Dead Plate
A short 2D restaurant tycoon themed
rpg horror game with visual novel and
point-and-click elements set in 1960s
France following the story of a lively
waiter named Rody trying to make as
much money as possible in a week at
a fancy bistro owned by a charismatic
and successful chef, Vince.
Spoilers Ahead!
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.
Support the game here!