Video Game / Tribal Hunter

Hunt, Eat, and Grow! Be quick and nimble or Large and in Charge!

Tribal Hunter is a Metroidvania game where size matters.

The tribe of Mystic Island once enjoyed a utopic life on their homeland of Mystic Island. Nature was thriving, food was plentiful, and travelers from around the world came, enriching each others lives with exotic goods. Unfortunately, that peace and prosperity has been interrupted by invading forces such as the greedy Pigs and Fish Pirates who have claimed land on the island as their own and begin harassing and attacking the native islanders. Desperate for a hero to save them, the village prays to the spirits for help, and one appears in the form of Munch, a guardian hunter spirit who's inhabited a doll made by the elder's granddaughter. Armed with his bare hands, spiritual magic, and insatiable, ravenous hunger, his goal is to free his home island from the Invading Pigs, Fish Pirates, and the Tyrannical Lord Darkdread.

The game was originally released in Early Access in 2021, with the full version being launched on August 21, 2022. It was developed by Melonsoda Soft. The game's art is done by the artist Skyox.

Tribal Hunter is a game built to appeal to fans of tropes such as the Inflating Body Gag, being Swallowed Whole, and other size related tropes. Unlike other games of this intent, Tribal Hunter weaves everything naturally into the gameplay loop to design a fully featured adventure. The game is available to purchase both on Humble Bundle and Steam, with the soundtrack available as a separate purchase.

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Tribal Hunter contains examples of:

• Ability Required to Proceed: Three abilities in particular are required to progress in the game: Wall Jump, which is obtained very early on and is required for a lot of areas, Ground Slam, which is required to get to the Slime Caves, and Weight level 4, which is heavy enough to press down on a weighted switch at the beginning of the Crystal Mines.
• Acrofatic: The only thing that seems to grow slower with size is Munch's punches(and even then there's an item and a food buff which increases the speed of them). His running speed and jumping ability are unaffected, though at higher weights he can't grab walls anymore. Many Enemies and Bosses are also much quicker than you'd expect.
• Aerith and Bob: You've got names like Yisya, Killsha, and Boarus alongside Jack and Laura.
• A Father to His Men: The kobold guard in the castle claims that Darkdread gave him food and a job, is a big softie, and also shares his mother's cookies with everyone. Munch doesn't buy it due how hostile Darkdread was towards him.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gender-inverted. The honest business owner Jack has a (one-sided) crush on the pirate captain Killsha.
• All There in the Script: Several characters have names that are never mentioned in the game and are only found through the Steam achievements descriptions.^{Character list}  Toria (the pirate dragon), Katsu (the fox rival to Munch), and Wave (optional boss).
• Anatomy of the Soul: When the island's spirit obliterated the ancient civilization that destroyed the island's giant tree, the survivors split the spirit in two; the spirit's dark side (their anger and rage) was sealed away while the light half (regret and sorrow) went on to repent for their actions while also making sure their dark half stayed sealed. The true ending path has Munch break the seal so the two halves can merge and be vulnerable to Munch's attacks, which calms it down after he defeats it.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: After saving the missing artist Guildmaster, Munch gains access to their dye shop where he can buy new color schemes for him to wear. Also, upon finding the Explorers' Guild camp you can talk with the Guildmaster to swap out Munch's regular outfit with the Explorer outfit.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • During the point before you fight the True Final Boss, Key and the cowkeeper will make their products and upgrades free of charge so that the player isn't totally screwed if they have no money to stock up on items before the final battle.
  • The Mushroom Radar item is the cheapest item to get from Key's shop after he upgrades it, and it can help you find those hard to locate mushrooms throughout the game.
  • Upon dying and respawning, any EXP obtained will be kept and any items that were used will be given back so that you don't have to backtrack to the village to stock up again.
  • The Ancient Path is the final area you go through before reaching the Final Boss. All enemies in the zone gives you a ton of EXP so that you can easily upgrade your abilities and be better prepared for the final battle. The infinite supply of milk from Super Cow also gives the player a way to heal without having to backtrack to the village.
• Ass Shove: During Munch's training sequence with Master Sifu to unlock Size 6, Sifu plugs an air pump's hose up Munch's rear and begins pumping him with air through it.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Lord Darkdread, also Munch at his larger sizes.
• Author Appeal: One look at Skyox's body of work reveals that this game is a very self-indulgent product. While there's a big variety of enemies, there's more enemies that are dragon types compared to everything else.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The final weight level that's unlocked around endgame. While now you can hold up to 1500 pounds in your belly, if you go over 1000 you're now a sitting duck, as you're now too big to stand. It's noted in game that the weight level is more for using your spells, increasing the rate you can shoot out spells and speeds up the rate of charging your spells if you have the Charge ability unlocked, but you're also locked into the direction you were facing when you hit past 1000, so unless your back was to the wall you will miss enemies with your spells. There's also the fact that making Munch immobile from his huge size makes him a sitting duck against enemies and obstacles that are trying to force feed him, which can make him pop quickly unless you're fast enough to burn the excess fat to shrink Munch down to a smaller size.
  • In the mobility sense the large set of weight levels (basically weight level 4 and 5) are these due to how they lock you out of a fair bit of areas, either being too tight (getting to these weight levels in tight areas will put Munch into a stuck animation until he either wiggles the weight off or bursts), or because you need to use wall jump which is locked out at those levels.
  • The Black Hole ability. While the prospect of eating nearly everything in your way without having to defeat them (Bosses and some enemies are immune to being sucked up), it does deny you the exp you would have gained had you defeated them normally. That and it can bite you in the rear if you try to take advantage of this ability when you're past 1000 fullness.
