Xbox Game Pass left me obsessed with this Elder Scrolls meets Cooking Mama RPG

Recently, I’ve been trying to get my money’s worth of subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, which is no longer a problem thanks to my new dungeon-crawler obsession.

Out of the two subscriptions, it’s Xbox Game Pass that gives me the most bang for my buck. Xbox has been regularly updating its offering with first-party titles like Gears of War: E-Day, third-party AAAs, and charming indies.

It’s one of the latter which has got its grubby little hooks in me this week - a co-op cooking game with a dark fantasy twist similar to The Elder Scrolls.

Deep Dish Dungeon is a game PC players might be familiar with, but for Xbox users, it’ll be brand-new and very, very fun.

Xbox Game Pass is cooking with this latest indie addition

Deep Dish Dungeon is exactly what it sounds like: a dungeon crawler that asks you to not only explore the depths and slay monsters, but cook some tasty meals for yourself and your friends.

Weirdly, this is the second cooking-focused indie game that’s captured my attention this year...

READ NEXT: Steam 'creepy-cozy' free demo will leave you hungry for more; we've played it

You can play it by yourself, if you’d like, but it’s obviously more fun with friends. As you explore the dungeon, you’ll come face-to-face with dozens of goofy enemies as well as ingredients to take back to camp.

With these ingredients you can eat like a king before going back on your merry way. Each meal will not only nourish you for the coming expedition, but also buff your stats in several different ways.

As a whole the experience is basically like exploring one of the many crypts in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, except after you’re done dismantling skeletons, you head off for a cooking lesson like in a Cooking Mama game.

Raw Fury

The dungeon itself is completely hand-crafted by the developer team as well. Behold Studios proudly confirms that no generative AI has been used in the game.

Deep Dish Dungeon isn’t a long game by any means. The length of a playthrough will depend on how much exploring you want to do, but HowLongToBeat reckons a completed run will last around nine to 10 hours.

You can access this one through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on both Xbox Series X/S consoles and PC, and if you for some reason don’t have a valid subscription, but are still reading this article, there’s a free demo available on Steam for a quick taste of the full-game.

I’d heartily recommend that you give it a go. I’ve been logging in regularly all week and while I’m yet to wrangle some mates to play with me, I’ve been having a swell time by myself.

2026 has felt like an avalanche when it comes to good AAA games. Just this month we’ve had the likes of Phantom Blade Zero and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 clog up our hard drives, so it’s nice to have a few games like Deep Dish Dungeon to cleanse the palate.

It’s been an oddly comforting one to play for a couple of hours and then put down for something else.

Deep Dish Dungeon is currently only available on Xbox and PC platforms, but I’m sure it’ll get a port to PlayStation consoles at some point.

READ NEXT: PC gamers get free survival horror game to keep for Halloween