Upcoming creepy-cute adventure to show us Hell Is Other People

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Debut solo horror project about social anxiety unveiled by the co-creator of Gibbous and Near-Mage

To some degree or another, we probably all feel a little out of place socially at times, believing that everyone ELSE fits in except us. To what degree that's true for the young protagonist of Hell Is Other People will be up to players to decide in the upcoming solo debut from Cami Cuibus, one the co-founders of Transylvanian developer Stuck in Attic. 

In this uncomfortable coming-of-age tale, a young school girl is "trying to find her place in a society that forces conformity." But she is different from "The Others" and they don't take kindly to her individuality. Loosely based on the developer's own life experiences as an "anxious and over-thinking little girl who didn't understand social rules," the game will confront the protagonist with a variety of different social challenges whose conventions are "portrayed in a surreal manner to highlight their absurdity and arbitrarity," such as the "random synchronous dances The Others have to do." Player choice is crucial to how the story progresses, as your attempts to either "try to fit in or embrace being different" will impact your relationships and the opportunities available to you. You won't be entirely alone, however, as you'll be accompanied by an alter ego you can talk to in private. But beware its influence, as it is sometimes "very critical, sometimes scared, sometimes paranoic," so it's best that you "don't trust everything it says."

As you'd expect from one of the artists behind Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure and Near-Mage, Hell Is Other People looks gorgeous, entirely hand-painted and animated frame by frame. Don't let its seemingly childlike, whimsically stylized aesthetic fool you, however, as this creepy-cute game is not for children but rather a "psychological horror adventure game about social anxiety." Inspired by Tim Burton, as well as "games like Fran Bow, Little Nightmares, Inside and Slay The Princess, and novels like Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata," it is described by Cuibus as a "surreal interpretation of the weirdness of humans." The game plays out in traditional point-and-click fashion, but instead of presenting puzzles as obstacles, the focus here is on narrative and character development in a choice-driven tale "about anxiety, perseverance, giving up or fighting back." 

How the game tracks the protagonist's progression (or regression) is clever. There's an inventory but rather than filling it with items to use in the environment, you'll acquire ideas instead, such as "making eye contact, using humor, or flattery." It's then up to players to decide how, where and when to best make use of them. You don't have total freedom to choose, however, as your earlier decisions will affect the opportunities available to you. Options are based on three meters representing the little girl's emotional state, which will "go up or down based on the choices you make." Trust gauges the "relationship you have with The Others," while Anxiety is "about how fearful you are of the world in general," and Resilience reflects your capacity to deal with challenges as they arise. High Trust will allow you to more easily make friends, for example, while low Trust means you'll assume people "have the worst intentions." Let your Anxiety get too high and you "could become paralyzed with fear" and "see danger everywhere," with the game's "music and sound effects becoming more threatening" accordingly. The branching structure of the game encourages replays to try different approaches, leading to multiple possible endings. (At least one of them "bad.")

There is no firm target release date just yet, but Cuibus says she's working tirelessly with high Resiliency and is "optimistic it won't be too long." In the meantime, Hell Is Other People is available now for wishlisting on Steam, where it will launch for Windows PC. 

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