#Scary visual novel

[iloveabunchofgames]

#JakeReviewsItch

Amelie

BIG OL' CONTENT WARNING! At the bottom of the description on the Itch page

by Two and a Half Studios

Price (US): $3.99

Included In: Bundle for Ukraine, Queer Games Bundle 2022

Genre: Visual Novel

Pitch: Aristocrat Amelie is in lockdown while the plague ravages the outside world. Her maid feels prickly about a visit from Amelie's pen-pal. A short, anime-style visual novel, retold three times from each character's perspective, with a few branching paths

My expectations: Much to my disappointment, this does not appear to have anything to do with the major motion picture of the same name. Fox Interactive's Alien: Resurrection: The Game and Psygnosis' The City of Lost Children remain the only games based on Jean-Pierre Jeunet's illustrious oeuvre. Is no one brave enough to take a chance on a Micmacs game? So anyway, I'm going to have to put that disappointment out of mind and try to focus on reviewing Amelie for what it is rather than what it is not. I'm open to a queer visual novel with "psychological horror." Two and a Half Studios released five games in this style from 2018 to 2022. Given my recent experience with prolific visual novelists, I have concerns about them being stretched too thin. They're saying Amelie is ~20,000 words (1-1.5 hours), which is relatively constrained. This could be good!

Review:

A young woman lives with her maid in an ornate manor. Her parents, infected by the plague, have left their home until they’re better. When the woman’s pen-pal arrives for a visit, the maid is livid. The pen-pal assures them that lockdowns are lifting and travel is becoming more common, but the maid insists that for everyone’s protection, this interloper must go.

Ooooookay… It’s a game from 2021, back when we still kinda took the pandemic seriously, but society at large was starting to get comfortable admitting that we’re more concerned with Starbucks and letting children be someone else’s problem for eight hours a day than we are with preventable deaths…

One possible reading of Amelie is that we have to get back to normal. Making minimal personal sacrifice to curb the spread of a case of the sniffles that’s not even dangerous if you’re young and healthy is oppressive. Women are being oppressed by life-saving courtesy.

My reading is that it’s a ghost story. Current events like the pandemic and attacks on womens’ rights influenced it, but it’s primarily a self-contained story about ghosts.

The presentation and design are uneven. The ghost story isn’t bad. Maybe a light recommendation?

+ As trope-y ghost stories go, this one is fine. I was a few steps ahead of almost everything, but even so, it had me asking questions and looking forward to what might happen next. Plus, feminism and lesbian visibility. Cool and cool. + Dig those backgrounds and special insert shots. + The developers call the music "gorgeous." I don't agree, but it is memorable and effective, both when trying to lure you in and spook you out. + Each character is distinct. Most of the time, there aren't visual or audio cues to indicate who's talking. The name of the speaker is displayed, but I could usually ignore that and still figure it out based on the written voice.

– It's possible the ultimate message is that we need to stop living in fear and forget about coronavirus prevention. I'm immunocompromised. A member of my family died from COVID-19 last week. I believe it's just a funtimes ghost story, but maybe, just maybe, this is a work of COVID denial, and I'm not onboard with that. – Background/character art mismatch. – Going through the story multiple times with multiple characters and multiple outcomes? Good! Clicking through repeated dialogue but not clicking too fast because there might be something new inserted between the old stuff? Not good. Did we learn nothing from Arrested Development's fourth season? – Two and a Half Studios, you have promise, and I hope you learned some lessons. Think about how long we're going to be in these scenes, and figure out your artists' priorities—and make sure they're working together. Think about what you're saying. Are we making choices or not?

🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Bottom Line: If you got Amelie in a bundle and creepy ghost stuff is up your alley, sure, why not? It's nothing new or exceptional, but the ghost stuff? It's fine. For potential paying customers, here's an endless list of Itch visual novels tagged with "horror" and "LGBT". You don't need this one.

#JakeReviewsTwitch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews...

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[faragonart]

We interrupt this program to bring you...

Echo

[prettyupsetnerd]

hard to be a cool goth loner when some losers keep bugging you all the damn time

[starzgaze]

CONCEPT: folk legend!sjw/biologist!reader

tw: missing people, stalking, implications of cult, really really itty bittt twinge of yandere if you squint really hard. also mostly word vomit i just wanted this concept out of my head oh god

Imagine you're a biologist who decided to go back to your little town that's located nearby an eerie mountain thats surrounded with equally eerie forests. You heard from your parents that there was a sudden shift in the wildlife and the animals seems to decreasing in population which concerns the wildlife protection department of your town.