    • In the 1.0.0.8 patch it gained an extra effect where Munch doesn't have to worry about needing to swallow when force fed most of the time. This does make dealing with Chef enemies and other enemies that force feed themselves to Munch easier, as now they don't stop his momentum when he gets fed, but in certain situations this also turns against him as the swallow animation made those attacks only hit one at a time, and since the food projectiles have a lifespan the swallow animation did help with Munch not getting overwhelmed by them in later areas, thus still being a double-edged sword for Munch as the lack of psudo-stun caused by the food projectiles can be outweighed by the greater likelihood of being overwhelmed by slimes/food.
  • In general, being too big (aka. every weight level past weight level 3) will also make some fights more difficult because you're basically making yourself a bigger target.
• Badass Adorable: Due to the game's art style, most if not all of the characters who can fight are this, but Munch takes the cake with him going toe to toe with everything the island throws at him, despite being a spirit using a plushie as a body.
• Balloon Belly:
  • Munch starts out small and slim, but that quickly changes as he gobbles up people and snacks during his trek across the island. His belly swells the more he eats, starting from flat as a board to eventually bigger than most of the game’s characters. These are also sported by many enemies, particularly the ones who try to eat the player.
  • The boss battle against the pirate dragon is won by hitting the food fired from his canon back at her. She instantly eats any food that touches her. This eventually causes her belly to expand to the point where her shirt rips apart and the platform she’s on collapses under her weight. She seems happy with the arrangement though.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Munch wears a small kilt that begins to part away from his crotch as he gets bigger, revealing he didn't have much to hide to begin with. Justified, as Munch's body was once a cloth doll with no use for such anatomy.
• Beast Man: Mystic Island is populated by many different creatures with different animal-like appearances This includes Munch, the Pigs, the cow people, the Pirates, the Bee Folk and the Dragons. There are also tourists and visitors from other islands who come in the form of various anthro animals, as well as rabbit, cat, and raccoon people employed in the artist guild and adventuring guild.
• Become a Real Boy: In the True Ending, Munch is offered the choice between remaining the Guardian of Mystic Island, or to be turned into a human so he can live a normal life in the village. His decision is up to the player.
• Bee Afraid: The Bees found in the Hive, their Queen especially.
• Belly Flop Crushing: In his larger sizes, Munch's ground stomp attack takes this form, turning his belly downward and flopping on the ground with all his weight. His size 3 combo finisher also has him attack by puffing out his gut and punching with it.
• Big Bad: Lord Darkdread. He's actually being misled by the Spirit of the Island, who is the game's true villian.
• Big Beautiful Man & Big Beautiful Woman: There are many full figured characters, it's one of the game's main selling points.
• Big Boo's Haunt: The sixth area of the game, the Shadowlands. These ruins of a fallen kingdom is populated by vengeful ghosts, possessed dolls, vampiric bats, and armored wraiths. Munch can briefly take refuge from the danger and clear himself of curse energy by standing in the glow of lampposts.
• Big Eater: Most of the cast is either explicitly shown or implied to be this. Munch gets bigger and bigger the more he eats, multiple bosses fatten themselves up on food to fight him, and various NPCs discuss how they're more than willing to ruin their figures gorging themselves.
• Black-Hole Belly: Downplayed. Munch can devour a few fat pigs before he starts to gain any weight, and while he does get bigger and stretch out his stomach, it rarely accurately reflects the amount of food or people inside.
• Black Bead Eyes: Gordo the crocodile has these behind his sunglasses.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Munch has spells to take down his foes, but most can simply be punched to death, and in the early game they're more reliable as you won't have much capacity to use spells.
  • While playing at larger sizes can be fun, the more medium sizes are often more practical, as they are more mobile, have access to combo finishers, and give you a larger leeway when fighting enemies that can cause expansion.
• Bottomless Pit: There's a handful of them but are not a common element. Falling into one is instant death to Munch.
• Bubble Gun: Some enemies have this as attacks, namely the Air Elemental and the Water Dragon enemies which can inflate Munch. Optional Boss Wave has their own variant that sends out a large amount of bubbles when he uses his clap attack at lower health.
• Burp of Finality: Munch does one of these after swallowing any enemy. The bigger he becomes, the deeper the belch sound gets.
• The Cameo: Several characters are based on furry artists and fans who donated to the game's kickstarter or are part of the development team.
• Carnivore Confusion:
  • Despite the whole game revolving around eating your enemies, nobody in ever comments on the ethics of doing so. Munch consumes sapient, living people en masse, converts them into fat in his belly and uses them as fuel for magic or to heal himself, and nobody calls him out on the number of lives that have vanished down his gullet. It is, however, addressed in some of the comics, with the implication being that the creatures are let out later with most of their excess body weight stripped away.
  • The Pigs try to fatten up and eat To-Ri, and the Alpha's Wolf Pack seems to be hunting down the Pigs as food.
• Captain Ersatz: One of the patrons of the Village restaurant looks like an Lucario without the chest spike. Even though the character is a Kickstarter Backer's, considering Nintendo's stance on people using their property without permission, their design had to be changed.
• Cash Gate: When Munch defeats the Slime King, it offers him the ability to expand and hold more weight in exchange for 3000 coins. Likewise, Key needs 3000 coins to upgrade his shop before he can sell you upgrade items and the Mushroom Radar.
• Chubby Chaser: Jack toward Captain Killsha. He always found her attractive, but when she turns up at his food stand with a bloated belly the sharkman turns pink just looking at her. Talking to Sugar while Munch's weight is at stage 5 will have her hug his belly happily and say everyone should follow Munch's example of body size.
• Collision Damage: Bumping into enemies will get Munch hurt, but if he grows large enough, he can nullify the damage as well as push enemies around with his bulk.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Full Gauge that tracks Munch's stomach capacity fills with different colors based on what’s taking up space in there. Orange segments are food and enemies which deplete over time passively to give Munch HP and Exp, and can be spent to rapidly heal while resting or cast magic attacks. Blue segments represent air inflation from which depletes over time but gives Munch nothing in return. Green segments represent swallowed Slime, which cannot be digested unless resting at a checkpoint, but can be spat up if Munch is carrying at least 50 pounds of it. Purple segments represent Curse, which if Munch takes in too much causes him to be possessed and forced to do a Quick Time Event to force out the ghost while being forced to inflate himself, and can only be removed through this method or by being near certain lamps.
