Cuisine Royale was never intended to survive, but it did; players embraced the cheeky humour of underwear-clad men (and eventually women) running around in kitchenware armour, driving noisy vehicles and eating excessive amounts of innuendo-laden consumable items.
These aspects alone would not have saved the April Fools gag from a quick demise if not for Cuisine Royale’s exceptionally good combat system and map design.
While Cuisine Royale was a joke, the developers were not, and suddenly, the internet was aware of that.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
Cuisine Royale was given a chance few April Fools projects are ever given; it would be given an opportunity to survive on its own merit, and development began in earnest.
2019 saw the release of console ports, new mechanics, and an optional “battle pass”, which rewarded players with Wild West-themed cosmetics and items.
Around this time, the in-game store began to sell cosmetics, which drifted away from the “funny underpants” theme of year one to the “drunken costume party” theme of year 2, including racially insensitive near topless female Native Americans and multiple stereotypical “Indian chief” costumes.
2020 was the year that everything changed; with a new name, new mechanics, a dark supernatural theme, console ports, and even more “cheeky” female skins, Cuisine Royale became C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D.
Cuisine Royale as we knew it was over, but the journey of C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. was just beginning.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
Unfortunately for fans of Cusine Royale, this journey has not been an altogether happy one.
The developers are as talented as ever, but the successful launch of Enlisted clearly has demanded their attention and C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is starting to exhibit signs of being sidelined.
While the developers have continued to release patches and the occasional content drop, many of these patches appear to have been tailored towards keeping C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. afloat with reduced resources and a dwindling community, such as the dynamic start zone mechanic, which reduces the starting area of a map to compensate for lower player density.
While this should result in better matches with more frequent engagements, that is not the case, and it mostly results in players being forced into smaller areas of the map and missing out on important points of interest and looting potential.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. looks fantastic on PC and 9th generation consoles, despite beginning life as an April Fools mod of an in-development mmo-shooter, C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is one of the better-looking 9th-generation battle royales, with graphics that match and occasionally surpass PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds.
I am particularly impressed by the world design, which is second to none and reflects the amount of care and dedication Darkflow Software put into making Enlisted an AAA experience.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
If Cusine Royale was a slightly drunk Frat boy, C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is his edgy younger brother who indulges in occultism,anti-theism, needless profanity, casual sexism and mild racism. C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. seems to go out of its way to scream, “Look at me, I am edgy and unique.” while that’s a true statement, it’s similar to shouting, “I am an idiot” and is not the sort of thing you brag about.
Even the title includes the acronym F.O.A.D. (**** off and die) to cement its edgy status.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. tries too hard to come off as edgy, and I hope the developers tone it back to more bearable levels in the future.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
Cuisine Royale was campy, cheesy and reminiscent of straight-to-VHS 1980s comedies, but it had one thing in abundance: charm.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is a much better game mechanically, but being forced to carry your weapons in a boutique bag and wearing loud clattering armour was one of the best things about Cuisine Royale; it was whimsy in a genre that often takes itself too seriously.
While I am glad Cuisine Royale has survived, I cannot help but wonder at what cost.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. offers some very fun skins; they are cute, cheeky and very well made, but many of the more popular skins are disrespectful, sexy nuns, combat priests, topless female brave, “catholic school girls”, Aztec Chief, Native American Chief and a minidress wearing/upskirt prone Asian female skin that is supposedly a “Dragon Warrior”.
These are all intended to be cute/funny skins but are also very disrespectful to the people and cultures they represent. If you want a female character in leather booty shorts, go for it, but disparaging a religion of 1.2 billion adherents by saying she is a nun is disrespectful.
Admittedly, this is not a game-breaking issue; however, it is not respectful of the feelings of female gamers and seems to have been designed in such a way as to inspire lust in young and lonely male gamers.
While some may dismiss this as a non-issue, I feel strongly that making content purely to titillate is wrong, and while there is a time and place for nudity in games, making almost every female character eye candy is offensive and for those who are prone to acting on their lust, dangerous.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. has a big problem with cheaters on PC. I have witnessed unarmoured characters taking two full clips to the face without dying, all while flying without the aid of any in-game ability or item, such as low-gravity boots or jetpack.
Facing off against a player or players that are essentially undefeatable is a great way to sour the mood, and I will be moving to console, where cheating is not an issue.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is one of the only Battle Royale I have encountered that allows players to purchase a consumable item (flare gun) that grants players the ability to call in premium airdrops, and while another player may claim it first, the fact that players with cash to spare can call in loot drops in concerning especially in a game that already rewards progression, both paid and organic with enhanced skills and abilities.
Players can also purchase “one hit kill” melee weapons, giving them a massive head start during the early minute of each game, which is the most egregious example of pay-2-win I have ever seen in a western game.
CRSED: F.O.A.D. is a battle royale video game developed by Darkflow Software and published by Gaijin Entertainment, it will be released on 12 Dec, 2019 and it is Free-2-Play.
CRSED: F.O.A.D. is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
While I have not agreed with many of the changes made to C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D., I have never questioned the competency of Darkflow Software.
Despite dwindling player numbers on all platforms and the lack of crossplay to counteract this decline, Darkflow Software has continued to release content for C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D., including new cosmetic items, playable characters and major changes to looting and core mechanics, such as the introduction of a helicopter in the Dieselpunk update, opening up the skies in a way that had previously been impossible.
While this dedication is to be commended unless C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. has full crossplay support soon; there will be too few people left on PC to enjoy any new content that is released; with certain regions already struggling to fill lobbies outside of peak hours, there has never been a better time than now to announce full crossplay between P.C. and console is on the horizon.
Image credit CRSED: F.O.A.D. - Published by Gaijin Entertainment and developed by Darkflow Software.
As of December 2023, around 40000 people play CRSED: F.O.A.D. on a fairly regular basis.
CRSED: F.O.A.D. suffers from low activity, meaning that while off-peak matchmaking is possible in populated regions, finding full lobbies in less populated regions is unlikely outside of peak playtimes.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D supports:
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D., as of December 2021, allows Xbox and Playstation users to play together; however, PC and Nintendo Switch communities remain isolated.
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D offers the following matchmaking options:
The C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D is rated PEGI 18+ and contains the following:
C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. is an enjoyable free-to-play battle royale with a large map, fantastic combat, decent player numbers and talented developers.
While it is not better than any of the mainstream battle royales, C.R.S.E.D. F.O.A.D. brings enough uniqueness to the table to warrant a look, even if much of that uniqueness is of the edgy variety.
