Cookies

About Cookies

Cookies was released on itch.io in April 2021, developed by Stef Pinto in partnership with JustJonut, with music by Johar Ibrahim, and published by Penquin Games. It is a Windows download, free or pay what you want. Slant Magazine named it #17 in its 25 best games of 2021, and DreadXP described it in terms of Silent Hill, Twin Peaks, The Wire and Candyman.

It is set in Darby, called the Darb by the people who live there: a sweltering South Florida town of gang violence, poverty and drugs. At the end of an abandoned housing development stands the Orange Grove Houses, a run-down apartment block where the residents are worse than the rats and roaches. You play a lone drug pusher who sells to the addicts in the building when he is not using his own stock. After a particularly strange trip, he finds himself caught in crime and hallucinations in its halls.

The maker names its inspirations as the black comedy Trash Humpers and VHS slashers like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and calls the result an obscene blend of Satanic cults, meth-dealing clowns and online torture chambers. You explore the building in first person, pick up odd items and work out what to do with them. The horror is in the squalor, the violence and a world that bends out of shape, with jokes as black as the rest.

One run takes about half an hour, but there are ten endings, and each one unlocks the way to more; the pause screen gives hints once you have found one. Everything is seen through a heavy VHS filter, and the maker suggests adjusting the visual settings at the start, since the game can look too grainy or blurry on some screens. It suits players who like grindhouse, PS1-style horror and do not mind it being crude and strange.

How to play Cookies

1. Download Cookies from its itch.io page for Windows and unzip it.
2. When it starts, adjust the visual settings to your screen so the picture is not too blurry.
3. Explore the Orange Grove Houses in first person and talk to the residents.
4. Pick up the odd items you find and work out where they are used.
5. Reach an ending, then play again: each ending unlocks new paths, and the pause screen gives hints toward the next.

Tips

• Tune the VHS and resolution settings first; the default image can be very grainy on a large screen.
• Keep the items you get from one ending in mind: they often open the way to another.
• Check the pause screen for hints when you are stuck between endings.
• Players report a few bugs, so do not be surprised if an occasional restart is needed.

Questions