Ochitsubaki
A fallen camellia is a beheading, every time, every petal falling at once: a severing.
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TW: CSA, animal death, violence, suicidal ideation
OCHITSUBAKI || 落ち椿 is a visual novel about the impossibility of translating trauma. It is a bilingual JPN/ENG game about translation and how it can run as deeply as the way hypermarginalized people constantly “translate” their identities and trauma for the understanding of others, no matter how far it is from the source material. It’s about recovering from trauma through the genuine compassion and consideration of another person, who manages to See the aftereffects of trauma and are willing to meet that person’s unique needs, regardless of if they “understand” them or not.
Ochitsubaki is only loosely a visual novel, which is to say it is a story-based game with a strong aesthetic component. Ochitsubaki has a deep, rich tapestry of aesthetics in unifying modern elegance with unique retro anime-inspired character portraits. The original soundtrack derives inspiration from traditional Asian pentatonic scales, particularly but not limited to Japanese ones, that also derive a modern, Genshin’s Liyue-type twist that sets it firmly in contemporary times. It has three language options: JPN, ENG, and JPN translation. The ENG/JPN versions are two different renditions of the story, thus requiring a separate JPN translation, emulating what happens when you try to translate something as complex as identity. You can consider that the only real choice you make in the game is which language to play it in, and each language option provides a different “route,” a similar but very distinctly different iteration of the story. The language modes mimic the powerful loss that happens when stories–when trauma–is translated.
The demo only contains the first two ENG chapters, an estimated 30-45min of playtime.
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Hanashiro (he/she/they) and their few remaining kin all react differently to the trauma of being immortal and witnessing the apocalypse over and over again in different cycles of reincarnation. Shiragiku is unfazed and cheery and flippant and whimsical and capricious; Shirayuri is nowhere to be found; and Hanashiro? Hanashiro is planning on their death in 10 years, when the camellias fall, if they cannot find a reason to live by then.
Hanashiro and Shirayuri have witnessed THE END OF THE WORLD before. But no one believed them. Shiragiku has seen many, many apocalypses, but she has never been hurt by any one after the first. Shiragiku has remembered every single end; Shirayuri has remembered none; and Hanashiro only remembers some. Which? Even he doesn’t know.
Hanashiro misses speaking her fey mother tongue, but she can’t seem to find anyone willing to listen to her, not even her own kind. And then she makes an enemy who just might. Their name is Lun Kochouran.
And they might be the first one in a millennium to learn the Amayuri tongue.
They also might be the first to kill an immortal.
Read More: Best Experimental Stylized Games.
flaming/million
The game was very cool and taught me about whats going on in the world. The use of visual metaphor and game play to convey the idea of a world that is working against you is pretty cool. This may just be pondering in my part, but the female and male models stacked in top of each other to convey that you are in-between is pretty smart and it’s embarrassing to say that it took me awhile to get it.
Great game with great mechanical and visual story telling. Hope everyone stays safe and has a great pride.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experimental Underground Games.
The character walks around backwards is that on purpose like a homage to OoT speed run? (That would be cool but …) As for the story I could not figure it out so I stopped reading and explored. Interesting game but have no idea what’s going on. The secret room was cool tho.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
10mg: Cover Me In Leaves
Fantastic game! the music, atmosphere, writing, and art were all beautiful. It was a lovely wistful experience. I read out loud while playing. It felt good. Really captured me. I recommend it.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experimental Horror Games.
Great atmosphere overall, excellent art and solid sound design, but the standout is the writing. Confident and direct, sometimes crude, but elegant and intimate. If the game were any longer the writing style would wear out its welcome, but since it’s (intentionally) short it doesn’t overstay its welcome and invites you to read it more than once to enjoy piecing it together (and also, you know, enjoy the writing).
In short: I’ve paid many times the price of this game for books that weren’t a fifth of its quality. Recommended.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Queerskins: ark
NOTE:
Unfortunately, Steamworks has decided to inexplicably censor this 6DoF interactive VR. If you want to support queer content and voices, please let Steam know of your displeasure. And, head to Viveport to download this woman produced and directed interactive experience, part of a Peabody award winning series! https://www.viveport.com/bcbd1d54-ac06-4b2e-a393-3851e6173440
Queerskins: ARK is a 6DoF interactive virtual reality experience. Reading a diary left by the estranged son, a Catholic mother (Hadley Boyd) finds a way to transcend herself and her grief by imagining him alive and in love. With heart-wrenching performances by Michael DeBartolo and Christopher Vo in volumetric video and the storytelling potential of spatial sound, Ark allows you to enter her imagination and co-create the lovers’ intimate dance through your body position and movements. An Intel Studios Original co-produced with Cloudred.
The Attic
The viewer finds herself in a dimly lit attic bedroom, a place that seems to be stuck in time, heavy with memory. Here, you assume the passive role of an observer in a 360˚ environment. Unable to move, you can examine the memorabilia-laden surroundings and begin to get an idea of time, place and what the story might be about. Mary-Helen begins reading her son’s diary.
El Matador
As Mary-Helen begins to imagine her son’s world, you are transported to a beautiful beach at dawn. Sebastian and his lover Alex appear, like a daydream nearby in the landscape. We allow Sebastian to break the 4th wall and directly implicate you in the scene. We position you quite close to the two men, just outside their personal space as you listen to their conversation. As Mary-Helen finds freedom in her imagination, you too now have the freedom to move around the beach as the experience transforms into 6DoF.
