A Friend like Me || Us Lovely Corpses (PC)

“I like to make even villains people you can relate to. When you find out who did it, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.” –Harlan Coben

Seems not at all ominous...

Us Lovely Corpses is a visual novel style game created by d Marie. You play as Alejandra de Rose, a witch on her first solo mission. This job isn’t new to her, however, since Marisol is her best friend and she’s become used to having to clip the roses to save her.

Marisol has been cursed since she was a baby by a monster. While the monster didn’t physically harm her, the monster has stayed with her to this day. The monster kidnaps Marisol to the attic and ensnares the house in vines and roses to keep others at bay. That’s where Alejandra and her grandmother come in, to tame the monster back and save Marisol.

To be fair, I would be flipping out too...

I felt that the monster was like an allegory for a mental illness in some ways. The roses that you interact with, if you listen to them, they talk about some very relatable topics, including self-harm and self-depreciation. Marisol seems to deal with some very real struggles related to her condition, and I can appreciate that since I deal with a lot of the same struggles.

I don’t want to spoil anything in the game in any way, but if you want to play for yourself to see the endings, you can download the game free from Itch.io *here* What did you think of your ending? Be sure to leave your feedback for the creator on their Itch.io page.

Thank you, as always. Until next time!

Bellannmae

Beauty is Only Skin Deep || Meeting in the Flesh [DEMO] (PC)

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." --Aristotle

Title

Meeting in the Flesh is a horror/romance visual novel in the works by cacoethic and inktrashing. You play as Vil, a delivery boy on a strange world that’s inhabited by a diverse number of… what you might call “monsters”. At first, I thought that we were in some sort of post-apocalyptic Earth, but then Vil described the planet’s 3 suns and I realized that we are on some strange and unknown planet. 

There is a good deal of reading, since this is a visual novel, however there is less dialogue and more descriptive writing, compared to other visual novels I have played. It’s not bad at all. I thoroughly enjoy reading, and the descriptions given made me much more curious about the world. The characters are all very different, and I’m very curious about where the story will go in the future.

In the plot of the story, an eclipse is approaching, an event that occurs only once every century or so. It’s seem as a great occasion and a day when anything can happen. Everyone seems to be making special plans, except for Vil. Perhaps someone else has plans for Vil, though?

Salt Bath... not a good time.

The demo takes you through two days of deliveries, introducing you to the major characters and giving a good bit of the lore and atmosphere of the world. I still am curious to know more, but hopefully that will come with time. Some of the characters can be rather unsettling at first sight, but half of this game’s genre is horror after all, and the artwork is very well done, regardless. 

Over all, I really enjoyed the demo. Kudos the developers for the great writing and artwork. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the finished game. As always, I encourage you to give the demo a play for yourself, you can download it free from Itch.io *here*.

Also, be sure to leave your feedback and encouragement for the developers on their page, and you can also follow the development of the game through their tumblr *here*. Until next time, happy gaming, Jammers!

Bell