You are dead. But your soul remains in an increasingly nightmarish world. Who were you? What will you uncover with the time you have left? Can you avoid the harvest of your soul?
—Haunted PS1 Demo Disc: Spectral Mall description
Mortal Meal is a Horror/Adventure Game by Goblin Council, the development team behind Cleansuit. You are dead, and your ghost has no recollection of how they died or who they were. They must figure out who they were and what their Ghostly Goals are, lest their soul gets snatched by a malicious candle-holding specter.
Mortal Meal was featured as part of the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc: Spectral Mall collection, before releasing as a standalone full game on February 16th, 2023 on Steam and Itch.
Mortal Meal contain examples of:
- The '90s: The game is implied to take place in the late 90s, due to the technology present and some of the comments that the ghost makes in the computer store.
- Accidental Murder: After escaping from the malicious entity for the first time and making it outside from the bistro, he witnesses a hit-and-run when a dog runs in front of a car that swerves into a pedestrian, and the Ghastly Ghost gets distracted from the fresh soul which buys the player time before it shows up again. The other ghost the player meets soon after is revealed to be the driver, who fatally crashed soon after driving away.
- Asshole Victim: The driver refuses to cooperate with Morgan and makes very sarcastic comments. While he shows guilt over finding out the person he ran over died, he tried to pass it off as merely grazing him and refuses to accept responsibility. Little tears are shed once the soul-stealing entity catches him.
- Bittersweet Ending: The main character is still dead, but he is able to make peace after performing his Ghostly Goals, and the entity chasing him winds up sparing him, allowing him to reunite with his boyfriend.
- Creator Cameo: Most of the ensemble cast of characters are scanned faces of the development team of Goblin Council. Two of them get the Death by Cameo treatment, as well.
- Dark Is Evil: The wraith is surrounded by a black fog, and is the primary antagonist to the player.
- Deadpan Snarker: The ghost makes some sarcastic remarks, especially toward his own dead body when he finally comes across it. The driver and Sang-jun are no slouches, either.
- Dead to Begin With: The plot kicks off by the ghost being disturbed when a dog runs off with his heart.
- Death by Despair: Later revealed to be the ghost's cause of death, neglecting to take his heart medication on his walk to the picnic on the anniversary of the day he and Sang-jun met.
- Dirty Coward: The driver, in addition to the Asshole Victim example above, tries to run away from his problems rather than trying to achieve his Ghostly Goals. He doesn't get very far.
- Double-Meaning Title: The game's title has a duel-meaning:
- If the player dies to the malevolent spirit, their soul is absorbed into it, becoming yet another meal.
- The ghost's Unfinished Business involves making their Trademark Favorite Food and leaving it as tribute on Sang-jun's grave.
- Eldritch Location: The Spirit World is one of these, like the living world but darker, falling apart, and becoming increasingly incomprehensible as the game continues.
- Evolving Title Screen: The title screen changes from a shot focusing on the candle in the bistro, to the graveyard, with the candle having two blue flames.
- Ghastly Ghost: While subverted for the main character and the other ghost he meets, the candle-holding one plays this straight with its single-minded goal of devouring souls and taking on their appearance.
- Ghost Amnesia: The ghost begins the story not remembering their life or the circumstances around their dead, and the early part of the story is piecing the story together in order to understand what his Ghostly Goals are.
- Given Name Reveal: Through flashbacks and later a sympathy card, the player's name is revealed as Morgan.
- Innocent Bystander: One suffers a particularly nasty fate, not only being hit by a swerving car, but then immediately having his soul taken.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: An Invoked Trope; the ghost starts off as a blue specter, but the more the ghost remembers his former life, the more he looks like his living self, including the clothes he was wearing when he died.
- LOL, 69: One of the prompts to unlock the computer in the store asks "what number are they thinking of," and given that the numbers 6 and 9 are highlighted in orange, the answer is this. Lampshaded by a nearby note from a disgruntled employee.
- The Lost Lenore: The man in the photo that the ghost finds in his wallet is revealed to be his late boyfriend, Oh Sang-jun. Morgan could not function after losing him, leading to a Death by Despair.
- The Lost Woods: It can be assumed that the woods the ghost walks through is not normally this, but in the spirit world he is trapped in, it becomes this with the ground cracking away, hands trying to grab at him, and demons prowling around.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The ghost still has some of his senses back, including feel and smell, to his chagrin when grabbing his heart and smelling the odor of a pile of trash. He is also too tangible still, as he finds he can't pass through solid objects. In place of a heart is a wisp, which is used to highlight interactive objects.
- Picnic Episode: The ghost finds his body alone at a picnic set up by a lake. It was something he and Sang-jun did often.
- Press X to Not Die: If grabbed by the hands, the player has to quickly mash a button before they are Dragged Off to Hell. On Hard Mode, they have to mash even faster.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The ghost remembers that it is seolleongton, his favorite dish that he used to make with Sang-jun. This trope is then enforced when Morgan realizes that leaving it as tribute is his Unfinished Business.
- Together in Death: After being spared by the spirit, Morgan allows himself to become another flame on the candle. Since there are now two flames, it is more than implied he has reunited with Sang-jun.
- Trash of the Titans: The state that the ghost finds his house to be in, with garbage and clothes littering the floor. It is later revealed to be a Mess of Woe, as Morgan could barely function after losing Sang-jun.
- Unfinished Business: The main character is convinced that they have to find what this goal is if they want to move onto the afterlife, before their soul is taken. They later settle on making seolleongton, his and Sang-jun's favorite recipe, and leave it by the latter's grave.
- Unlockable Difficulty Levels: One of the CDs the player can find unlocks hard mode, where enemies move faster, and the player has less time to escape if grabbed by the hands.
- Walking Spoiler: The ghost says that the photo of the man in his wallet must have been important, and he isn't kidding. Not only is he revealed to be the ghost's late lover, finding this out also leads to remembering his own name, and kicking off the second half of the plot.
- Whispering Ghosts: The warning for when the Ghastly Ghost is chasing the player; the creepy whispering and wailing from its previous victims.
- Whodunnit to Me?: The ghost finds his body and worries if he was murdered, especially with the grisly state of his body and that there is a picnic set for two, but it is subverted.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The candle-holding specter absorbs the disembodied spirits whenever it catches up to them, including the pedestrian and later the driver, and the player for a One-Hit Kill if they get caught.
- Zombie Puke Attack: The giant heads will projectile vomit onto the player, damaging them if they're in their path.
