Food



Food is one of the critical needs for the Slugcat's survival, the player must have three, four, and six food eaten as, , and respectively to not starve in the next cycle. A maximum of five, seven, and nine food can be stored in the Slugcat's stomach at once.

Some food is found in the form of immobile objects such as fruits, vegetables, and fungi, while others are living creatures which the Slugcat may need to kill before devouring. Eating only one of the two varieties for several cycles straight is the key to two of the game's achievements.

Due to how Food respawn mechanics work, it is beneficial for Slugcat to attempt to harvest and store food that will be consumed on a future cycle in the current one: this starts the food's respawn timer in advance by possibly up to several cycles. This can make a critical difference if circumstances force Slugcat to linger in a region temporarily. This does not normally apply to, , or large Centipede variants, though, as they cannot normally be stored for future use either due to being immovable, perishable, or too heavy to transport respectively.

Edible Fauna
The following are creatures that are edible on all three difficulties of the game and almost every slugcat in Downpour. The corpses of all creatures are edible when playing as, , or. None of these are edible when playing as.

Consumables
In addition to food, a handful of objects can be consumed for other benefits. These items do not fill a pip of hunger when eaten.

= Downpour Food =

Spearmaster
The is one of the new playable  in the Downpour DLC, and has a special relationship with food that is completely unique amongst all the other Slugcats. Having no mouth, the Spearmaster instead siphons nutrients from living enemies using self-made spears, usually filling up to 1 hunger pip per hit, though there are some exceptions like, , or the extremities of larger creatures like. This allows the Spearmaster to "eat" traditionally inedible creatures like or, while also making it impossible for them to eat some staples of the Slugcat diet like  or. They are also still able to make use of consumables like or  with this unique consumption method.