Dead Plate is a short restaurant tycoon-themed RPG / visual novel horror game, published by Studio Investigrave on the 6th of November, 2023. It is available on a pay-what-you-want basis on itch.io. If you haven't played the game, please check it out and support its indie devs!
The game is set in 1960s France, and follows Rody Lamoree, a lively (but slightly dopey) redhead, and his first week at the high-end bistro, "La Gueule de Saturne" (The Maw of Saturn). This bistro is headed by the successful (but blunt) chef, Vincent Charbonneau (also referred to as 'Vince'). However, Rody quickly starts getting violent dreams and noticing odd things about the bistro. So, he sets off to find the truth before his week working there ends...
Game Summary ...
As you play the game, you learn more about the characters via dialogue. Rody, as it turns out, is working to save up for something for his girlfriend, Marieanne "Manon" Vacher. He doesn't have the best track record for job retention, and the game implies that he's not the best person to work at a fancy bistro like this (being far more brash than one would expect for such a job), but Vincent doesn't seem to care. In fact, Vincent seems oddly attached to Rody, compared to his other workers. Early on into the game, we can see Vincent hurling insults at a chef in a manner that rivals Gordon Ramsay and shoving their face dangerously close to the currently-burning stovetop, just for messing up a dish. But when Rody comes into his second day on the job drenched from the rain, Vincent lightly scolds him while he dries his hair for him with a towel. Rody also accidentally slices his finger while taking out the trash later on. He starts apologizing to Vincent, who slaps him, before gently bandaging the cut. We also see that he's scribbled out reviews for the bistro that talk badly about Rody.
If that seems confusing and contradictory, we also later learn that Manon had been sending love letters to Vincent, and the two seemed to interact more than once. As it turns out, Manon had broken up with Rody a few weeks prior. But because she was indirect in her communication of it, Rody hadn't picked up that it was a break-up. Vincent later said that Manon said "she'd dumped some pathetic red haired plouc a week ago". Whether or not this is Vincent exaggerating, or these are Manon's actual words, is unclear.
Manon's general personality is also unclear. If true, this dialogue would be quite cruel. But, the one time we are able to see her, in a flashback, she seems quite kind. She broke up with Rody due to her frustration at Rody constantly compromising his personal progress, just to make her happy. Essentially, she was concerned about Rody's self-sacrificial devotion, and believed he needed time to focus on himself because of that. We later learn that she had been murdered before the game's start, so we never see her outside of Vincent's description of how she talks about Rody, Rody's description of her as 'prissy', but a good person, and that flashback. Despite this, Manon's presence haunts the narrative, as she is the one who motivated Rody to start working at the restaurant, and the reason why Vincent knew about Rody.
Manon's murder was conducted by Vincent. We learn through dialogue that Vincent is a chef who lost his ability to taste at an early age; quite ironic, but also very devastating for someone who cares about food as much as he does. (Even if that care does manifest in snapping at chefs.) So, the timeline is essentially that Manon broke up with Rody, then began to pursue Vincent, who wasn't interested. However, she told him about Rody. Then, when Rody came in asking for a job, and showing the amount of desperation and love he had to do something nice for Manon (to make up for their perceived couple's squabble), it gave Vincent an idea. The main criticism Vincent's food had gotten was that it 'wasn't made with love'. To use his words, "But I think (Vincent) understood what they meant when (Rody) walked in." Which sounds like a confession at the end of a romantic movie centered around cooking without context. But, in reality, Vincent's plan was to kill Manon, and feed her to Rody, and to then eat Rody himself. By 'preparing' Rody with the one who he loved so dearly, he would be 'prepared with love', and, maybe, then, Vincent would be able to taste something; taste Rody.
The game can end one of four ways. The first ending has Rody quitting the bistro. Vincent seems startled by this, but says Rody can come back any time. Rody takes his money and tries to call Manon to say he has enough money to take her to a really nice dinner, but she doesn't answer the phone.
