Cooking Companions

Based on Eastern European folklore during real world events, this game secretly is a psychological horror game buried underneath the aesthetic of a cute/anime visual novel. Players describe the beginning hour as funny and adorable, with the second half being a descent into ghosts and nightmares.

Key metrics:

32+ million YouTube views
18+ million TikTok views
55,500+ hours watched on Twitch

STEAM PAGE

Demo

Deer Dream Studios

Deer Dream Studios is an independent game developer based out of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Our team consists of a number of diverse individuals (Black, Asian, Hispanic, neurodivergent, trans, nonbinary, gay and bisexual) from all over the world: we hope players will appreciate their contributions and perspectives while playing our titles.

Our goal is to create unforgettable horror games set in the real world, during true historical events.

YOUTUBE

TWITTER

The Pitch

Cooking Companions has been an overwhelmingly successful horror game, performing in the top 10% of releases on Steam.

Audience

The primary audience for Cooking Companions has been teens to 35 year olds, with a majority of players being female. The game has created a unique intersection of player interests: fans of horror, visual novels/dating-sims, anime, and mystery games all seem to eventually find the title. What connects CC to audiences is the story/lore that more perceptive players can find: no tedious exposition dumps or long ending monologues that explain everything. Instead, players that have not fully grasped the story can check out the numerous explainer videos (Game Theory, linked below) to put all the puzzle pieces together. This isn’t another cheap jumpscare game for people to immediately consume: this is something for audiences to chew on.

What is Deer Dream Studios looking for in a publisher?

With interest in horror games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Omori being at an all time high, we are confident CC would do EXTREMELY well on consoles. We need assistance with this port, either by utilizing an established company that specializes in porting Ren’Py (for example: Ratalaika Games) or having it done by your company. The issue we’re running into is that many companies that specialize in porting Ren’Py are not located in the United States. While we are confident in these companies, we are not confident in our knowledge of international law and contracts.