Lunch Lady

Lunch Lady - Survive a Cafeteria Freakshow with Friends!

Search for your exam answers while avoiding your cafeteria's lunch lady!

A Brilliant Spin on the Horror Genre

In a world where exams feel like a major nightmare, you are about to seek out the answers in hopes of getting a high score. Stealing them won't be easy, because when you're in the survival-horror game Lunch Lady (developed by Manic Mice), the titular antagonist will murder you if you're not careful! You and up to 4 friends are going to need all the luck in obtaining all 10 test answers in this twisted yet creative horror game available on Windows PC!

The Creepy Concept

As mentioned before, Lunch Lady puts you in a new perspective of the school setting any student might have once had. Its objective requires you to find all 10 answers for your exam in a murky school environment that'll take players back to all the school rumors they once spread. More importantly, it'll be a test at how fast you can be at surviving this horror game, so don't stick around so long when there's a possessed lunch lady after you!

Rating: 4/5

Ghouly Graphics and Acrimonious Audio

While some would call it a parody of the tryhard, edgy nature of horror games in general, there is still a bit of a spook factor within Lunch Lady's settings; the more interesting aspect of it all comes from the aforementioned familiarity some would have with the school rumors they shared in recess. The halls, cafeteria, kitchen, and classrooms each share a dank atmosphere that gives off a threat to anyone who shouldn't trespass, and despite having a more cartoony look than the average horror game, it still possesses the same fear factor that makes for a creative combination of graphics in Lunch Lady.

As for the audio, it's another interesting mix of sounds that end up being humorous yet spine-chilling at the same time. Whether you're hearing footsteps while holding your flashlight or are listening to the eerie music, you know Lunch Lady accomplishes everything with its unsettling tone and vague flashbacks to how scary school would become. Together, the graphics and audio are a force to be reckoned with towards the unprepared, especially if they want to stray away from the creepy aspects of their elementary school.

Rating: 4/5

Gameplay Worth Dying For

As a survival-horror game, Lunch Lady puts 1-4 players in the creepy school as they seek any clues that can get them to the answers of their exams; 10 pages need to be collected, and other collectible items are waiting to be found as well. Every time a level is completed, players will have to be on the lookout for wherever the lunch lady is located so as to avoid her, especially when time is as much as an enemy as the progressively stronger antagonist.

Keys are used to unlock doors while medkits are available to heal players; being a game that requires tactical skills, players need to be smart in order to avoid any pitfalls and use their paths wisely. Apart from where the items spawn, Lunch Lady has 3 difficulty modes on top of an increasingly unpredictable AI for the main enemy. Co-op players are able to use proximity voice chat to hear each other plan their moves or scream, though it is worth mentioning that flashing lights and unsuitable violence may not be appropriate for certain ages.

Rating: 4/5

The Final Conclusion

Lunch Lady is a brilliant spin on the horror genre thanks to its setting and the connection it has to those vague echoes of a time where recess rumors were passed on from student to student. The dark atmosphere of the game and the mission of getting the answers for your exam while also avoiding the lunch lady is one of the most frightening ways to twist the formula of survival-horror games rather than rinse and repeat the same tropes other games have. On top of that, the different respawn locations and the difficulty of the lunch lady's AI keep players wanting to revisit the game more than expected!

Replay Value: 4/5

TL;DR

Lunch Lady is a one-of-a-kind spin on prior horror games and results in an addictive yet creepy title on Steam.