Gamescom Opening Night Live was packed with exciting announcements, and Glowmade's King of Meat was certainly one of them. Branded as a 4-player co-op hack-and-slasher, King of Meat will see players slicing their way through a gauntlet of dungeons, all filled with larger-than-life fantasy enemies and over-the-top traps.
Based on the game's reveal trailer and the animated short that preceded it during Gamescom ONL, it's clear that King of Meat has a very strong and distinct sense of style and humor. The Best War Games recently spoke with Glowmade's Studio Head Jonny Hopper, who gave some interesting insight into two of the biggest influences behind King of Meat's style.
King of Meat's Influences Couldn't Be More Different
WWE and Labyrinth Are King of Meat's Primary Influences
When creating a hack-and-slash game set in a satirical fantasy world in which a deadly gameshow has become the primary form of entertainment, it's only natural that King of Meat's developer, Glowmade, took some inspiration from other pieces of media like it. But the influences that Hopper revealed during his interview with The Best War Games couldn't be more different from one another:
"The inception of the game was us sitting around, asking what stuff we love. One of the things was David Bowie and Jim Henson's Labyrinth, the other thing was WWE. This was like six years ago. We thought, what if we made those two things into something?"
Released in 1986, the Jim Henson-directed, David Bowie-starring Labyrinth is a rather bizarre cult classic that's renowned for its camp performances, catchy musical numbers, and plenty of larger-than-life Creature Shop puppets. While Labyrinth received somewhat mixed reviews upon its 1986 debut, it became a core part of many people's childhoods, and it's often cited as a source of inspiration for projects that aren't afraid to dip their toes into the realm of absurdity.
Of course, WWE needs no introduction. Televised professional wrestling has been happening for decades now, and it remains one of the most popular forms of sports entertainment due to its ongoing storylines, large-scale events, and iconic wrestlers. It makes complete sense that WWE has influenced King of Meat. It's a little eye-catching though that it's listed as one of the main sources of inspiration right alongside Labyrinth, as the two are exceptionally different in terms of tone and content.
How King of Meat's WWE and Labyrinth Influences Can Be Seen in Gameplay
When taking another look at King of Meat's reveal trailer, its Labyrinth and WWE influences become a bit clearer. Vibrant and loud costumes are a focal point of King of Meat's gameplay loop, with its trailer showcasing outfits like a knight babysitter with baby dragons hanging from a carrier, a top hat-wearing, guitar-wielding skeleton, and a squid wearing a lifebuoy, all of which feel like a natural extension of WWE's costumed wrestlers.
King of Meat's enemy designs borrow a little bit of Labyrinth's fantastical flair, with cutesy skeletons, grinning ogres, and mohawk-wearing floating brains all appearing in the game's reveal trailer. It'll be fun to see just how else WWE and Labyrinth have influenced King of Meat when the game eventually launches, though there's no official word yet on when that could be.
King of Meat is currently in development for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.