Resident Evil inspired, cannibal dungeon crawler Medium Rare has a delightful art style trick up its sleeve: stock photos
Medium Rare, a Resident Evil-inspired dungeon crawler about rescuing a wife from a human meat factory, uses stock photos processed into crunchy, pixel-like assets to create its unsettling visual style.
Medium Rare is a dungeon crawler RPG set in a world where global resources have run out and cannibalism has been industrialized, tasking players with rescuing the protagonist’s wife from a human meat factory. The game follows the genre’s grid-based map exploration format but introduces a combat twist where enemy placement on a three-by-three grid influences damage output. Combat relies on dice rolls, and weapon choice significantly impacts survival odds, adding strategic depth to encounters. The game’s Resident Evil influences are evident in features like tile-based inventory management, infected enemies, and rare resting spaces for recovery.
The game’s most striking feature is its deliberately crunchy, pixel-like art style, achieved by processing real stock photos through Photoshop and dithering them to create a sickly, retro aesthetic. Developer Giovanni Fim describes the process as photobashing, a technique that has declined in popularity with the rise of generative AI tools. Fim emphasizes the importance of avoiding clichés and focusing on extreme, distinctive visuals to stand out on platforms like Steam. The resulting assets give Medium Rare a uniquely unsettling and memorable appearance.
The game’s visual identity was developed using stock photos, a method Fim highlights as a way to iterate and find unconventional artistic approaches that defy typical Steam trends. The process involves transforming mundane photographs into highly stylized, pixelated assets that evoke a retro horror aesthetic. This technique, while not new, offers a fresh take on pixel art by leveraging real-world imagery. The dev vlog demonstrates the early stages of this process, showing how raw stock photos are manipulated to fit the game’s grim setting.
Medium Rare is available as a demo on Steam, with a full release planned for 2027. Players interested in the game can wishlist it on the platform to follow its development. The game’s unique visual style and premise have already drawn attention, demonstrating how unconventional art techniques can capture audience interest. The developer’s focus on extreme, niche aesthetics serves as a case study for indie developers seeking to differentiate their projects.