• Continuing is Painful: After dying and respawning, Munch's fullness meter starts at zero, so he'll have to find food and enemies to eat and bulk up again. Food benefits obtained from restaurants are also lost upon dying.
• Cool Old Lady: Granny, the owner of the village's restaurant. She's a pleasant, laid-back old woman who still goes on hunting trips on her own despite her age and isn't afraid to tell the Pigs off when they come bothering her.
• Creator Cameo: Kitora, who's one of the designers of the game (Most notably the designer for Lord Darkdread), appears as their 'sona of the same name running the flying course minigames.
• Crystal Landscape: The game's third area is the Crystal Mine, an underground hollow with pink crystals adorning the walls and gem-powered golems protecting subterranean treasures.
• Cute Little Fangs: Munch's teeth are depicted as such whenever he's riding on To-Ri's back.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Lord Darkdread, despite looking like a villain, isn't evil. He is mislead by the island spirit's dark side. Once Darkdread stops hearing its voice, he realizes the truth and helps Munch out.
• Death Is Cheap: If Munch dies, he simply comes back at the last checkpoint he visited.
• Developer's Foresight: If one somehow enables the debug menu (usually via modding the game's .win file) and warps to the north beach without having unlocked the method to get there normally, Gordo will tell you that you haven't unlocked him yet, therefore you must have warped there.
• Difficult, but Awesome: In combat sense, the 4th and 5th weight levels. Despite losing combo finishers the rapid pounding of Munch's fists is still very effective against projectiles, and for heavy damage one can just go for using his ground slam that can, if the enemy is large enough, bounce Munch back into the air for him to do another slam, and can be used rapidly for massive damage. The only issue is the fact that a lot of stages will have enemies that can inflate or feed Munch, and depending on how far in the story you are, you're not going to be able to take advantage of these sizes due to some stage's layouts involving tight passages, which these sizes can't fit in.
• Dimensional Traveler: Talk to Sugar enough times after the eating contest and she'll confess that she's not even from the same universe that Tribal Hunter takes place in.
• Double Jump: Munch earns this ability after eating a magic fruit he finds in Captain Killsha’s treasure hoard. Before he acquires it, he can also punch in mid-air to gain some additional momentum, though not to the same extent.
• Draconic Humanoid: Lord Darkdread when outside his True Form as well as the other dragons who appear throughout the game.
• Eating Contest: The sidequest for getting Munch's 5th weight level revolves around one. After meeting Sugar at the northern beach, she heads to the village to prep for the contest. After agreeing to take part in the contest, Munch goes up against To-Ri, Boarus, and Sunfire the dragon. The aftermath involves the latter 3 being wiped out and Munch still standing, now in his 4th weight level. Unfortunately, there's one piece of food left and Sugar tells Munch that he has to finish it off in order to win the contest, and upon doing so, pops. The rematch goes exactly the same, but this time thanks to the potion Key made Munch is able to both win the contest and atain his 5th weight level.
• Eating the Enemy: Goes for Munch and the many foes he encounters on his journey. After reducing most enemies to zero HP, Munch can suck them up and swallow them whole. After gaining the Black Hole ability, he can even do this without having to beat them first. Many enemies and bosses are also capable of devouring Munch, immobilizing him and filling him with substances like slime or honey.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Lord Darkdread has a good relationship with his mother, even though she doesn't take his supervillainy seriously. She refers to him as "Lord Chubtail" over the phone and seems to find his rounded figure adorable. He apparently has a favorite dinner recipe of her's: roast turkey with molten seasoning blend.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Lord Darkdread has a very deep sounding vocal grunt whenever he speaks.
• Expressive Accessory: Munch's face tattoo on his belly changes its expressions with Munch's mood, and when Munch is possessed by curse energy it's mouth starts to animate like it's sucking in air itself.
• Exposition Dump: The trek through the Ancient Path serves as a way to explain the history of the island via spirits of the past.
• Expressive Health Bar: Munch's icon in the top left corner changes depending on his current health and fullness. At low health he goes from confident to teary eyed and beaten, and at high fullness his cheeks puff out and he starts sweating from the strain on his belly.
• Expy: Munch is basically Skyox's persona with several design changes made for the game.
• Fattening the Victim:
  • The Pigs dismantle the island's trade system by luring the birdman who delivers mail To-Ri into 'retirement' where he gorges himself on delicious foods. Munch points out they're just getting him fattened up so they can eat him.
  • You can do the reverse to Vampire bats by letting them suck Munch's blood until their bellies burst out of their tuxedos. Feeding eggs to certain enemies and bosses can also make them fatter and sometimes easier to defeat.
• Feed It a Bomb: Spitting explosive eggs into certain enemies mouth can defeat them instantly, or at least disable them. It's also an alternative method for beating certain bosses.
• Forced Transformation: If Munch dies while his belly is saturated with slime, he'll transform into one himself before respawning.
• Force Feeding:
  • The slime enemies will do this to you by jumping into Munch's mouth, grabbing him and forcing slime down his throat, or in the case of the Slime King, entering his belly while small and rapidly expanding while inside. Pig Chef enemies also do this, with the black and red clad ones throwing flying cooked chickens (though the red one's projectile kinda resembles more of a cooked dragon) that seek Munch's mouth.
  • Ghost enemies curse and possess Munch by skipping the mouth and throat altogether and phasing directly into his belly.
  • Certain plants in the Piglands and Jungle can grab Munch by the head and force feed him slime unless he breaks free of its grip.
  • You can invoke this against certain enemies and bosses by stuffing eggs into their mouths.
• Food Porn: You WILL get hungry playing this game.
• Funny Animal: Most of the cast are anthropomorphic animals and creatures.