So this piques your interest and you decided to visit your hometown. You were warmly greeted by the locals and you caught up with your old childhood friends by drinking in the local bar where you swung your first drink. After all that you shifted back your focus on the main reason why you went back, the wildlife is acting strange.

You decided to daytime observation first, quietly watching the remaining animals and see what could possibly be behind the sudden disappearances of the animals. This didn't work much to your dismay so that means you had to conduct night time observations. Your parents was worried but you reminded that you're a licensed researcher and you know what you're doing. Reluctantly, your parents let you go out into the forest.

But of course before you leave, one of the town's elders grabbed you the side and gave you a warning. A warning that you should probably back out and continue with your daytime observations and not continue this one... You of course don't listen, you're an adult! Why will you sway to the words of an old lady or a stupid legend that was made for children to keep them in check? You're an adult, a person of science and logic. Folk tales are neat but isn't exactly your thing.

Though.. honestly you wished you heeded the elder's warning. When you entered the forest you saw things that wasn't there in the morning. Strange tied up sticks that was shaped like dolls hanged in the trees or twine wrapped around the trunks that had pieces of paper stuck on to it. You were pretty sure this is not the doing of an animal but what sick person would do this? It all looked so... ritualistic. You crouched down on to the leafy floor and picked up a 'doll' that fell off from the tree, it had a poorly sewed clothes on it and black coarse animal hair glued on to its head, resembling a pretty shaggy haircut. It looked like an old friend. You looked at it, noting the little details of the doll. This suddenly reminds you of a time when you were younger that there was a series of missing people cases in this town.

One of those victims was your friend, Jinwoo, and he was the last person to go missing during that time. You remember you were adamant on searching the forest yourself to find him but your parents stopped you and locked you in your room just in case you tried to sneaked out into the forest. You honestly missed him but you shook your head, dwelling on the past will hinder your research. Stepping away from the ritualistic scene, you continued hiking into the forest trying to find a suitable place to observe the wildlife in the night.

After a while of wandering around, you found a good place to set up your gear. You unzipped your bags and prepared your things when suddenly you felt a shift in the air, a shiver went down your spine when you moved your head to see if there was anything there. You were told the locals rarely walk outside anymore especially past 7pm, a result of the cases back then. So no one should be out at this hour in the forest, you should be alone.

You decided to ignore it first and focus on finishing your set up. When you finished gearing up and prepping your things you got another shot of eerieness that made your body tingle. Just what the hell is happening? You felt you were being watched from every angle but when you look around you don't see anything. Were you being preyed upon an animal?

You readied your pepper spray that was stored in your pocket, animals typically stays away from you if you're deemed as the biggee threat. So, as long you know how to appear bigger and scarier you should be fine. You've been doing this for years now but something tells you there's something not right, it feels... like it's not an animal preying on you but you can't exactly explain it. Your mind goes back to the moment where you stumbled upon a weird place in the forest that had a bunch of ritualistic things and you touched a weird doll that looked an old friend, it might be related to that.

Before you could continue deducing in your head you hear a loud crunch in the dark. This is starting to creep you out. You started to try to calm yourself and rationalize your thoughts. You're a person of science you shouldn't be this scared just think of something that makes sense it might be just a wolf or a bear.. hopefully. As you tried to steady your mind the light from your gear suddenly shuts off and you were enshrouded in darkness.

This is where the sounds of footsteps and howling started to intensify, Your heart was racing as you didn't move from your spot. You were shaking as you held your pathetic little pepper spray and tried to block out the noises. How the hell are you supposed to rationalize this?! You were panicking hard as you finally dropped to your feet and covered your ears, still holding the spray in your other hand.

Then all the noise stopped but you can feel SOMETHING behind you. It doesn't feel human or something you could comprehend and your mind is running back to the little warning the old sweet elder tried warninfg you of. Is this the end? They said it was monstrous from the rare sightings. I think you remember the elder saying it started appearing shortly after the end of the series of disappearances. Your mind is fogging up from panick.

You felt it's hand on your shoulder, it's cold breath right beside your neck. It spoke and... you recognize the voice. You finally turned your head and you were greeted with a pair of deep purple eyes staring right back at you, it felt like you were starung back to the abyss. You called out it's name

"Jinwoo?"

[nifreti-ii]

I think Charlie likes you… a bit too much.

