Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘Us Lovely Corpses’ and ‘Homing’
Short narratives that’ll make you feel
Us Lovely Corpses is a dark, atmospheric visual novel by d Marie Licea featuring music by LydianChord and a GUI by BáiYù. Players will be following the story of Alejandra — who also goes by Alex — as she takes on her first solo job as a former witch in training. It just so happens that this first job is one she’s witnessed many times; saving her friend Marisol from a rose-curse monster.
Upon entering to the thorn-infested mansion, Alex will navigate through multiple rooms in the hopes of finding the three keys that unlock the attic where Marisol is kept hostage. These keys are hidden in four rooms, where vines and talking roses run rampant. In order to find what she seeks, players will need to prune the roses; but not before getting the chance to listen to them speak. The roses will be presented to the player, with their variety of colours, and they will make the choice to either listen to them or ignore them and just perform the pruning.
The colours are important, for their conversations correlate to the old ‘rose colour meaning’ charts, such as how yellow is a signifier of friendship, red is passion and romance, dark pink is gratitude, and so on.
Of course, these are supernatural roses stemming from a strange curse, so their meaning is a bit twisted, such as how yellow also means jealousy and black means death. These are all highlighted in an adorable notebook page that Alex is able to find. Using this reference the player can make the decision on whether to listen or not. Once completed, the puzzle of the room can be solved — usually in direct relation to what some of the roses had discussed.
Us Lovely Corpses uses this execution to create a narrative unlike any that I had seen before. The premise of saving a friend is not new, but it is established early on that this isn’t new. Much of the witty dialogue and plot developments thrive on this subversion that Alex knows what the monster is doing already thanks to how many times she has seen her grandmother help out Marisol. The rose’s say much to scare Alex, but to her it is almost a routine which helps to set up a quirky atmosphere laden with uncomfortable revelations. Alex laughs off everything as just a routine, even after the rose tells us a terrifyingly gruesome story about a dead pigeon.
This narrative atmosphere of nervously laughing off the horrors worked so well that I did not even see the narrative twist coming at the end, even though there were enough hints littered within. I refuse to spoil anything, especially since the game is not very long, but I can say that it does a fantastic job of laying down the tracks for discussions about mental wellness, exclusionary feelings, and what it means to be a friend. There are a few endings that you might come across depending on your actions (I believe I got the true ending on my first run, but I cannot confirm). It ultimately wraps itself up neatly within an hour.
The art is gorgeous and expressive, and the writing is brilliant. Everything you could want out of a visual novel, so have at it.
Homing is a short narrative game created by Pigeonkind Games, a solo indie developer based in the USA. Players will be following a carrier pigeon that is delivering a letter across a town, listening to a reader detail its contents while maneuvering through the town.
To call this a ‘rail flyer’ would sound ridiculous, but that’s arguably the best description. Players do not necessarily have full control of the pigeon, as it has a destination that it needs to reach. Instead, movement is ‘tethered’ to the main road, and players can move off of it by holding down a direction to see more of the town. It is all optional, so if the player just wishes to coast and listen to the story, they can. However, if players do fly overtop of the blue buildings, the letter changes to give more narrative tidbits. Depending on a few circumstances (which I refuse to spoil), players will find themselves at two different endings.
As expected, the letter reading is the focal point of Homing, detailing a snapshot of a woman’s life that she is sending to her former spouse. It goes in to details about moving away, meeting someone new, and their child Jacob — which definitely made the story a little more awkward given that my name just so happens to also be Jacob. Regardless, Charlie Irving does a fantastic job of narrating the letter, detailing all of the events in a therapeutic kind of way.
Players can tell that the sender is working through a lot of the past experiences while trying to move on, especially when she tries to laugh at a funny memory during an otherwise somber moment. She appeals to the simplest of moments in a person’s life, yet knows that those moments were precious because they were done with another person. The pigeon’s flight towards a goal continues to build up the ‘tension’ in the emotional story, culminating in a heart wrenching finale regardless of which ending is acquired.
It’s hard not to cry by the end, and I’m not sure which of Homing’s endings are more sad. Within the span of 10 minutes, the game captures you in a simple premise, reinforced by the music and the voice acting. If you want to feel sad within 10 minutes, this is the perfect game to set up.
Do be aware that there are different versions depending on how you want to play the game (input wise). Make sure to download the right one!
