Diesel Boogaloo
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2017
Disclaimer: I didn't play it, I just read the detailed story summary on a wiki and watched some gameplay videos.
It's another of those games that capitalizes on a formula that is too common in the Western indie gaming scene as of late:
1. start with a somewhat cute, innocent, or at least neutral setting
2. have a twist in the story
3. turn it into a horror along the way, using simple shock value
4. keep asking "deep" "philosophical" questions and leave tons of stuff unexplained, to get people to spin random theories about the meaning of them
5. do some creepy 4th-wall breaking or other metanarrative things (this step is optional)
You just do different amounts of each step, depending on your preferences.
Some games I remember that used that formula are Frog Fractions, FNAF, Undertale, Pony Island, Hello Neighbor and Hellblade. I call them "Jesse games", as TotalBiscuit christened them, because Jesse Cox likes playing them.
But I don't. If most appeal of the game comes from the twist or from the endless fandom speculation, but the game doesn't hold up mechanically or as either a normal story or a horror story, then sorry, nope. And from whatever spoilers I've read, Literature Club doesn't bring anything new to the table except combining that with cute animu girls. Which was already done before by the Japanese. The whole story goes like this:
Also, like almost all Western visual novels, it's short. But it's also free, so I'll forgive it.
It's another of those games that capitalizes on a formula that is too common in the Western indie gaming scene as of late:
1. start with a somewhat cute, innocent, or at least neutral setting
2. have a twist in the story
3. turn it into a horror along the way, using simple shock value
4. keep asking "deep" "philosophical" questions and leave tons of stuff unexplained, to get people to spin random theories about the meaning of them
5. do some creepy 4th-wall breaking or other metanarrative things (this step is optional)
You just do different amounts of each step, depending on your preferences.
Some games I remember that used that formula are Frog Fractions, FNAF, Undertale, Pony Island, Hello Neighbor and Hellblade. I call them "Jesse games", as TotalBiscuit christened them, because Jesse Cox likes playing them.
But I don't. If most appeal of the game comes from the twist or from the endless fandom speculation, but the game doesn't hold up mechanically or as either a normal story or a horror story, then sorry, nope. And from whatever spoilers I've read, Literature Club doesn't bring anything new to the table except combining that with cute animu girls. Which was already done before by the Japanese. The whole story goes like this:
cute anime highschool shenanigans → death → spooky descent into craziness with simulated glitches for extra creepiness → 4th-wall breaking ending with a sad undertone
Also, like almost all Western visual novels, it's short. But it's also free, so I'll forgive it.
I just started Net-juu and it reminds me a lot of Netoge, just a bit more mature. Dunno how it will go, but so far it looks like it might be my black horse of the season (i.e. I might not drop it mid-season).
