This happens for various reasons: stereotypes, unusual “gameplay” for them, reluctance to try new things, or the fact that “they are too primitive and predictable, definitely for children”. There are so many people, so many opinions, no one forces anyone to do something they don’t like. But you, a young man (or girl), looked into this topic, so you are probably interested in “what kind of product is this in the name?». Even if you have certain stereotypes, I will try to show that the short stories are varied and really interesting, at least. And how can we help you become the one who discovered a new genre for you, dear reader?.
Crimson gray
I will do this using the example of a short story that I was lucky enough to find.
Crimson gray (crimson gray) is a visual novel in the psychological thriller genre, developed almost single-handedly by an enthusiast under the nickname Sierra Lee. On Steam it is also tagged: sexual content, Indian, simulator, violence and decisions with consequences.
The plot tells us about the main character – a young man who does not live, but exists. He doesn’t see the colors of this world, he doesn’t see his future, but every day he sees antidepressants called Paroxetine, prescribed by his school psychiatrist.
An interesting fact: the drug “paroxetine” exists in real life, I came across it quite by accident when I was studying the main character’s illness. The game mentions a large number of “side effects”, which really can happen – this is what the instructions for using this tell us. We can see references as we go.
John, that’s the main character’s name, suffers from Dysthymia (F34.1) – in other words, chronic anxious depression. Judging by the description of the illness, this was a consequence of several episodes of depression earlier, which is more likely due to problems in the family. Lives alone, goes to school, communicates with rather hypocritical classmates – former friends. A stable routine that continues until he meets a girl named Lizzie on the roof of the school. This is where the game begins. And what do we see?
Lizzie is a beautiful young girl with https://9ycasino.co.uk/ whom something is clearly wrong. Initially he seems to be a resident of the Country of the Elves (this is true, only these elves love and appreciate violence, murder and torture), and John fell for this hook. But, having gotten to know the girl better, he realized with horror that, firstly, Lizzie is actually a hyperactive psychopath with a simply off-scale skill of insanity: smart enough to successfully pretend to be almost normal, but not adequate enough to control her actions and craving for violence. And secondly, she is simply in love with him at the level of mania (she even has a reference room-altar with photographs of John from different angles!), and her feelings for him are more like a painful obsession.
She evokes conflicting feelings. Her relationship with the main character and other characters… She is unpredictable. Frightening, and at the same time so attractive that doubts about your sanity may involuntarily creep in. This girl seems to be a shy, quiet person, and, judging by some passages, she appears before strangers in exactly this way, but in reality she is socialized and understands people much better than John.
She dresses stylishly on dates, actually takes the initiative in terms of meetings, has excellent knowledge of the city, is an excellent cook, lives independently, and is also capable of both becoming friends with the person she needs, and vice versa – scaring the hell out of people she especially dislikes. It’s quite funny that the depressed "normal" John is inferior in this regard to the patented sociopath.
A very colorful duet and an interesting plot for a short story, which, as you might think, is easy to predict. But no, this is a story in which you won’t find out what will happen based on logic or simple guesses. The non-linearity is quite high for a fairly short visual novel, which has 26 (!) endings. Elections here are truly elections, not an illusion. One decision and history goes completely differently. Diversity is also amazing, touches you to the core, making you sympathize with all your heart or rejoice like a child. But sometimes… it gets creepy, of course.
If people read me who, like me, love and are interested in psychology, you will have something to think about. Everything here is completely different from what it seems at first glance. Starting with characters, ending with certain situations.
If you dig deeper, here the topic of the eternal conflict between the individual and society arises: from the point of view of society, sociopaths and depressed people can be dangerous both for themselves and for others. Accordingly, they need to be pacified and kept under control somehow. The fact that this comes at the cost of personality destruction and potential turning into a vegetable due to the drugs used – and who cares about that anyway? Except for the man himself, of course.
Interface and more
Even despite the fact that it would seem that a visual novel might have an inconvenient interface and so on, I can assure you that not all of them have a normal and convenient interface. In crimson-gray we see a standard option, comfortable and minimalistic, nothing superfluous. Nothing more is needed 🙂
The quality of the drawing and pictures is pleasing, this is of course not a Witcher devouring your PC with its requirements, there are no requirements here at all – that’s not the point. I personally play on a 4k monitor and often games, novels, etc. run either in terrible quality or it’s not clear how. (that sometimes you want to call an exorcist ). But there were no problems here, that’s already a plus.
Musical accompaniment. Here it deserves praise, based on my own experience, it’s not often in short stories that you find melodies that are pleasant to the ear, which don’t start dripping on your brain after 20 minutes of playing. They change when necessary, calming or vice versa, conveying the acuteness of sensations from the events taking place.
I have the belief that if a game a year later evokes in you the same emotions as when you first played it, then it’s a good game (for you personally). Crimson gray is one of them. This product evoked simply unforgettable emotions in me as I went through it. What is the norm, human essence and our mental state, attitude towards love. Where is the line between painful love and the most ordinary?? It made me think, which is why I recommend it to all those who like to think about the frailty of existence and more mundane things, such as ourselves.
I advise everyone to read it personally and see for themselves the veracity of my words. In addition, this game has a huge plus – you can play it from your phone. You may have noticed that more is said about the characters than about the plot – but this was done on purpose! I would be very happy if you went through and had a pleasant experience without spoilers. In addition, there are really many endings; describing them all would be problematic.
This was my first review, if you want to make a comment or help me with advice, please write to me in PM. I will be very happy 🙂