The first time I heard about Fear & Hunger, I was immediately intrigued. I have always been drawn to games that feel unforgiving, where one mistake can cost everything and this game fully embraces that idea.
It is brutally difficult. Every battle and major decision relies on RNG, and even the weakest enemies can end your run. But beyond the difficulty, there is something deeper that makes it compelling. It is the overwhelming sense of hopelessness, paired with the need to survive using whatever little resources you have in a cruel, medieval dungeon with no morality makes Fear & Hunger unforgettable.
Content Warning: Fear & Hunger explores heavy themes including gore, violence, substance abuse, self-harm, and sexual violence. This article discusses these topics within the context of the game’s lore.
What is Fear & Hunger?
Fear & Hunger (F&H) is a 2018 2D horror dungeon crawler developed by Finnish indie developer Miro Haverinen.
The game is set in a dark medieval world around the year 1590. It draws inspiration from works like Silent Hill and Berserk, combining psychological horror with dark fantasy.
The world of F&H consists of several regions like the Kingdom of Rondon, Oldegård, The Eastern Sanctuaries, and the ancient buried city of Ma’habre.
At the center of the story is the Dungeon of Fear and Hunger, a fortress built above Ma’habre. Inside, humans, monsters, and remnants of gods all seek something.
The Old Gods and the Creation of the World
Before humanity, lizardmen ruled the earth. During this primordial era, the Old Gods shaped reality itself.
Some of the seven out of the ten known Old Gods include:
- Gro-Goroth: God of destruction, blood, sacrifice, and pain
- Sylvian: Goddess of love, creation, flesh, and lust
- Rher: The trickster Moon God who still observes the world
- God of the Depths: A giant god and the dungeon itself
- Vinushka: God of nature, child of Gro-Goroth and Sylvian
- Alll–Mer: A human who ascended to godhood, heavily inspired by Jesus Christ
- Sulfur God: Born from Alll-Mer’s discarded hatred
Gro-goroth and Sylvian were the two foundation old gods that shaped the world. Most of the old gods except Rher have long left the mortal world. Only fragments or ‘traces’ of them remain.
All-mer was originally a human but ascended to godhood by throwing all his hatred-filled parts into the sulfur pits which gave birth to the Sulfur God. He was raised by a virgin mother, gathered twelve apostles, crucified in a cross and resurrected. After ressurection, he slayed the Kings and Sultans who killed him. His cult becomes the largest following of humanity.
Most Old Gods have abandoned the mortal world. Only traces of their existence remain. Rher is the exception, continuing to observe and manipulate humanity. His influence can mutate humans into monstrous forms.
The New Gods from the Fellowship
After the Old Gods left, human civilization began to decay. Corruption and loss of purpose spread across kingdoms.
In the year 809, a group of five known as the Fellowship traveled to Ma’habre to confront the gods and claim independence for humanity. Inside the Golden Temple, they discovered the Throne of Ascension. All four except Nosramus chose to ascend.
The New Gods differ fundamentally from the Old Gods. They are mortals who gained immortality and power beyond human limits but they can be injured, killed, or forced into dormancy if their influence fades or they voluntarily do so by moving into the Hall of New Gods.
1. Francóis — The Dominating One
A tyrannical ruler who took control of the Golden Temple. He guarded the throne and refused to allow successors.
2. Nilvan — The Endless One
Nilvan believed in humanity’s boundless potential and that persistence and effort can achieve anything.
Eventually, Nilvan acknowledged the inevitable end of her own reign. Desperate to maintain her influence, she visited Le’garde in his dreams and conceived a child with him. That child is the unnamed Girl found in a cage at the beginning of the game.
Nilvan’s plan was ultimately for her daughter to be taken to the Heart of Darkness at the dungeon’s lowest point and ascend as a god equal to or greater than the Old Gods, a true Ascended God who would carry her legacy.
3. Valteil — The Enlightened One
Valteil became the master of Ma’habre’s Grand Libraries and was Obsessed with creating artificial life. His experiments failed, leading him to despair and eventual suicide. He created Uteruses and the God of Flies as experiments. Despite centuries of study, he never achieved his goal.
Valteil descended into despair, convinced that true enlightenment was unattainable and that ascending had been a terrible mistake. He ultimately chose to end his own life.