• Furry Confusion: Anthro dogs and normal dogs both exist with the former being just like everyone else in the game while the latter is a regular run of the mill dog that Munch can pet.
• Gaia's Vengeance: The ancient civilization that used to inhabit the island was completely annihilated by the island's spirit due to them cutting down the World Tree as well as greedily sapping it of its magic.
• Gangplank Galleon: The game's fourth region is Pirate Beach, where Captain Killsha and her pirate crew have taken claim to Mystic Island's north shore. The surf and sand are inhabited by beached pirate ships and guarded by fish pirates.
• Gemstone Assault: The Crystal Monsters in the mines, also the Ice Monsters high up in the mountain.
• Gentle Giant: Munch, in his larger sizes. While he's also a good example of Good Is Not Soft, he's very much a Nice Guy who's always happy to help his friends and he would rather talk things out with bosses instead of fighting.
• Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Obviously not the case for Munch or most enemies, but Slimes will actively jump into Munch's mouth, lodging themselves in his belly where they can't be (quickly) digested. This comes with a few pros and cons: Munch gets bigger and does more damage without passively burning fat, and his belly glows in dark areas. However, having even one slime worth (50 fullness) in your stomach causes them to override your magic abilities, as trying to cast just has you cough up a slime instead. Belching up slimes can be a good way to attack enemies if in a pinch, and they do count as a magic attack and are buffed by both Munch's skills and food buffs.
• Good Is Not Soft: Just because he's a benevolent spirit doesn't mean Munch can't and won't smash bad folks into the ground if he has to.
• Going Commando: Munch doesn't wear anything under his kilt, but he also doesn't really need to since his body was made from a doll.
• Graceful Loser: Beating the pirate dragon at the beach involves swatting his shot food back at him to force feed her. Once she gets too fat, she lazily surrenders and and admits it's not so bad being so large.
• Green Hill Zone: The Piglands, which serve as the first area of the game. It consists of green fields and steep cliffs with the occasional Pig village and fort.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Having Munch sitting down and holding the magic attack button burns his fat at a rapid pace to heal himself as well as gaining some EXP. What you aren't told is letting Munch sit down and not doing anything will have him burn his fat on his own at a slower rate but you'll gain much more EXP this way (about 1 point per 10 fullness burned).
  • Enemies that inhale air before unleashing their big attack is a hint for you to launch an egg in their mouths to fatten them up. The cow enemies are also vulnerable to being fattened up with force feeding but they don't inhale, which can confuse players who are seeking to unlock the achievement for fattening every enemy that be fattened up. Only when the cow tires itself and is panting is when you can pop an egg into its mouth.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Munch is a benevolent spirit who has a good heart and his body has blonde hair.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The first fight against Lord Darkdread is supposed to be a Hopeless Boss Fight due to how powerful he is and Munch not being strong enough at that point to fight him on even ground. Losing has Darkdread stuff Munch's spirit into a bottle to trap him, only for Fox Rival to break him free while snarking about Munch being weak. If you do manage to beat Darkdread, he'll get a cheap shot off Munch and beat him anyway, but Fox will be impressed by your skills and the room will spawn a treasure chest full of coins as your reward for winning. You'll also get an achievement if you win the fight.
• Healing Checkpoint: Checkpoints fully restore Munch's health as well as instantly removing any slime, air, or curse stored in his body.
• Healing Potion: Bottles of milk restore Munch's health, but also makes him fatter. Upgrading the milk's potency will heal him more as well as making him even fatter. The juice item can restore health without making Munch larger.
• Heal Thyself: Sitting down and holding the magic attack button will have Munch digest his stored fat to restore his health as well as burning his fat much quicker.
• Heavy Voice: Downplayed. Munch's dialogue sound doesn't get deeper as he fattens up, but the belch he releases after eating enemies does.
• Hornet Hole: The seventh area of the game is the Giant Hive, a subterranean bee kingdom that connects the Piglands to the upper mountains. The walls are lined with honeycomb and guarded by drone bees that attack with honey and stingers.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: The vampire bats can suck on Munch's essence to recover their HP until you shake them off. If you let them keep feeding, they'll eventually grow fat and incapacitate themselves. Likewise, the moth/bee enemy can swallow Munch and force feed him honey until you break free. If you let them keep going, Munch will eventually grow too big to contain and he'll break free on his own.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight against Lord Darkdread is designed to be this. If you done some serious grinding to unlock stronger abilities as well as learning Darkdread's patterns, it is possible to beat him and get an achievement for it, but he'll still one shot you afterwards anyway.
• Hyperactive Metabolism:
  • Any food or foes eaten by Munch get immediately turned into fat. Munch can also sit down and rest to burn off fat at a rate of 10 pounds a second!
  • When Munch meets To-Ri at one of the pig camps, he's sporting a heavy belly from overeating the various delicacies the pigs are fattening him up with so they can eat him later. Any time you see him afterward To-Ri appears slimmed down considerably in seemingly no time at all.
• Identical Grandson: On the Ancient Path, Munch will see two spirits that look very similar to him and Darkdread in his feral form. The spirit bearing Munch's likeness tried to save the people of the island when they suffered the wrath of the island's spirit and failed. The spirit in Darkdread's likeness offers to watch over the island's seal while the Munch lookalike hopes that someone in the future will inherit their wills and succeed where they have failed.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The difficulty setting (which can be changed at any time) goes from Very Easy to Insane, with the game defaulting on the Normal difficulty. Difficulty, however, only affects the damage output of enemies and their general health.
• Idle Animation: Some characters have one.
  • When he's at weight level 3, Munch will often rub his gut.
  • Boarus will regularly eat an apple.
  • Killsha will twirl her flintlock pistol.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Munch fits the bill; he helps anyone in need, tries to talk his way out of fights before resorting into fighting back, and does favors for people who need them without question. A conversation with Fox Rival also has Munch reveal that as the island's guardian, his state of being is static, thus it's impossible for him change and do bad things like Lord Darkdread.
