letter from her father she rushes back home from her studies in Vatican City, the world's version of Rome. |
The game allows you to choose one out of eight playable characters each with their own unique backstory and abilities. After selecting your main character (MC) the game presents the player with a series of character history choices that will influence what skills and items they will have with them at the very start of the game. Marina is an occultist with otherworldly powers, so it only made sense for her to have the necromancy ability in my playthrough. I had a great amount of luck since she came equipped with various healing items but I recognize it was probably due to me choosing weenie hut jr. mode lol (I don't want to get so scared that I stop playing altogether.)
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| Termina provides an open world waiting to be explored. The town changes depending on what time of day it is (morning, afternoon, and night) along with which character is selected and whether other contestants remain alive or not. |
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| Every enemy is a puzzle. What might work for one might not for another resulting in the players learning strategies through trial and error. |
You have the option to skip the initial dream sequence which acts as a tutorial and a hint of what's to come. You encounter an enemy and depending on your actions you can either sweet talk your way out of a confrontation or enrage him which will result in a battle. Battles are intense, both player and enemy can attack each other's hitpoints which are divided throughout their bodies. Limbs can be cut off, torsos can be stabbed and heads can be sawed off. If you lose your arms and legs in battle they will not respawn and you'll be forced to move forward as such. If you lose your legs you'll have to crawl and without arms, you can't wield weapons or shields to defend yourself. Your torso and head are weak spots and you can end up with a game over when your body points are depleted. Attacks can also result in status ailments such as bleeding, infection, poison, nausea, etc. all of which can affect party members' agility in battle and worsen their health as time passes leaving them more susceptible to death. There are no levels or experience points (EXP) here. Killing an enemy is a gamble as the loot they drop might not be valuable or enough to replenish what was lost in battle.
Additionally, you have to be conscious of your mind and hunger meters *cough* fear and hunger *cough*. Much like real life, how close you are to being hungry is determined by how much time has passed since your last meal and how much energy has been exerted. Mind is both a sanity meter and a source of mana. It is influenced by disturbing circumstances such as wandering in the darkness for prolonged periods, being confronted by an enemy who agitates a party member's particular phobia, or through magic spells. As more members are recruited into your party, the more resources you'll have to scout for to ensure they are all well-fed, sane, and equipped for battle. This is a resource management game so you'll have to be smart in how you expend items.
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| Per'kele, Rher's servant greets the player after rescuing them from a nightmare. |
As I'm typing this entry I've only played the same game file twice for less than an hour. On my first try, I was incredibly lucky. I successfully defeated The Janitor without hardship and took his weapon which was a small upgrade from the kitchen knife Marina was equipped with. Much of the loot I found was generous. I ended up finding at least seven meat pies which restores ninety hunger points along with various healing items such as bandages and different colored vials. I made it to Preheival and defeated multiple villagers without losing any limbs despite their knives. It was great but unfortunately, I fell asleep, and as I was shifting around I must have exited the game by accident. Oops. It was in this playthrough that I managed to talk to some of the villagers and learned that despite their transformations some still retain traces of their humanity and it only makes fighting them more disturbing. The description box shared in great detail how one villager was aware that attacking the MC is wrong yet in his desperation and confusion he convinces himself that there is no other way of survival. In many RPGs, the enemies we encounter are either demons, zombies that lose their souls to serve some prince of darkness or other creatures born from an unspeakable evil that must be destroyed yet in this world we're made to witness the horrors that can infect anyone.
The second time I wasn't so lucky. Something I haven't mentioned before is that the items scattered around on the map are randomized. Instead of finding medicines and food items I instead came across cursed items like dirty toilet paper which does stop bleeding but at the risk of infecting the player. I took the time to greet the other contestants including Henryk who upon interaction made a sexually inappropriate comment towards another participant before letting teen-aged Marina know that his thirty-two fossil age is single. Unfortunately for him, I was curious enough to see what would happen if I killed another contestant in front of the other participants, and I hate misogynist pigs so . . . ¯\_(ใ)_/¯
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| Henryk didn't hesitate to attack. I wonder if this is due to his nature or if all contestants will fight you to the death when provoked despite being amicable just moments earlier. |
After the battle, the other participants will surround the MC and tie them up. When you're in this situation there's nothing you can do besides try to struggle out of the ropes until you get tired and have the option to sleep to accelerate time. Throughout the following days, different contestants will approach the MC and inquire about their actions. No matter what you say it doesn't seem like you'll be let out before the final day at nighttime. The weird thing is that as you're tied up different contestants will die offscreen - I'm assuming there are ways to save them which is something I'm keeping in mind before rebooting the game a third time.
I tried my luck in defeating The Woodsman but died terribly when I failed the coin flip. The coin flip is a mechanic which is initiated during special enemy attacks, and when finding a chest - creating a heads or tails scenario where the choice a player makes determines whether the encounter is successful or not.
Needless to say, I'm excited about what other interactions and secrets I'll unlock as I explore the multiple avenues the story has to offer. My interest in the lore and laws of the world has only incremented except this time it's accompanied by a sense of dread since I now know the challenges that lie ahead in my quest. I really like Marina as a character, and I'm looking forward to enhancing her magical abilities. The only downside is that she doesn't have much physical strength so I hope I can find a way to recruit Abella who is a mechanic along with the Jotaro-looking fellow who I know can throw mean punches. I want to say that I'll upload an updated entry once I reach an ending but who knows how long that'll take so no promises. Thank you all for taking the time in reading my review and like always I hope y'all have sweet dreams tonight ๐๐ (Don't let the moonlight scorch you ๐)
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