His predecessor was Nas’hrah, but he rejected the full New Godhood and instead achieved a lesser form of godhood. The Fellowship’s subsequent New Gods eventually killed him for disrupting the system by cutting off his head. Nas’hrah survives decapitation, existing as a severed, immortal, floating head.
4. Chambara (Ronn) — The Tormented One
He represented suffering and divinity found in pain. Chambara serves as a boss in the dungeon’s lower depths.
5. Nosramus — The Forgotten One
The only member who refused ascension. He recognized the throne as a trap and chose to remain human.
Le’garde and the Midnight Sun Knights
Le’garde is a central figure in the story. He led a mercenary group known as the Knights of the Midnight Sun.
As Le’garde’s power grew, the Kingdom of Rondon began to view him as a threat. Le’garde, meanwhile, had a secret plan to ascend to godhood as a new god.
He orchestrated a raid on Oldegård village to retrieve the Cube of the Depths, then allowed himself to be captured by Rondon forces and imprisoned in the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger.
Upon capture, the knights of the midnight sun were killed by the Rondon kingdom except for its sole female survivor D’arce Cataliss who wanted to rescue Le’garde from imprisonment.
Captain Rudimer and Le’garde’s Imprisonment
The Dark Priests were eventually granted access to the dungeon by high-ranking officials to perform rituals on prisoners.
By April of 1590, madness began spreading through the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger, driving the guards mad. Captain Rudimer, the man in charge, of Le’garde’s imprisonment and the dungeon was consumed by the madness.
He traded the Cube of the Depths to the cavedwellers for supplies, then succumbed to madness himself becoming the Crow Mauler.
- Iron Shakespeare was sent in by Rondon to restore order but also lost his mind.
- A search party led by Crown Prince Buckman with three other members including Ser Seymor, Jeanne, and Ser Seril was also unsuccessful. The player can choose to rescue them, have them killed, or have a failed marriage of flesh between Buckman and Ser Seymor.
Marriage of Flesh – a Sylvian sex ritual done in the name of Sylvian that if successful, physically merges two beings into one and possesses traits of both
All Playable Characters
1. Cahara — The Mercenary
Cahara was born in the capital of the Eastern Sanctuaries, Jettaiah, a bastard child abandoned by his parents at birth. To survive, he became a pickpocket, burglar, or merchant, before eventually abandoning a mundane life for mercenary armies. He joined a notorious highwayman and spent years pillaging across the continent before settling in Rondon, working in its criminal underworld.
Motivation: In Rondon, Cahara fell into a relationship with Celeste, a prostitute and becomes pregnant with his child. Desperate to free her and build a real life, Cahara accepted a contract to enter the Dungeons and collect the bounty on Le’garde’s head.
Possibly Canon Ending:
- Ending A (Canon): Cahara escorts the nameless Girl to the Altar of Darkness and dies when she ascends into the God of Fear and Hunger.
- S Ending: Cahara escapes the dungeon with great treasure and uses the fortune to buy Celeste’s freedom. They settle in a grand manor. However, Cahara suffers from severe PTSD and fear of the dark.
2. D’arce Cataliss — The Knight
D’arce Cataliss was born and raised to become a holy knight of the Kingdom of Rondon. She underwent rigorous training from youth, becoming a skilled warrior and an invaluable asset to Rondon’s military. Over time, she recognized the hypocrisy between Rondon’s divine mission and the reality that only the elite benefited from conquest. She considered leaving, but her family threatened to disown her.
Motivation: To save his leader Le’garde who she ramins loyal to.
Possibly Canon Ending:
- Ending C (Yellow King): D’arce assists Le’garde in reaching the Throne of Ascension.
- S Ending (Canon): D’arce finds Le’garde dead in his cell and uses the Rebirth of the Beloved spell to resurrect him. Le’garde rises from his shed skin as a fleshy, monstrous figure who becomes evil. D’arce, still at his side, considers the reunion a success unable to see what he has become. In F&H Termina, Le’garde appears as the Kaiser with a skinless, monstrous true form.
3. Enki Ankararian — The Dark Priest
Enki is a scholar and occultist. From a young age, his innate hunger for knowledge was recognized, and he was selected to become a Dark Priest. The dark priesthood’s initiation rites was brutal and Enki was forced into a fight to the death with his own sister.
Motivation: By the time of the game’s events, Enki has failed to attain the enlightenment he has spent his life seeking. His goal is to use Le’garde’s path to ascension as a means of achieving his own transcendence.