The Memory
The scene crossfades to an abstraction of the beach. Sebastian and Alex begin an intimate dance. Depending on how you move in the space, the dancers appear to respond to your presence. The performance has been choreographed as a series of segments, each visitor sees only 5 out of possible 24 combinations within each play session. Replay it to see other potential variations, follow the blue glowing lights to hear Mary-Helen reading Sebastian’s diary entries. Raise both arms to gain a new perspective, point your arms forward to fly!
Back in the Attic
As the lovers fade away, you are now back in the attic. It is the magic hour. The room is lit with a flat, golden light, reminiscent of the light on the beach. With a return of detail and color, it feels like the room has come back to life. Mary-Helen contemplates her new found sense of self.
Note
Queerskins: ARK is a room scale experience. It can be adjusted for available space:
— Small (10’x10’ / 3x3 m)
— Medium (20’x20’ / 6x6 m) — Default
— Large (30’x30’ / 9x9 m)
Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, Italian and Polish. Subtitles can only be set at the beginning of the experience by using your controller or by pressing corresponding keys on your keyboard. Please see the experience splash screen for details.
Lihue
Very good game by a solo dev called “Nehual Pascale” from argentina.
Lihue is a game a narrative adventure about a trans-girl where you have to enter in a psicodelic environment and live his own feelings. if you want to enter in a very beatifull enviroment and history this is the correct game!!
keep the amazing work nehual :D
Best Regards, Maty.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Hot Pool
This is really interesting concept for a game.
Maybe it should have been for free though.
I hope that they will update this experience.
It feels like it’s unfinished project right now.
There are a lot of things that need some fix.
The worst part about this game is the audio.
Well, at least the puzzle aspect is well done.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
As an aspergic gay guy, I am so thrilled to play Sexual Segregation: The Game. Just segregate out the gays and lesbians, put the heterosexuals in groups to the side, lump all the FTM-/MTF- people together, ensure the MTF+/FTM+ people are paired off (Because they’re somehow more picky than MTF-/FTM- people?) and then dump the bisexuals into whatever space remains. Easy!
If you too feel you would make a great social planner, and you believe in complete sexual segregation, then this game is perfect for you! :U
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
First Response
Welcome to your new job at the Extreme Containment Security Company! You’ve been selected by Malcolm Monaghan himself as the first subject in their brand new learning initiative! Upon your arrival, K.A.R.A. will guide you through concepts relating to Cybersecurity and the important work you’ll be doing as a brand new SOC Analyst!
Featuring an extremely talented full voice cast, First Response is a blend of the concepts seen in the walking simulator genre with simulation elements modeled after real work done by SOC Analysts! And maybe, a few surprises along the way, but we can’t say much more than that!
Flirt
My life changed approximately six hours ago.
I married my high school sweetheart three and a half years ago. I thought she was the one. I thought. Until she started throwing little quips at me just to get on my nerves. Stuff like, “You never do the laundry!” and “why do you smell so bad?” I hated it. I hated my life. How did I manage to get stuck with this woman? What did I do wrong?
Then it happened.
Flirt was released. My world was rocked.
I met the love of my life here, thirty-seven minutes and eighteen seconds ago. She never complains about me smelling bad. She never says my clothes are dirty.
– Real player with 11.0 hrs in game
Flirt is a good of communication and making new friends to hang out with online or offline. Flirt was created to simulate a dating world that’s not Tinder or any other dating sites or services. I loved Comedy Night since the day I bought it in 2017 and this is now another one of my favourite games by Lighthouse Studios now too! Sure this game was not advertised nor released properly but it’s not the worse outcome. I played for a few hours of release and can say it was good outcome so far. The player base needs improvement and better stuff added such as emotes and perks for the hearts. Overall it has potential just needs some work. Good Job Lighthouse Studios!!
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Lucah: Born of a Dream
So. Lucah: Born of a Dream is hands-down the best character action title I’ve ever played, and a game I will easily place near the top of my GotY list for 2018. Here’s why.
Gameplay
Lucah’s gameplay is absurdly polished, not much by indie standards, but for character action/action adventure standards period. The systems in place all feel incredible to use, and feel very meticulously crafted and refined to cater to a variety of different playstyles. Not only does it pay (incredibly good) homage to games like Bayonetta, Dark Souls and Hyper Light Drifter by means of it’s combat and general gameplay, I would happily say it gives them a run for their money.
– Real player with 68.2 hrs in game
This is the only game I’ve ever backed on kickstarter using my own money so far. I told myself I’d wait until the game released to actually play it but when the developer sent me my beta key I immediately launched into playing it and kept going until I finished it. What you need to understand about this game going in is that it’s not the game you’re probably expecting from its packaging. You see a stamina bar, experience that doubles as currency, checkpoints that heal and allow levelling up, and you probably go to “oh this is a soulslike” but the reality here is that it’s more in line with a character action game. The soulslike mechanics are more like a flavoring to the bayonetta/DMC/metal gear rising sort of feeling you’re going to get from this game’s combat. The control scheme is even nearly identical to that of Bayonetta’s.
– Real player with 40.7 hrs in game
Queerskins: a love story
This left a bad taste in my mouth.
There just wasn’t enough time for reflection or enough moments to challenge the perspective that is being driven into us (that being Gay is wrong because it is against God). I suspect (hope) the intention was to prompt reflection and thought, but in a 15 minute 360 video, there is no opportunity for this, and the developers don’t fuel it at all.
The result, whether intentional or not, is a mess of bigotry and “cruel and irreligious piety.” I hate this. It should be withdrawn until it can be amended so that it isn’t provoking hate. I have reported it.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
game bad and about hating gays
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game