• Inflating Body Gag: All over the place, happening both to and because of the player.
  • This happens to Munch when he swells before popping, in the sequences where he stretches his stomach to increase its size limits, and in Kirota's Flying courses, wherein Munch ingests a magic potion that inflates his body like a hot air balloon.
    • When Munch engages in expansion training with Master Sifu, he first inflates his own stomach by inhaling air, and then Sifu attempts to push Munch's limits by inflating him with an air pump.
  • Several enemies can be fed egg bombs that cause their bellies to swell, knocking them out. Included are the Cow-Men who fill up with milk and burst out of their clothes, the pufferfish pirates who fill with air and float around helplessly, the Water Dragons whose stomachs bloat as the egg expands inside them, and the armored wraiths who become so fat their armor falls apart. Even Captain Killsha and Lord Darkdread’s stomachs can be expanded with egg bombs - Killsha says she’ll never see eggs the same way again.
  • The Vampire Bat enemies can gorge themselves on so much of Munch's blood that their tummies burst through the tuxedos they’re wearing. You can even “see” the blood through the a rosy blush on their spherical guts.
  • The red fire breathing dragons and the mage dragons found in the mountaintops can be force fed eggs, causing them to grow a huge belly. In the latter's case, their belly gets so large that they become immobile and deflate after a few punches to their gut.
• Jabba Table Manners: Surprisingly, Munch actually averts this trope; while he'll gladly swallow food items and enemies alike whole (and belch after doing so) while he's out adventuring, eating at the village's restaurant will show him minding his manners and actually enjoying his food, using cutlery to properly eat it bite by bite and leaving a clean plate once he's done eating.
• Jiggle Physics: Munch's belly jiggles whenever he walks or throws a punch, which becomes more noticeable at bigger sizes. Likewise, Lord Darkdread's pecs and belly jiggles whenever he walks.
• Jungle Japes: The game's fifth area, the Jungle Trail. The tall, lush trees hide resistance by Killsha's mutinous crew, golems from the Crystal Mines, and air elementals that inflate Munch relentlessly.
• Kevlard: Munch can earn abilities with Exp that increase his damage resistance at larger sizes. Wave also has a sizable gut that makes punches towards it be less effective.
• Kill It with Fire: Ice Monsters take more damage from your fireballs, it's also the only way to kill ghosts.
• Killer Rabbit: Found in the snowy area, they can burrow underground to try and swallow Munch whole.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Implied. The golem boss in the crystal cave accuses Munch of pillaging the caves for the treasure, to which Munch meekly replies that he didn't take that much. The Queen Bee in the hive also thinks Munch is going to rob her of her treasures after she is defeated by him, to which Munch gets excited about the mention of treasure. Considering that the only businesses found in the game are all ran by the native islanders, Munch could be seen as taking the enemy's coins and giving it back to the villagers.
• Metroidvania: The game works in this style, being an interconnected 2D world with branching paths and shortcuts that can by opened by unlocking new abilities.
• Lactating Male: The cows you rescue are implied to be male, but are capable of being milked. Likewise the cow enemies you fight are clearly male based on their muscular build and their deep voice pitch, but their (hidden) udder balloons out massively once you force feed them enough eggs and they can also be milked in this state.
• Like Father, Like Son: If Lord Darkdread's conversation with his mother is anything to go by, his father apparently went through the same "dark lord" phase when he was younger.
• Living Toys: Munch is the island's guardian spirit inhabiting a doll that was made by the Elder's granddaughter. However, the trope is played with as while the spirit inhabits the doll, the body seems to be totally biological. When the spirit leaves the body due to running out of HP or popping, it returns to being made of fabric and stuffing.
• Large and in Charge: Munch at high weight levels can become this where his punches hit harder and make weaker enemies bounce off him. Ditto for Lord Darkdread, who is naturally huge to begin with.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shield-bearing Pigs are immune to frontal assault.
• Logical Weakness: At larger sizes Munch becomes very weak to sharp objects, and if full enough it takes only one poke to pop him, no matter how high his health is beforehand. He can get a skill to reduce damage from these sources, but not by much.
• Mana Meter: The fullness meter, where growing larger is the only way to fire off spells.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Lord Darkdread fits the bill with his mask only covering just the top half of his face. The mask is all in black with a white trim and a white X in the middle, making his yellow and red eyes (along with the rest of him) look very menacing. The mask doesn't even come off when he goes into his One-Winged Angel form during his second fight.
• The Man Behind the Man: The spirit's dark half fed Darkdread lies about Munch wanting to destroy the island.
• Marshmallow Hell: A rare male example; being at weight level 4 opens up a new conversation option with Key, which ends with Munch playfully smothering him under his large pecs.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: The Village Shaman.
• Minigame: Kitora's Flying courses that can be found in the first 3 areas, which puts you through an obstacle course that you'll have to float through while grabbing coins and food to keep yourself inflated, but as per usual if you take in too much food you'll pop and have to restart.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The water dragon is a mixture of a dragon and an orca/dolphin. The honey dragon is a fusion of a dragon and a bee.
• Money for Nothing: Outside of food buffs and consumable items at Key's shop, money you gather in the late game becomes worthless, as outside of the achievement for buying everything (every food item once at both restaurants, buying all the color options at the artist's guild, buying all the upgrades at the cow ranch, and buying all of the upgrade items at Key's shop) there's little use for the coins.
• Multiple Endings: 3 of them, decided by your actions near the end of the game
  • Ending 1: Not My Job: After beating Darkdread, To-Ri tells Munch that the island is going to fall apart. If you chose to head out of the castle, you get this ending. The island is gone, but everyone survived thanks to the pirates offering help to all the island inhabitants.