The second way it can end is entering the freezer without the matches equipped. Rody sees Manon's locket, with his and her pictures inside of it, next to a meat grinder, and puts two and two together. Immediately after this, he gets knocked out by Vincent from behind. He wakes up, tied up with rope, which he tries to escape from, but ultimately fails at. Vincent comes back into the freezer, wielding a knife, telling Rody that, no matter how hard he struggles, he's not going to get anywhere. He seems to then change his mind, saying that maybe, if Rody is fast enough, he can get away, and that he will give Rody a 15-second head start. Because Rody is tied up on the ground, no matter what the player does, he can't escape the freezer in time. Vincent expresses disappointment that Rody wasn't able to put up a fight, before killing him.
The third way it can end is by, once again, entering the freezer, seeing the locket, and being knocked out by Vincent. If the player equipped the matches, Rody can burn through the ropes, and then escape the freezer. Once he does, though, and enters the kitchen area, he checks what looks like a dead plate (title drop!); a plate of food that was going to be given to a customer, who left before being served. Vincent comes out of his office to see Rody free, and immediately goes to attack him. If you fail the quicktime event presented, Vincent is shown grabbing Rody's hair and stabbing him in the neck, killing him, before dragging his corpse back to the freezer.
The final way it can end is by going through all the steps of the previous ending; enter freezer, see locket, get knocked out, burn through the ropes, escape the freezer, get caught by Vincent. However, if you succeed at the quicktime event, Vincent will, instead, bite Rody's ear off (implying that he was going to bite his neck, but was thrown off), and eat it. You will then enter a chase sequence where, every time you get caught and successfully pull off the quicktime event, you unlock some new dialogue.
The first time you do it, Vincent tells Rody what we've already discussed about his plan to feed Manon to him, then eat Rody. He reveals that he already gave the dish made of her flesh to Rody, but says, "Because you... You were supposed to enjoy it! But you refused to eat it and now you've gone ahead and wasted it- it was- urhg, it wasn't FOR me..." This is one of two times that Vincent stutters; the other time also being related to feeding Manon to Rody. (Also, it's really funny that he's like, "You didn't even enjoy it..." Bro you just ate his FUCKING EAR!)
The second time, Vincent confirms Rody's questioning that he never cared about Manon, and only cared about using her and her affection for him to get to Rody.
The third time, Vincent and Rody have some dialogue that seems to often be forgotten? Rody accuses Vincent of killing his other employees, which Vincent denies. He has no reason to lie here, either, as he's completely truthful with all other dialogue exchanges in this ending. Earlier, through dialogue, as well, he denied ever serving human meat to his customers, saying when Rody asks, "Do you even hear yourself? No, that's disgusting. I would never serve anything like that in my kitchen." These exchanges seem to be discarded by people discussing the game, as Vincent is often described as someone who kills his employees then serves them to his customers - two things he outwardly denies. Manon and Rody were his first kills, and Rody was the only person he had any interest in cannibalizing.
After Vincent denies that, Rody tells him that he never ate any of Vincent's food, which gives him pause. ("You haven't?", with a shocked expression.) Rody confirms this, and says that Vincent "always made him lose his appetite", and that he knew, without eating it, that his cooking didn't taste like real food. This visibly hurts Vincent.
The fourth time, Vincent confirms that he regrets nothing he did as-of that moment. And then, with the whole picture in front of him, Rody tries to reason with Vince. He says that, if Vincent has never tasted anything, why would he be any different? He starts to say, "You would have killed Manon...", but corrects himself, seemingly remembering that Vincent only cares about him, and instead says Vince would have killed him for nothing. He asks what Vince would do if that happened. Vincent says nothing, shocked into silence. Finally, Rody says, "If this is your idea of trying to make yourself happy, I don't think you'll ever be full." This, again, shocks Vincent into silence, and his overworld sprite visibly stops chasing Rody for a moment, seemingly still stunned, before continuing.
Rody is then able to enter Vincent's office, and break a wine glass, which he stabs Vincent in the neck with. This doesn't kill Vincent, but it does render him immobile, as he lies on the floor. Rody seems to believe him to be dead, but we see his open eyes following him as he walks around the room. Vincent doesn't do anything to let him know he is alive, even as Rody pours cooking oil over him and the bistro. He sets the bistro on fire, leaving an immobile Vincent to burn to death. This ending concludes with showing Rody outside of the bistro, watching it go up in flames.