Yeee, I got into ADSM sometime ago and mmmmmm I like the two sillies :> Especially since I'm getting ‘don't judge a book by its cover’ vibes, even more so after reading the asks. I'm super hyped for day 1 ehehehehe. I want to poke and (gently) pinch them, they’re so precious. (Am I scared? Yes, but that is with all the pookies I have found and collected, besides maybe 2 :/) All in all, I liked the demo/prologue and am hyped :D

Check out my Masterlist for my art and (limited) writing! >:3

[saccharinosis]

It's not asexual day without cake (Happy Asexual Day!)

[smilestrawbunny]

Happy Screenshot Saturday!!! First look at Magician… My little horror game is looking very cutesy right now- everyone’s favorite, haha 💕🍬🧸🍭

[klaineka]

Rot Cubs is a visual novel series about young animals who get taken to mysterious Rotwood Manor, where something scary and mysterious is definetly going on. If you like spooky stories with mysteries, queer caharcters and cute animals, you might wanna check this out! The second chapter was just finished, and both chapters are for free! Both chapters can be found HERE Chapter 1 here! Chapter 2 here!

[staypuff]

i made a game!

if you played it i would be soooo happy :] idec about rating just if you enjoy my stuff please enjoy my game

[insertisfruity]

From Madness With Love is so new it has basically no fandom and I'm going batshit bc the only way to cope with the clusterfuck that was that game is to INHALE so much fanwork that I know what the FUCK I feel about it/pos

I am still losing my shit and I finished it hours ago. I played 4 endings between 2 characters and I just. Idk how much FMWL (From Madness With Love) I have left in me. And yet I actually can't stop thinking abt it....

[rinmemesuoka]

opening my nintendo switch year in review and looking through my fingers because i recall that i play videogames for a podcast

[clownboymcchucklefuck]

Colored Gaze Theory: Simon is a cannibal. [DEBUNKED]

I know this sounds wild at first but I've checked some old posts and it scarily adds up to this.

[Picture from Colored Gaze demo]

Here are the old posts from Twitter I'm talking about:

I probably should have had this already figured out with the first post but I wanted more proof.

I knew of the whole relationship of Simon and It with Simon feeding It but it always confused me a little on how SIMON is the one doing the feeding somehow, And its been heavily hinted at that It eats people. But Simon isn't the type to go out and kill anyone! Bro who tf said Simon didn't have some strange entity attached to him like venom and could snap your neck and you wouldn't know it until you saw Micheal Jackson moonwalking towards you? 💀

Its already been stated multiple times on the C.C that Simon is a very good cook and I just thought this was a wholesome thing until you start piecing things together.

In another post on the creators tumblr blog it was asked if Simon would be willing to go on a picnic at night with Virgil/@wouldyoustayvn and this was the response:

Innocent, right? Wholesome, right?

Oh my fucking God I could never be more wrong if this implies what I think it does.

Once again this could just be the tism making me look to far into this but...that "homemade" isn't really sitting right with me. And also note the usage of They/Them pronouns in this so that means this is including It in the response to along with Simon.

Once again this is implying that Simon is a food provider for It. This just keeps getting more and more terrifying by the second

Correct me if I'm wrong but also everytime Simon cooking something for MC or something simular has been mentioned on the C.C it always has some sort of underlying tone to it?

This last part could just be me looking to far into this but its been mentioned that Simon has brittle nails and brittle nails are commonly a symptom of having a lack of nutrients in your body. Thought I should mention that to in this theory

___________________________________________

@dont-wannadothis-anymore

Simon belongs to: @clrdgaze/@mr-ritza

[badsummer]

Bad Summer is a dating simulator that utilizes creepy analog storytelling to create an unsettlingly beautiful narrative! 🖤

Look out for more details regarding our demo soon! 🎮

[norbezjones]

Backgrounds of Level 0 for my liminal space otome, Romance The Backrooms!

Can you name all of the backrooms items in the first picture? :3 Bonus points if you name the references in the polaroids on the wall.

(art is by me, Bez)

[gongonstudio]

If you're into cute horror games, check out Eye Can See You! 🌸

Help psychic girl Aiya navigate her high school life while trying to escape from evil's clutches.

Fall in love, make friends and discover the mysteries of Kyosei High.

This improved version of chapter one includes new voice acting, new visuals, and more lore!

🌸 Play here 🌸

[coolbies]

Hi I saw John doe gameplay a while ago.. he's a silly dog.. a little friend.. I think if he was a lil more chill hed be chill ykw what I mean?!