  • Ending 2: Destiny?: If instead of leaving the castle after being told to, and head to Darkdread's throne, Munch is greeted by the Spirit of the Island, who tells you to "take the plunge" and "face your destiny". After using ground slam on the throne 3 times, Munch falls into a deep cavern that contains the evil side of the Spirit. The Spirit tells him that he's meant to become the new seal. Doing as you're told gives you this ending. The game pans back to the village as Yisya keeps making more Munch dolls, hoping that he will return, only to break down crying when the Shaman tells her that he's returned to the island.
  • Ending 3: True Guardian: Choosing to instead break the seal of the island begins the route to this ending. After destroying it, the Spirit states that Munch is much like the other Ancient traitors and blasts him. After reforming back at the village, Munch tells the islanders that he has to go back to the Mountain to go and face the Spirit, stating that it's his job as the Island Guardian to bring the spirit to peace. Everyone offers him their support (including the two main shops offering their goods for free, though you still have to pay for the food at the restaurant), including Darkdread clearing the path for Munch when evil spirits get in the way. After a Bullet-hell like, 3 phase boss fight, the Island Spirit is calmed down, and decides to start to genuinely make amends for their actions in the past as opposed to the cycle they were perpetuating. The game ends with a montage during the credits showing everyone on the Island with their new lives.
• Must Make Amends: The island's spirit had destroyed an ancient civilization in response to them destroying the sacred tree. To make up for what it did, the spirit attempts to make amends by keeping its dark half sealed away. Once Munch frees the dark half and then defeats the spirit in battle, it actually starts to make amends by forgiving the islanders and granting Munch his wish of becoming human if he wants it.
• Names to Run Away From: Lord DARKDREAD. Also Killsha, the Shark Pirate Captain.
• Nice Guy:
  • Munch, being a guardian spirit, is very kind towards the island's peaceful inhabitants and will typically offers his foes a chance to walk away without a fight during special encounters (not that they will listen, but hey, it's the thought that counts).
  • There is also Yisya, the Shaman’s granddaughter.
• Nobody Can Die: Every major boss Munch defeats just goes down rather than die outright. Bonus material also shows that enemies that Munch eats will pop out from his eggs no worse for wear other than losing a bit of body fat.
• No Body Left Behind: Averted, defeated enemies will remain on screen until eaten or the player leaves the area.
• Non-Combat EXP: Digesting Food while sitting grants exp, but at a sad 1 exp per 10 pounds, though you can get an item that speeds up the digestion process once you spruce up Key's shop.
• No Hero Discount: Despite being summoned to save the island, Key and the cowkeeper will still charge Munch full price for upgrades and supplies. Averted on the true ending path where they realize how grave the situation has become and they allow Munch to obtain their goods free of charge.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Lord Darkdread doesn't play around with Munch. While Darkdread's first fight is supposed to be a Hopeless Boss Fight, he'll still unleash an attack that will defeat Munch instantly should he beat him and in either case, Darkdread will stuff Munch's spirit in a bottle so that he can't escape and inhabit another body. He also hires bounty hunters to capture Munch when he's scaling the mountain top. When all that fails, Darkdread sets up his castle with enemies and traps designed to make Munch grow fatter very quickly so that he'll either pop or at least be slowed down enough to not interfere.
• Oblivious to Love: Killsha seems to have no idea that Jack is infatuated with her. She just wants to have him be her crew's chef.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Lord Darkdread transforms into a massive hulking behemoth of a feral dragon after Munch beats him at his castle. He swipes with his claws and has a deadly breath attack.
  • The True Final Boss has two forms beyond their first one. First they transform into an angelic dragon after being beaten. When beaten again, they become a demonic dragon that doubles as a Background Boss.
• Optional Boss: A few bosses are not required to beat the game, and don't reward much for beating them aside from xp and coins (though at the point you fight them the coins will have little worth). 3 of them (Laura, Wave, and The Alpha) can be refought over and over, but the other one, the Queen Bee, can not.
• Our Demons Are Different: Talk to Sugar enough times and she'll admit she is a demon, a gluttony demoness in fact, but she claims that compared to the average demon, she isn't all that bad.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Munch is not only The Hero, he's also the Big Good of the game, fighting to save the island and its inhabitants, rescuing anyone who needs his help, showing mercy to defeated bosses and generally being a very friendly fellow. Which makes it rather jarring when he gleefully raids the Queen Bee's treasure room after defeating her and leaving her humiliated, even though it's been made very clear that he was the one trespassing and causing trouble in her Hive in the first place, which prompted her to take action to protect her people. Thankfully, the fight is optional and it's possible to leave the Hive and proceed further without having to confront the Queen (though defeating her at least once is required for an achievement).
• Peninsula of Power Leveling:
  • A downplayed example. The Cows you're tasked to collect alongside saving the island will produce milk at an increasable rate once rescued(though you'll have to jump on them to collect the milk), so you can, even after getting only the first cow, just stay at the village and slowly grind levels as Munch digests all the milk he drinks.
  • Likewise, the entrance to Boarus' lair, which is filled with (respawning) crates of food and Chef pigs. If you neglected to upgrade Munch's abilities beforehand, you can just grind Non-Combat EXP there before proceeding further and facing the first boss.
  • A more reliable one involves the food cannons at the last stage of the Jungle, which is right next to the first stage of the Shadowlands which has both a save point and a flight point. While the path to it from the flight point does involve dealing with a Water Dragon on the way, if positioned right (and if you bought the digestion belt item from Key's shop) Munch can get easy exp by just resting while the cannon shoots at him. And though this does mean that the player has to leave the game running in the background for a while, waiting long enough means that you can not only max out Munch's skills at that point in time, but by the time you reach the second Fox Rival fight you'll have enough exp to both unlock all the new skills you get after the fight but also max out all of Munch's skills again for the last time.
