Ever find yourself screaming in frustration at the seemingly ridiculous antics of a character in your favorite comic? What if instead of a mere casual observer you were in control of that character’s poor choices? Developer, Gamechuck has foolishly entrusted gamers with this awesome power in their new project, All You Can Eat.
Recently released on Steam, All You Can Eat is an new kind of interactive comic. One where player’s choices shape the very panels of reality. The game mimics the traditional 3 panel structure of the daily comics from ‘Ye Old Newspaper days. Talking, using objects, and picking up items create new comic panels to further the story.
Players take control of an intrepid protagonist. After securing an All You Can Eat coupon for a local diner he quits his job and moves in to fully devote himself to his freeloading lifestyle. His loitering is interrupted when he finds out the diner will be closing, for good. From here, players embark on a quest of questionable proportions as they traverse the city in search of a solution.
Drawing Out The Humor IRL
As the story unfolds every action creates a new panel of the comic, pulling from hundreds of unique hand-drawn possibilities to create a personalized version of this epic tale. This version is then exported as a printable PDF at the conclusion of the game.
The off-beat humor comes across as more fun than forced and the relatively short playtime makes it easy to explore all outcomes. Some users had issues with how quickly the game scrolls between panels, but the developers have already added a ‘Still Camera’ option to correct this. Combined with a ridiculously low price-point (seriously, only $1.99) this is one of the most relentlessly clever projects I’ve seen this month. Get All You Can Eat on Steam or itch.io.