Possibly Canon Ending:
S Ending: Enki sits on the Throne of Ascension but uses a magical soul anchor to resist its full transformation. He rejects godhood and creates a permanent residence in the Grand Library of Ma’habre. There, he discovers secrets to unnaturally prolonging his life. Enki’s survival is directly confirmed in Termina as he authored the Skin Bibles, texts describing the God of Fear and Hunger and the events of the first game.
4. Ragnvaldr — The Outlander
Ragnvaldr is a warrior of the Kingdom of Oldegård, a northern nation of skilled sailors and iron-willed fighters. Ragnvaldr participated in an expedition to Vinland, returning with the Cube of the Depths, the artifact that would eventually bring destruction to his village.
Motivation: When Le’garde’s Knights of the Midnight Sun raided Ragnvaldr’s village to steal the Cube, they killed his loved ones. When Ragnvaldr returned he seeked to get revenge on Le’garde.
Possibly Canon Ending:
S Ending (Canon): Ragnvaldr must defeat nearly every major enemy in the dungeon, collecting all unique souls, and Le’garde must die. After escaping, Ragnvaldr takes Moonless (a tamable and special, four-eyed wolf-like creature) outside the dungeon and embarks on a legendary monster-hunting career. The two eliminate so many creatures that people begin to doubt the monsters ever existed. Moonless experiences growth spurts until she is the size of a T-rex, becoming a beloved guardian of Ragnvaldr’s lineage for generations. This ending is confirmed canonical by Termina, where Moonless appears as a potential encounter and is referred to as a family friend by Ragnvaldr’s descendant August.
All Other Normal Endings
There are in total six endings in the game with S endings being unique and specific endings per character.
| Ending | Outcome |
| A | The Girl ascends as the God of Fear and Hunger. The protagonist dies. The Cruel Age begins. |
| B | The Traces of Gro-goroth attack the party. Surviving long enough triggers a monologue — then the Old God’s incomprehensible knowledge kills the protagonist. |
| C | Le’garde ascends to godhood and 100 years pass for him by the time the protagonist finds him in the void. |
| C-II | The protagonist ascends as a New God. |
| D | Enki sits on the throne and sees the god he would become and uses a soul anchor to resist and maintain his sense of self. He takes up eternal residence in the library. |
| E | The protagonist flees the dungeon, choosing survival over destiny. |
The God of Fear and Hunger
The unnamed Girl is the daughter of Nilvan (the New God) and Le’garde. She was born and raised entirely within the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger, spending her early life in a cage on the dungeon’s first level. She knows nothing but misery and suffering.
The Cruel Age
The ascension of the God of Fear and Hunger marks the beginning of the Fourth Age of History, known as the Cruel Age.
Her existence and the fear and suffering she represents now drives humanity forward. The Cruel Age is defined by never-before-seen industrial and technological growth as humanity strives to escape the darkness she embodies. In the game’s broader arc, this is the beginning of the modern world: the cruelty of the medieval age gives birth to industry, science, and the new era.
Fear & Hunger: Termina
It’s 1942, months after the Second Great War. Fourteen passengers on a train are stranded in Prehevil, a rotting Eastern European town already mid-collapse. Before they arrive, a grinning entity named Per’kele visits them in a shared dream informing them they are now contestants in the Festival of Termina orchestrated by Rher, the trickster Moon God. Kill or be killed within three days. The town’s residents have moonscorched into monsters. Three festivals have stacked on top of each other. The Kaiser (Le’garde) is running a secret godhood experiment beneath everything. Per’kele himself secretly serves not the Rher , but the Sulfur God. Nobody’s motives are what they appear.
Play the Game: You can buy the game Fear & Hunger for $7.99 (₱249.95) and the sequel Fear & Hunger: Termina $11.99 (₱349.95) on Steam.
References:
1. Fear & Hunger Official Wiki (wiki.gg): Timeline, The Gods, Endings, Character Pages (Cahara, Enki, Nilvan, Valteil, Le’garde, Ragnvaldr)
2. Fear & Hunger Tormentpedia (Fandom Wiki): History of the Setting, The Gods, D’arce, Cahara, Ragnvaldr, Endings
3. Wikipedia: Fear & Hunger
4. TV Tropes: Fear and Hunger, Characters Old Gods (Fear & Hunger) — Villains Wiki (Fandom) VS Battles Wiki Forum — Fear and Hunger Discussion Thread
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