Introductions & RPG Horrors

Hi everyone, this is Veynn. I had simply come up with the name ‘Amaia’ on a whim as an abysmal effort to conceive a mundane and relaxed name. Originally, I had intended on making a horror-themed blog. However, with barely twenty years under my wing, I would have accumulated absolutely no personal experiences. Rather, my reports would be detailings of [maybe] events through word-of-mouth. And let’s face it. Life is terrifying. You never know what could happen. There is no certainty in life. Only death. One day you will find yourself decomposing within a rectangular wooden box. Or as snow-gray ashes within a ceramic jar. Or perhaps even as dissolving, fleshy pieces within the gullet of someone or something. Of course, you would not know this as you are not sentient once you die. No one is. Even now, how could you be sure you’re alive? I, for one, hope I’m not real.

At the very least, there is no certainty in life except death. As everyone knows, our world is dangerous. It is very much possible for one to oh, I don’t know…perhaps die from instances such as murder or falling into temporal vortexes that your neighbors had dug up. Who even talks to their neighbors anymore? Who still even has neighbors? Well, minus that faint voice in your head that constantly berates your every action and memory [real, false, and otherwise]. Certainly not me. And that is why the 2010s are so much more safer than the 50s. We do not have to worry about nuclear war from an unseen intangible force, temporal vortexes that our pesky neighbors unleash upon humanity, and the Blacklist. Yes, you do not want to find yourself on the Blacklist. Under any circumstances, you should not find yourself in the Blacklist. If you find yourself whisked away to the 1950s, do not. Absolutely, do not find yourself in the 1950s under any circumstances. If you were born in the great 50s, no, you were not.

Perhaps I’m getting off track, but that’s okay. It’s disappointing, but normal. Afterall, life is full of ups and downs, disappointments and happiness…I’m certainly setting myself up for the real world! Still, I did not even truly live my teenage years outside of studying, watching horror movies with friends, the yearly ‘Spirit Week’, and going on a great yet terrifying magical adventure with a ‘himidere’ bishounen and a cute cat girl. Okay, that was a lie. I never did that. I have never met a ‘himidere’, or cute cat girl [However, there had been a girl that walked around school with cat ears]. Nor have I ever broken any bones [thankfully], unlike a substantial sum of my peers from well, I don’t know. Maybeee sports? Probably. I was never much of a sports fan.

Well, now, it was certainly pleasant reminiscing about the past that no one, myself included, know about. I am not entirely sure if the ‘past’ had ever existed. The past was horrifying. The present is well, still horrifying. The future is certain and absolutely horrifying. We all live in the now in-order to reach that desirable ‘future.’ Still, as a means of placating our time waiting for the future, which will never come as the now was our future and will forever be our present, we look for things to fulfill that empty, hollow, gaping hole that the future can never fulfill. As a means of living a fraction of that horror the unobtainable future will bring, many look towards the confines of horror games. They may not be real, but they certainly are fun!

In particular, Horror fans have turned to the internet for their horror game fix. Within recent years, RPG Maker/RPG Wolf Editor Horror games such as Ib, The Witch’s House, Misao, and Yume Nikki have paved the way. While the latter was released nearly a decade earlier the majority of these games, its popularity did not catch on until much, much later. Notably, RPG Horror was introduced into the Western hemisphere when VGPerson (who was well-known within the Vocaloid fanbase) had started posting translations on her Tumblr blog.

Ib-by Kouri (RPG Maker 2000)

The Witch's House-Fummy (RPG Maker VX)

Misao-Miscreant's Room (WOLF RPG Editor)

Yume Nikki-Kikiyama (RPG Maker 2003)

While Horror games are certainly prevalent within the RPG Horror community, ‘RPG Maker’ is a series of Game Making programs that have been around for over two decades. Originally released on December 17, 1992, “RPG Tsukūru Dante 98” was made solely for the PC. Despite the ‘RPG Maker’ programs function as computer game making programs, console versions such as “RPG Tsukūru Super Dante” were released [circa 1995].

The RPG Horror scene further increased in popularity around 2012, when popular Youtubers such as Pewdiepie and Markiplier released Let’s Plays of games such as, well, Ib and the The Witch’s House. Perhaps the influx of RPG Horror LPs on Youtube are due in-part due to their relative accessibility, versatility, and entertainment value. As many RPG Horrors focus on story and character-development rather than complete gameplay (In-terms of gameplay, the majority of RPG Horrors are highly entertaining, but many tend to consist of ‘fetch’ quests, chase scenes, and riddles. I, for one, am guilty of including one too many ‘fetch/key’ quests).

On another note, many RPG Horror games tend to have a ‘mute’ protagonist. Similarly to popular

console games such as Pokemon, this would allow the player chara to constitute as an ‘escapist character’ to varying degrees. Well, this could also allow the main character to have a greater impact upon the story, as the player could come to their own conclusions rather than having the MC’s thoughts influence their decisions.

Unlike many mainstream games, RPG Horrors tend to take place in a Victorian-esque/dream-like setting with a young girl as the main character. Perhaps this is also partly due to the influence that popular games such Ib and The Witch’s House have had on modern game developers, but minus the similarities the majority of games have even more differences to set them apart! Minor similarities such as cutesy character designs and elaborate Victorian settings are usually intended for aesthetics, as they could be seen as a staple in many RPG Horror games.

In addition to the RPG Horror fanbase found on Youtube, the RPG Horror Tumblr fanbase has grown in size within recent years. Many Western RPG Horror games and development blogs have sprung up on Tumblr. While many are still early in development, there are still plenty of RPG Horrors that have fully released games (or demos) such as Pocket Mirror, Dreaming Mary, Living Playground, and Imaginary friends. 

Pocket Mirror-PM (RPG Maker VX Ace)

Dreaming Mary-Accha (RPG Maker VX Ace Lite)

Living Playground-Meaka (RPG Maker XP)

Imaginary Friends-Mannytsu (RPG Maker VX Ace)

The developmental process for indie RPG Horrors is really quite…something. Tumblr RPG Horror games tend to vary from one individual to a whole team. The process is certainly is really fun, but perhaps I’ll save that for a future post!