The Curse

holy fuckkk this is so phenomenal and excellently done. i had a pit in my stomach basically the whole time i was playing. i felt very connected to Ava from the get-go - she really feels like a trapped teenager who feels like no one takes her seriously. and in her desperation for attention, she winds up falling down and down and down into a black hole of misery.

the writing is smart & snappy - no line of dialogue feels wasted. i cannot overstate how good it felt to read. it somehow tells this entire story with complete, laser focus, while still accurately capturing the "meandering MMO chat" vibe.

i feel like for such a small project it packs such a large punch, and i can't imagine how much effort it must have taken. SUPER well done to the author for an experience i won't forget :)

Found this game from Sagan Hawke's video. Really liked it it's a nice short read and it rlly captured the whole vibe of being a teenager on the internet being in the middle of online beef w strangers online. I feel for the protagonist cuz I was in her place before, not the exact situation of course but very similar vibes. Love how the typing styles and conversations feel so real too, not to mention the sound design too. Makes everything feel so barren and dreamlike. Nice job it was a very interesting read <3

Sagan sent me - great little story, really reminiscent/nostalgic. Reminds me of playing GuildWars and some of that drama we'd come across in the clan and groups of other players. Feels real. TY 

Terribly written Visual Novel. 

came here from Sagan Hawke's video and holy shit i ADORED this. it's a very short experience but i think that serves the story its trying to tell very well. this is a really clever way to use renpy and i love the themes this explores and how blunt it is about those themes. fantastic experience, can't wait to see more of your work!

despite being very short this game is really really good with its dialogue and storytelling. every line has so much character in it complimented with the minimal sound design and the visuals. i wish i could praise this game better but its worth the price to experience. i really enjoyed it

I came her from the Sagan Hawkes video. I really like this game :) It captures something really earnest about being a young vulnerable person playing a game like wow. I'm going to ramble for several paragraphs down below, but I genuinely could've gone on for way longer. This game is short, maybe 15 min max, but I'm left with a lot of thoughts. It's definitely worth the price tag, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's experienced the particular kind of lonliness it simulates. 

[spoilers]

.

.

.

.

.

I loved this games depiction of grooming. Hamer wasn't the traditional form of groomer, but his behaviour still feels so familiar to me. You're a young girl, increasingly aware of how fucked your home life is yet no one ever seems to react to your obvious suffering, desperately lonely and yearning for recognition. You're surrounded by older peers that you want to impress, that you want to cry to, that you want to be friends with, yet at best they are politely stand-offish and at worst they are actively cruel to you. You never seem to react right. 

Then, all of the sudden, here comes a new guy. A fellow outsider, and one that is nice to you. He listens, he gifts you stuff, he spends time with you. Because you are desperate for someone to tell you: "Yes! The way you live is awful! You deserve better!", you tell him everything. He's barely real, after all, he's probably on the other side of the world. Only after he has intimate knowledge of your life, and only after he's dropped hints that you might not be safe with him, do you realize that he is close. That he might know where you live and that you're not safe.

Any time you push back on his behaviour, you are punished. You cause drama, you make him sad, etc. etc. So you don't push back. But you still keep spending time with him, because he is the only person that takes you seriously. 

This game was really good. There's a part of it that feels like a vivid memory of some of the worst years of my life, just with the gravitas that gets lost when it's all just another day and more of the details kept in tact. The characters all feel grounded, all of them felt like they were working off of wrong assumptions and incomplete knowledge (That classic atmosphere where everyone tells each other horror stories about all the terrible stuff that could happen online, but still everyone thinks 'well surely it isn't happening here!'). Even those with ill intentions or those that acted cruelly never felt like they were just horror monsters. They're people. It almost feels like you failed him.  

I've wanted to play this game for a while, ever since I saw hellfire peninsula's comment. Finally had enough spare change to get it. I really liked it, the gloominess for the lack of a better word. I really like reading through chats like this.

[mild spoilers]

.

.

.

.

Probably one of the eeriest things is dropping your heart to someone who gives these noncommittal answers, and Ava calling these conversations "deep". It's a boon I think to find anyone willing to listen and not respond with abjectness---what Ava needed was someone to ask and listen earnestly and not brush the topic aside.

The sfx were good. Really ramps up the tension, talking to a one note person and hearing the same thing over and over. I like how it all takes place in this closed town. It's an interesting dynamic, Ava not being really close to her brother, and instead it's her brother's friend that looks out to her. Wasn't sure of bugkillr's gender but it's strange to think how hamer, at least with ava and zer0, focuses on isolating girls. I feel like it's on purpose.

Sadly i cant buy the game but i didnt find any gameplay in yt either maybe you should change the game's name.Seems emotional from 2 comments.I hope someone shares a gameplay on yt 

College was a dark time in my life. I woke up when the sun was down, I played World of Warcraft, and went to sleep before it rose. It was all I did. My roommate lived off-campus, so nobody cared that I wasn't going to class. I was just happy to be out of a house where my older siblings had moved on and I was alone whenever I woke up in the night to hear my parents fighting again.

Now I could climb through a window in a dark room and I could be somewhere else. I didn't have to be alone if I didn't want to. I didn't have to be myself if I didn't want to. I didn't have to hear people if I didn't want to. That time ended, eventually, and I had to go back home.

Recently, I told my doctor that I could remember considering self-harm as early as in grade school. Wondering if my bedroom window would be high enough, if I went headfirst. She asked me if I had ever considered that I didn't have to feel that way all the time. I hadn't.

The Curse means a lot to me. I'm sorry if this is comment is inappropriate, or too much, or a bummer. I think this game will be very important to some people.

The Curse captures many things. The unease and loneliness of staying up late playing a mmo and slowly realizing you know nothing about the person you’ve spent hours, if not months, playing with and confiding in. The slippery dream logic of early 3d accelerated spaces. The absurdity of having a heavy conversation while fighting a low level enemy. The texture of the era. Expert sound design, too. 

Vigorously recommended.  This will stay with me.