Personal Thoughts...
I'm sure I don't have to explain the queer undertones of this game. Every single person I've watched played through the game, including multiple cishet people, have commented on them. I mean, it's toxic, doomed yaoi with cannibalism as a metaphor for love! What more could a queer ask for?!
Well, I'm happy to report that the Queer Vibes were, indeed, on purpose. All of the people who worked on the game have chimed in on the subject and confirmed, in one way or another, that the game was very much written with the intention of giving off The Vibes.
So, here's the rundown: Vincent was written with the intention of him being a gay man. Additionally, he was written as being in love with Rody. His intense attention to Rody, and his apathy towards Manon's romantic interest in him, implies this. Rody was also written with the intention of him being an unrealized bisexual (probably not helped by the game taking place in 1960s France). Obviously, he is in love with Manon, but the player also has the option to ask Vincent if he's single, which alludes to this. (When you ask this, he also says he suspects Vince "gets a lot of ladies". 1), this implies that he thinks Vincent is attractive. And, more importantly, 2), Vincent's response of, "Sure," with a visually apathetic expression, is VERY funny considering what we know.)
The intention with Vincent's character seem to be that of a "mad artist". A craftsman driven to insanity by his inability to experience what he creates. However, the cannibalism thing does seem to be an allegory for intense, all-consuming love. We obviously have Vincent openly stating that he needs to eat Rody to finally taste what love is. Manon and Rody had the ideal dynamic he wanted, with Rody being self-sacrificial for Manon to the point of destruction, because he loves her 'too much', per say. He cares about others too much, which is a foil to Vincent, who cares about himself. I can imagine a world where Rody would give himself up for Vince to taste something, even if it meant being hurt or dying, with the way that they parallel each other. For this reason, I also interpret Vincent's inability to taste as an allegory for depression, or 'feeling empty'. He seems unable to feel happy about his success as a chef because of it, and, when he meets Rody, he feels connected to another person. Thus, his desire to eat him is due to him not wanting to lose him. He's the only thing that makes him feel happy, and, now that he finally found a way to feel something again, he wants to make it his forever.
Additionally, now that we're in the section of more 'personal thoughts', I want to bring up Vincent slapping Rody when he cut himself. I couldn't mention it then, as we hadn't gotten to The Cannibalism of It All, but I think it's pretty clear that he slapped Rody to distract himself from the sight of Rody's blood. If you look at the CGs, you'll notice that Vincent is entirely focused on the cut; this being emphasized with a close-up of the injury, followed by a close-up of Vincent's widened eyes. He's not paying attention to what Rody is saying, and he slaps him suddenly, as if to snap himself out of his trance. That freak was HUNGRY for Rody. (Literally.)
Despite all of this, though, people love to make fun of queer fans of this game for committing the heinous crime of daring to pick up on and acknowledge the queer subtext. People are like, "Ha, these delusional people think these characters are queer!" They are queer. The creators confirmed that. Then they say, oh, it's not that, it's when people try and make happy, silly AUs about this horror game! Which, my brother in Christ, the creators of the game also literally do that. There are multiple lighthearted comics by the creators that seem to be in a vague "good end" alternate universe, as they show Rody, Manon, and Vincent all interacting in a lighthearted manner. I fucking hate normies, bro. All of the fandom activities that everyone mocks are literally either confirmed or done by the creators of the game! I genuinely think that folks just want to mock queer people for daring to interpret media as queer. Even when that's actually the intention of the media in question. THIS IS A FAGS-ONLY EVENT! GO HOME!
Fun Canon Facts!...
Speaking of the creators of the game, here are some other misc things that the creators of the game have confirmed as canon!
Graphics!...
Home-cooked Dead Plate buttons, blinkies and stamps, fresh from the oven! These are free to use. Credit is appreciated, but not required. Please don't hotlink!
Cool Related Links!...
This section is a late addition to my shrine... but there is so much cool stuff for this game online that I wanted to save, as well as my own creations!! So, I figured I might as well share everything I'm saving. I highly recommend checking out basically everything I'm about to list!!
