Consume Me
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Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Consume Me
Jenny Jiao Hsia's dazzling, semi-autobiographical tale of teenage life finds wit and warmth in its WarioWare weirdness, even as it deals with difficult themes.
Consume Me is teeming with creativity and personality, and for that, it's earned a special place in my heart.
A teenage slice-of-life tale, an energy-management challenge and a satire of diet culture – this indie award-winner is a flavoursome treat
Consume Me offers an inventive take on narrative design in gaming. In how it blends mechanics and story, it uses the power of the medium to create something that's uniquely engaging and empathetic, and leaves a lasting impact that helps to cement it as one of the year's best indies.
There is a lot to love in Consume Me; ironically, the game’s main issue is that it doesn’t have enough bite. Even still, the narrative is deeply relatable, the art style engrossing, and the minigames are more than enough fun to keep you entertained throughout the entire runtime.
Despite its incredible presentation and interesting ideas about narrator reliability varying through story and gameplay, Consume Me’s ending left me wondering what the entire experience was for.
Consume Me reminded me of my own teenage dramas, even though I had radically different experiences than the protagonist, proving that the themes it addresses about growing up, maturing, and feeling pressured about one's appearance are universal. It's packed with fun minigames, has a great sense of humor, and interesting time-management mechanics. Some UI elements can be tricky, and some of the themes it covers aren't handled well, but it definitely deserves the recognition it's earned.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Jenny, AP, Jie, Violet, and Ken provide a package so genuinely aligned in message, tone, and style that the experience hits in almost magical ways. Each of its crunchy-satisfying sound effects makes the minigames all the more enjoyable. The '90s vibey chiptune soundtrack from coda amplifies the chaos of our teenage try-hard's life up to 11. And Jenny and Jie's art is the sealing piece that makes the cutesy-chaotic charm of her complicated life so enjoyable to watch unfold. Consume Me is a stunning achievement in transporting the player into another's shoes. And in remembering how impossibly rude we are to ourselves when we're young. It'll make you laugh, cry, and cringe. It'll test your patience and force you to reflect on the same kinds of life choices you make/have made/and will still make. It is the kind of art piece that uses all the trappings of the medium to transcend into something else entirely.