• Permanently Missable Content: The first fight against Lord Darkdread has two achievements that can be lost if you don't do them before the fight ends. One involves staying put and not listening in to his phone conversation and the other one involves defeating him in the fight, which is difficult due to Darkdread being way too strong for you unless you powered up your abilities and know how the fight goes. Win or lose, the story continues and if you didn't get the related achievements, you will have to reload your last save or start the whole game over again for another shot. This was also originally true with the other bosses and optional bosses with their achievements, though a patch allowed rematches with them, with a later patch aleaving the above with the addition of New Game Plus.
• Perpetual Smiler: Munch's default expression is a cocky grin.
• Pig Man: The Pigs and their leader Boarus.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In his base form, Munch is rather small and scrawny-looking. That doesn't stop him from fighting hordes of enemies and beating up foes who are over twice his own size.
• Point of No Return: Once you engage Lord Darkdread at his castle, you can't go back.
• "Pop!" Goes the Human: Munch's belly can only hold so much before he literally bursts at the seams. However, when he does finally burst, he pops into cotton stuffing and tattered rags as the doll his spirit is inhabiting falls apart. The achievement for losing a life this way for the first time is even called "Pop! Goes the Munch".
• Popping Buttons: Occurs to a few characters when they bloat up such as the Kangaroo Pirate and Vampire Bats. When Lord Darkdread's belly fills out, his entire suit of armor bursts off, which also makes him more vulnerable to physical attacks.
• Power-Up Food: One of Munch's upgrades allows him to deal extra damage just after eating, another lets him heal when he eats. You can also eat special Mushrooms to increase your stomach capacity. Munch also needs to spend the fat he gains from eating food and enemies to cast spells.
• Pressure-Sensitive Interface: One of the paths in an underground cave is blocked by a pressure plate that can only be pressed down if Munch is heavy enough —i.e., at 450.
• Proj-egg-tile: One of Munch's magic abilities is spitting up explosive eggs, though it's never explained how he makes them.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Lord Darkdread uses a pink case on his cellphone.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zig-zagged for Munch, who does have red eyes but is a benevolent guardian spirit who's nothing but helpful towards the island's inhabitants. That being said, he's still a powerful fighter who, by the end of the game, will have beaten up and devoured hundreds or even thousands of enemies. Darkdread also has red eyes, but they vanish when he has a shocked or dazed expression on his face.
• Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. After going through a training montage for with Master Sifu for his final capacity limit upgrade, Munch gains the ability to go beyond 1000 fullness... But can't move. Sifu admits that the training was only for breaking that limit, not for mobility after getting to that size.
• Resurrective Immortality: How the respawn system works In-Universe. Munch cannot really "die", since he's an immortal guardian spirit, but his physical body can be destroyed. If that happens, he'll just use another one of Yisya's dolls as a vessel.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Most of the cast fall under this thanks to them being a Funny Animal.
• Rubber Orifice: The core mechanic is inhaling and swallowing enemies whole up to a certain amount of times, who can be larger than Munch.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The light spirit's evil half is sealed away deep below the castle and is weakening. Munch can either absorb it and become the new seal or break it free it merges with the light spirit, thus he can beat the crap out of it to calm it down.
• Shout-Out: Munch gains the Double Jump ability by eating a magic fruit that belongs to a pirate.
• Shown Their Work: The Hive area has several extremely fat bees who are too lazy to attack Munch are are content to loaf around. The designers made the bees with most of their fat stored in their abdomen, which is considered to be an insect's stomach and fits well with the theme of everyone having a big belly. They also doubles as a Trampoline Tummy.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The Pig Samurai and his brother, Boarus.
• Sizeshifter: Munch's voracious appetite and rapid metabolism empowers him to grow and shrink as he pleases.
• Skippable Boss:
  • The Crystal Golem at the end of the Crystal Mines used to be skipped by going over its cutscene trigger using the platforms that you'd use during the fight and landing on the other side. If you have a village teleport scroll you don't even need to make the trip back around, allowing one to skip an particularly hard fight for how early it is. This became Averted come the 1.0.0.9 patch, which put a door on the other side of the room that only opens when the Golem is defeated.
  • The fight against the Queen Bee is optional, as the path leading out of the Hive and up the mountain is located next to the throne room's entrance. Choosing not to fight her will make you miss out on an achievement and some treasure, though.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The eighth area of the game, the Sacred Mountain. This snow-peaked, alpine landscape rests above the rest of the island and is home to lupine warriors, living snow masses, and arctic-treading pigs.
• Stationary Boss: The Queen Bee and Lord Darkdread in his True Form. Both will summon minions to harass you while the former will also blow you across the room after taking enough damage.
• Stone Wall: The Dragon Knights in Darkdread's fortress wear heavy armor that greatly reduces the damage they take, but spitting an explosive egg in their mouths will cause the armor to break and they become stunned.
• Status Buff: Eating at a restaurant can grant a buff (faster attack speed, damage reduction, etc) depending on what Munch eats. The buff vanishes if he is defeated.
• Stout Strength: On Mystic island, bulk is strength, whether it be fat or muscle. Munch gets stronger the bigger his belly is, which also beefs up his arms and tail, as well as powering up direct strikes with his gut. Bosses like Boarus and the Fox Rival also beef themselves up by over eating to increase their own power. Even the main villain Lord Darkdread is weighed down with rippling muscle and a massive, jiggling gut.
• Swallowed Whole: After beating down most enemies, Munch can suck them into his mouth, swallowing them without chewing and stowing them in his stomach. However, there are also enemies eager to do the same to Munch.
• Swapped Roles: The large crocodile at the outskirts of the village offers Munch a ride to the beach area by letting him float on his belly as he swims. If Munch is too large to sit the crocodile, the roles are swapped where it's Munch that's ferrying the crocodile instead.
• Technicolor Magic: When Munch's stomach becomes inhabited by ghosts he begins to emit the same bubbly purple aura they do. The ghosts in his stomach are also represented by a purple segment on the Full gauge. If too many ghosts are inside Munch's stomach, they possess him and force him to suck in air until he pops or succeeds a quick time event. While possessed, Munch's body tattoos turn grey-purple.
