Demo conjured up for Ophelia's Chapter

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Upcoming point-and-click psychological horror to serve as a standalone prologue to larger series

Witches tend to be the bad guys in fantasy fiction, but not so the eponymous star of Red Tear Games' upcoming self-described "f*ucked-up fairy-tale" called Ophelia's Chapter. Which is just as well, because the real bad guys here are going to need every power in a witch's arsenal to overcome.

Players control Ophelia, an "urban witch with psychic abilities" who receives a startling visitor in the middle of the night. It's a terrified-looking Meredith, Ophelia's former best friend whom she hasn't seen in many years after she suddenly disappeared. But is it really Meredith? Things take an even more twisted turn when a phone call from another old friend reveals that Meredith is currently heavily sedated at the hospital! Sure enough, there's no sign of Meredith in Ophelia's apartment after all. Was it a ghost, or is the medicated Ophelia having another psychotic "episode?" Either way, Meredith is in trouble, so Ophelia gathers up her witch's utilities and sets out to "save her friend, a journey that will make her rediscover the secrets of her own past and delve into the mysteries of her family." In doing so, she'll also pull back the curtain on "an old order known as 'The Whisperers,' who guard a secret that could change the universe as we know it."

Inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman and Stephen King, Ophelia's Chapter not surprisingly promises to be a "story-rich psychological horror adventure game." Presented in a disturbingly attractive hand-drawn art style, the game plays like a traditional two-button point-and-click adventure but with a few additional conjurer's tricks up its sleeve in guiding you though "a dark, surreal world, where magical and gruesome things are about to happen." You're able to collect ingredients and "perform powerful witch rituals and spells," consult a Ouija board (with all the repercussions that might stem from that), read Tarot cards and even "play as a cat for a little while." Through flashbacks you'll begin to recall the horrible occult incident that caused your separation from Meredith in the first place, but the more clues you find and "haunted places" you explore, the more you'll come to realize that "you’re not the hunter: you're actually the prey."

Conceived as a standalone prologue to a much more ambitious dark fantasy series known as "The Keys to the White Pillar," Ophelia's Chapter still has no target release date but there's a juicy demo already available on Steam for Windows and Mac, introducing you to the key characters and offering up the first horrifying glimpse of the cult threatening human existence. To follow the game's progress, be sure to check out the official website for ongoing details.