Cataplexy

At a glance:

• Released on: 1/12/22

• Reviews: 42, net positive, as of 7/2023

• English Reviews: 15

• Localized in: English/Russian

• Had Publisher: Diada Novels

• Majority of reviews:

  • Russian ~60%

  • English ~ 32%

  • Portugese ~4%

• Price: $1.99

• Review report: Main issues were with the game being short, but even then the overwhelming majority of reviews were positive in this regard, they wanted more

Gameplay

• No choices appeared in the game besides those at the main menu

• Fairly static VN

Music

• Music is disturbing, matches the grungy, dark aspect of the game

• Sad music plays as shadow MC kills himself
  

Sounds

• MC has some form of VA, sounds like garbled words over a radio

  • Horror character also makes some noises when speaking

Art

• Artstyle was done well albeit a bit dark

• Reflects the haze and confusion when in a ‘dream state’

Writing

• Game offers a preferred narration style, very interesting

  • Chose Serious style first

  • Game states the the ‘serious’ version was so creepy it had to be cut, was not expecting that

  • Both options lead to a joke that takes the player back to the main menu

  • Game begins after both options are selected

• MC and ‘horned dude’ have convo about fears and the MC being a ‘sacrifice candidate’

  • MC wakes up but is paralyzed and begins to hallucinate

  • Ghost women appear and torment the MC, ripping out an organ

    • Also defiles MC corpse with necrophilia

• MC breaks free of the paralysis with a finger move, then it’s over

  • Fear lingered that it would happen again

  • Immediately turned on all lights and browsed computer for ingo

• Months later it happens again, and MC is looking for signs of the previous event (Ghost ladies)

  • In between the incidents no details are delved into, no story except for a hospital visit

    • No job, no routine, no home life, no family

• Renpy default image used, intentionally as a cosmic horror event

  • Introduces itself as a character, trust the cow, something to remember

• The entity reveals that the ghost women saved MC from inoperable lung cancer when they took out his organ

  • Could’ve just been a subconscious attempt at logically explaining the first incident

• MC is recruited to be a ‘Watcher’, given a blanket that allows extra vision

  • Tasked with killing his physical self

  • Spiritual blanket self can move around

  • Recruited by a talking brain

• Happy birthday song plays over a newspaper clipping, MC actually died of asphyxiation

  • Or not, game continues

  • MC is now in limbo with another part of his soul

  • Wants him dead, if he gets majority stake of the ‘souls’ he can leave the place

  • Cow noises while running in the limbo, echoes

  • MC remembered cow so we don’t have to

• Game ends with a cliffhanger and meeting a girl in the tundra

Scare Factor

• In a dark limbo with a monster right in front of us, tongue falling out, shoulder covered in trypophobic holes

• I wouldn’t say anything in the game was truly scary, but it was a very interesting look into something many people have experienced

Extra

• Made with Renpy, appears to be about sleep paralysis judging from ‘about’ section info

Overall

• Only half of all players beat the game (according to achievement data ~7/2023)

• For whatever reason, this horror novel didn’t take off

  • Premise was unique, but perhaps uninteresting to people looking for a scare

  • What audience is there for horror novels? What are they looking for?

  • Game was a nice, short experience (Dev bias, for me the shorter the better)

  • Russian populace still appears more interested in horror in general than anyone else, but possibly to a lesser extent than if the game was a walking sim.