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Why is this a fantasy heartbreaker?

Until the bloodlust wins
A downloadable game

The classic vampire story is about repressed desires, a subject close to my heart as someone raised in a homophobic world. In the game, I explore the mental health challenges and resulting urge towards self-destructive behaviour that results from repression, presenting symptoms of depression as Tolls paid by the vampire and using the growing Toll count to illustrate the compounding effects of depression on one another. In its use of fantastical elements, the game is thus a fantasy.

The game offers no meaningful choice, and failure is inevitable. This is an intentionally bleak perspective on depression, which reflects the attitude from within the condition. The tragic fate of the vampire is to irreparably harm another and lose oneself in the process, creating two victims in a single act. To me, this is heartbreaking.

This game turned out pretty similar in concept and execution to the excellent Thousand Year Old Vampire, rendering it completely unmarketable. In this sense, the game is also a ‘fantasy heartbreaker’ in the sense of a derivative game with good ideas and no hope of commercial or critical interest.

In other words, this is the MOST FANTASY HEARTBREAKER GAME submitted to the Jam and I should win.

Files

  • Until the bloodlust wins 83 kB
    Feb 27, 2023
Download Until the bloodlust wins
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