Misthold Welcomes You

Speed Dating for Ghosts (2018) is an interactive fiction/visual novel/dating sim where you play as a nameless, genderless ghost attending a speed dating night. I went into this thinking it'd be a kooky, humorous game-- but it was way more heartfelt than I expected from first glance.

There are 12 total ghosts to date, plus a secret 13th option. The ghosts' personalities vary a lot, they all have different backgrounds and stories and goals (and genders, including two nonbinary ghosts), and it was really neat seeing such a wide selection of people in one dating sim.

Each dialogue option leads to different story lines, and though you can technically date every ghost, you won't necessarily be able to get ALL the storylines in one play session. For instance, I didn't vibe with one ghost right at the beginning of the game, and he noped out of the rest of the speed dating session and was unavailable for the entire rest of the game. Also, some choices you make in one dating story affect the interactions you have with other ghosts!

You CAN go back and replay the dates individually, but there's no way to skip previously-seen text, unfortunately. There's definitely some dialogue options that help you vibe more with certain ghosts, because when you pick the "right" sequence they get adorable floating hearts around their heads. However, not every ghost is actually a romantic prospect, as far as I can tell-- like, one ghost is a dog? I don't want to date a dog.

A good chunk of the dates aren't actually dates, they're more like therapy sessions or mysteries. But! The therapy sessions just made me sad. And solving the mysteries doesn't lead to happy endings, either. One ghost who had a mystery-solving date went into a dissociative episode at the after-party, and I couldn't figure out how to snap him out of it even having solved the mystery of his death. Or if I even could!

Also one post-date interaction was a mini game of Nim, which I can't figure out how to win.

Anyway, I stuck with the "don't want to hurt people, want to help people" route and through all but one ghost date options. It took me slightly less than 4 hours to finish the game, going just one straight-forward route. I think the other dialogue options lead to slightly different routes, but maybe just ones where they either like or dislike me more than they already do.

I really enjoyed this game! Even though it made me sad, and even though the ghosts were a little scary, it was fun to interact with them. And it was nice to think a little more deeply about what life means, what happens when you lose it and how that might affect you...it was very heartfelt, and had an unexpected depth to its story.

Price: $6.99

Content notes: some ghosts are scary-looking, though they're all in doodle style. Some spooky sounds. Sad ghost stories, and the previously-mentioned dissociative episode.

Available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Nintendo Switch. I played the Mac OS version.

A Normal Lost Phone (2017) is a puzzle game. I played the Mac OS version.

The story about a trans girl figuring herself out, told through phone apps, emails, and text messages. Some puzzles (mostly finding the right codes), but more just reading a lot of text. Feels a little bit like creeping on a stranger to dig so deeply into their personal stuff, but it's an interesting plot device. Good music! Good art! Really nice design for the phone. I'd call it a visual novel except there are no plot choices or options, and you can't change the outcome of anything. Does that still count? Not sure.

About an hour's worth of play, longer if you read EVERYTHING (I skipped some of the forum posts, but they had good "what does it mean to be trans" info for newbies).

Price: $2.99

Content notes: Homophobia/transphobia, suicide/self-harm, bullying.

Arcade Spirits (2019) is a LOVELY game, one I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys playing romantic visual novels. It's set in the near future, in an alternate timeline where video games are even more popular than they are in this timeline. You play as Ari Cader, a down-on-their-luck dreamer with no ambitions. ( More words and three images )

I definitely want to go back and play a few different choices. The nice thing is that I can do that but still maintain my Kindly personality type if I want, because not all plot choices lead to personality type choices. For instance, for this first play-through I chose to build a retro arcade. Maybe the next one I'll pick a family-friendly esports center! etc. Or I wonder what would've happened if I sold out earlier on in the game, or was harsher with some trouble-makers. That's the exciting thing about this game: it has lots of replayability!

It took me about 6? hours to play through the first time and even with the speed-run options, it'll probably still take another 3 for EACH of the different romance/plot points. And now that I've done it once, I can speed through some scenes and go back and make other choices IN the game. Nice!

Price: $19.99

Content notes: Parental abuse, depression (/disassociation?), guns/knives (teenage gangs), sexism.

Originally posted at my personal journal. Crossposted to indie_games.