• Temporary Bulk Change: A major game mechanic that Munch can basically do at will by swallowing and rapidly digesting enemies. This also happens to various characters throughout the game such as the Fox Rival, Laura, Boarus, To-Ri and Sunblaze the Dragon.
• The Battle Didn't Count: The first fight you have with Lord Darkdread can be won (you even get an achievement for this), but it is difficult as your abilities won't be able to leveled higher until later after the fight. Though exploiting Darkdread's breath attack by shooting an egg into his mouth 4 times does cause the resulting swelling to break off his armor, while also granting you an opportunity to hit him hard with a single attack. Even if you win he'll just pull out a punch that hits you for almost more than double your max health in the following cutscene, allowing the plot to flow as it should.
• The Goomba: The basic Pig enemy, it can't even hurt you unless you're in your base form (and even then, it's pretty much Scratch Damage.
• Threatening Shark: Captain Killsha and her Pirate crew.
• Tiny-Headed Behemoth: Munch's body grows bigger as he eats, but his head does not.
• Trademark Favorite Food: If his Idle Animation is anything to go by, Boarus loves apples.
• Training Montage: Munch goes through an unorthodox one with Master Sifu to unlock Size 6, which involves getting inflated with air through an air pump in his butt, meditating in a pool of freezing water, Sifu increasing in weight while sitting on Munch's engorged stomach, balancing on one toe over a pit of spikes while at max weight, and pigging out on steamed buns.
• Trickster Mentor: Fox the Rival, who give Munch cryptic hints, teases him, and challenges him to a fight a few times. While Munch feels like Fox is wasting time by annoying him with his vagueness, he really does want to see Munch succeed and he tests him to see if he can truly save the island. Every success against Fox unlocks more abilities for Munch to use.
• Tropical Island Adventure: The game takes place on the tropical and lush Mystic Island.
• Underground Monkey: Sparingly used. The pigs that wield spears and big mallets have a winter version of them in the mountaintop. The pig chefs that throw food at Munch have two variants; a black apron version whose food seeks out Munch's mouth and a red version who sports red eyes and its food sets Munch on fire, slowly damaging him for a few seconds. Slimes also have a honey variant in the hive where they add to Munch's fat as if he ate food rather than being stuffed with slime.
• Underground Level: The game's second are is the Slime Cavern, an underground tunnel network overrun by slimes and creatures they've formed symbioses with.
• Unexplained Recovery:
  • The alpha wolf boss can be eaten once defeated, but he'll return without any explanation once you leave and return to the boss room (though most likely it's due to the same reasons as detailed above in Carnivore Confusion).
  • Toria's fight ends with her ballooned to immobility and laying on her back. Going back to her boss arena after leaving it will have her suddenly back to normal while no worse for wear(this probably is so players can rematch her).
• Untrusting Community: Inverted for Fox Rival, who states that he can't trust anyone on the island due to how chaotic things have become and the fact that he has kids to raise doesn't help matters either.
• Vacuum Mouth: Munch's means of eating. As he goes up in weight levels the range of it increases, which can be used to suck up distant objects and enemies. Can be upgraded to even suck up undefeated enemies, though you lose out on the xp and items/money they would have dropped upon being defeated. Certain enemies and bosses can also do this against you.
• Vicious Cycle: It is not known how long it has gone on for, but the spirit's sealed dark side requires a sacrifice to keep it sealed. The light spirit attempts to have Munch continue the cycle to keep the island stable and you can either accept such a fate and put Munch in stasis or destroy the seal and find a way to break the cycle for good.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • With most of the game's optional bosses, Munch and his opponent engage in a friendly sparring match. However, when Munch fights the Queen Bee, it's effectively because he got lost and caused wanton damage to her kingdom without thinking of the consequences. After defeating and humiliating her, Munch gleefully raids her treasure room and leaves without showing remorse. In fact, he blames the Queen for protecting herself and her people instead of just letting him leave.
  • The kobold guard in Darkdread's castle can be eaten, even after Munch learns that said kobold was given a job and food by Darkdread and doesn't fight Munch. Leaving the area and returning has the kobold return no worse for wear and he can be eaten over and over.
• Video Game Tutorial: The player has the option to play a tutorial after Munch first awakens. There's also a visual one in the form of the Tribal Hunter Traveler's Guide, which can be viewed on the game's patreon page.
• Voice Grunting: Type 1. Every character has their own voice grunt whenever they speak with various pitches to match.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Prior to patch 1.0, Lord Darkdread's Castle was this. If you're on the path to the true ending, the Ancient Path is the final zone in the game where you fight your way through a mountainside that's covered in cherry blossoms, pink and white plants are scattered everywhere, a sunset in the background, and spirit versions of enemies you've defeated all come to attack you with new attack patterns. You also get some exposition along the way from spirits of the past where you see how the ancient civilization thrived and then met their demise from sapping the great tree's magical energy.
• Weight Taller: Munch (as well as any of the other characters that can expand themselves to a great degree). As he grows heavier he grows taller as well, which is reflected in gameplay once he gains his first weight level up, as he can't fit in tight areas and if he gets to that weight stage and higher while in the tight space he gets stuck until he wiggles the weight off... or bursts.
• Weight Woe: Captain Killsha goes through this if you defeat her by bloating her stomach.
• World Tree: The island used to have one that was so large that it took up most of the island itself, but now it's just a giant stump serving as the game's mountain and its snow capped top. The light spirit reveals that the ancient ones had cut the tree down, prompting the island (and the spirit by proxy) to enact Gaia's Vengeance and wipe out the civilization. The true ending shows a new tree is beginning to grow.
• You Are Fat: While on the phone with his mother, Lord Darkdread is called "Lord Chubtail" in cutesy jest. Munch relishes in turning it back on him as an insult.
• Zerg Rush: Underneath Darkdread's throne are several rooms and corridors that are filled with traps and a big number of enemies that will spawn in at once and ambush you.

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