Game Groups > Gameplay feature: Survival cooking

Games which features cooking raw or prepared ingredients using any method available (e.g. over an open flame or simply by combining two or more ingredients) for the purposes of creating item(s) which must be identified as a consumable food item. The food then may optionally be used by the player-controlled character or non-player characters (NPCs) for consumption/eating, usually to avoid a starvation feature or other similar features that may introduce a positive or negative effect when mentioned food is consumed (e.g. heal health).

Examples

• Using raw meat and turning it into baked meat in Minecraft.
• Cooking raw meat over an open flame in the Gothic series. Some games offer further manipulation which may include seasoning or similar activities.
• Creating a loaf of bread from dough in the Ultima series.
• Brewing a herbal drink or making soup with a cooking pot.

Survival cooking in the game Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines (2005).

Note

• Creatable drinks and beverages may also be identified as food.
• Survival cooking usually may be conducted anywhere during the game, with varying requirements depending on the food item being prepared. Some may require recipes, an open fire, or experimentation through the process of random combining ingredients.
• To be clear the method of cooking and whether or cooking has additional requirements to create a food item is irrelevant, as long as the end result is a food item which may be consumed by the player-controlled character.

Limitations

• Not to be confused with Genre: Simulation - Cooking, where cooking is a major theme in the game, and usually the purposes of cooking is not to be consumed by the player controlled character. Hence, food items must be identified as a consumable object to be used primarily by the player-controlled character.
• Not to be confused with Gameplay feature: Alchemy where items may not necessarily result in the creation of a consumable food item.
• Food items that only exist in its capacity as a part of a quest, plot/story, or puzzle, or any event where its presence is mandatory to further advance in the game, should be excluded from this game group, unless cooking such food items still remain an optional feature to the player.

Related Game Groups

• Gameplay feature: Alchemy
• Gameplay Feature: Botany, Farming, Gardening
• Gameplay feature: Fishing
• Gameplay Feature: Hunger / Thirst
• Gameplay feature: Hunting

Related Genres

• Genre: Simulation - Cooking
• Genre: Wilderness Survival