I am quite unsure as to my feelings concerning PeriPetEia.
Going into the story, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Null Bis, whom I already knew from their webcomics, had created art for this tale. I also was under the impression that it was one of the most viewed project of the jam, which, checking again at the time of writing this review, seems to be mostly false, with no comment on the Discord.
This visual novel seems to be intentionally built in a way that makes approaching it difficult, and make the reader uncomfortable throughout. The very start consists of several etymological definitions for the words (Peri, Pet and Hey) that compose its title, followed by a definition that is entirely censored; furthermore, scenes are separated by quotes whose source is censored as well; finally, the protagonist, Periwinkle, is very theatrical. She speaks in purple monologues, assigns roles and names to the other characters of the story, whom she sequestrates, hurts, rapes.
All of this combined makes this work feel as though it refuses to be read and understood.
What follows contains extensive spoilers for the game.
I felt lost as to Periwinkle’s plan and motivation to go through her scheme. I got that this was about revenge, about hurting a man who preyed on her when she was a minor, and hurting the woman who lived with him (a… fellow survivor who refused to leave her abusive partner, from what I gathered.
The game doesn’t dwell on Periwinkle’s past, her relationship with the people she harms. There are a few glimpses here and there, but it felt like the VN mostly portrayed ryona scenes where she harms them for harm’s sake, given Periwinkle is disgusted by their body and sex, and only utilises it to hurt them. So, rape. And then, there’s the forcefem.
The young woman and the Wolf are assigned new identities. New names for both, new gender for one: The Wolf is given oestrogen, put in a chastity cage, made to watch as his partner is raped in front of him. Conversely, Periwinkle, a trans woman, wears a binder, takes T to ensure she can have erections to rape her victims. There is… a strange, uncomfortable reversal of the roles at play, given that Periwinkle was groomed by the Wolf.
Ultimately, he’s made to have a nullectomy.
I had to stop reading the story at that point.
This was the first time I saw a bona fide nulloplasty being depicted in a work of fiction, and I was… afraid and uncomfortable to see it done in a context of revenge and castration, because this surgery is something I chose for myself and underwent this February, after having found the blog of neogenital-evangelion.
For me, having this surgery helped me deal with lifelong dysphoria that I had ignored because I did not know that this was a possible solution. It finally allowed me to be at peace with my body, to better embrace my sexuality, and is a source of joy.
Here… it follows the history of castrating “perverts”. Paedophiles, but this was also done to queer, gay men and, well, trans women. The nulloplasty that The Wolf undergoes is not a source of joy. It’s forced on him in an act of revenge. While Periwinkle states that she chose that procedure to avoid castration, because she did not want to simply reverse the roles of top and bottom and to “erase that history entirely”, the text still describes it as mutilation.
The text acknowledges that you can still feel pleasure in the form of a subdermal clitoris, but the whole feels… sexless. An aberration. A continuation of the Wolf’s chastity.
Looking back on this makes me feel… altogether sad and uncomfortable.
(I must also note that some elements of the nulloplasty are… wrong. You need to wear a compressive bandage over your crotch for a duration of several days before you first see your seam. There are drains and a catheter because you cannot possibly pee by yourself. You’re given morphine from a perfusion because you’re in pain. The timeframe for waking up after the operation is about two to three hours, and it was five for me: for it to be ten minutes long is wildly impossible.)
I do not know what to think of The Wolf’s and The Young Woman’s compliance when they are given the roles of Passiflora Eia and Petunia. The Wolf alternates between fighting back and being very submissive and excited by the role given to him. Petunia makes more attempts to flee, before being coerced into helping Periwinkle… but once again, we only get a glimpse of their life being sequestrated.
The presentation works very well to reinforce the arcane nature of the story. Null Bis’ drawings are uncanny, as are the black and white backgrounds. The music, too, enhances the scenes. I felt lost. Confused. Like I was watching a play that wasn’t really made to be seen; built to be alien, absurd. In that sense, it really evoked some of the Theatre of the Absurd that I read, from the 20th century.
If this was your intent making the game, it worked very well. I can see that this all was built around a precise vision, and its elements complement each other very well. I admire the artistry behind it.
As far as personal preferences go, however, I think it was too full of despair and absurd violence for my taste. It left me with many questions I cannot answer. For a Ryona jam, this is appropriate, and I went into the story mostly aware of its themes – but it seems this was more than I could stomach.