Something is seriously wrong in Little Pickering.
The small wooded town of Little Pickering is nestled in the English countryside, almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. It has beautiful bluebell woodlands, clear streams, wild deer, and also boasts an alarming number of missing people. At night, the residents make sure that their doors are firmly locked, to keep the strange creatures out, and hopefully their own family members in.
You see, there has been a rift in the dimensions for centuries: a portal which connects the human and underworlds together. Little Pickering lies within this rift.
People who stay are usually the ones who have no other option, and thankfully (as Little Pickering is your hometown), that isn’t you – phew.
But years later, like a needle tracing thread, you come back for a school reunion, with your old classmates (the surviving ones anyway, your secondary school was in a cursed rift between dimensions, remember), and you find yourself crossing over to the dark, hellish underworld.
This world is populated by two main races: the grey skinned fae, and humans who have passed over from the rift.
But there is something terrible happening here, too. There is a madness seeping through the land like water. How are you going to get out?
+++FEATURES+++
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play as female, male, non-binary
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5 romance options for all players, gender determined by player choice (in the works)
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yes you get to romance the fae
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horror, gore, dark fantasy
World Details
**Romance Options**
LITTLE PICKERING, UK
Jackson/Jamie MacKenzie – one of your childhood best friends. You grew up together in the hazy little summer town of Little Pickering. One summer, years ago, on your sixteenth birthday, they disappeared with their family, and you haven’t heard from them since. They never even said goodbye. This reunion is the first time you’ve seen them in years.
Traits: easy going, friendly, sociable, trustworthy
Likes: family, food, water sports, cycling, travelling, photography
Dislikes: bugs, Little Pickering, rude people, violence
Selene/Sirius Malinao – another one of your childhood best friends. They are bossy and was usually the one getting everybody else out of trouble. You know that despite their complaining and snappy exterior, they have a kind heart, and will always look out for you first, which might be why you’ve been friends this whole time. Their twin brother, Leo, who made up your childhood quartet, disappeared as a young boy, and their family fell apart. Circumstances have it that they’re now the legal owner of Tall Oaks house.
Traits: bossy, kind, thoughtful, stubborn, determined, lonely, hot headed
Likes: you, Jackson/Jasmine, stargazing, nature, walks, the sea, Leo, memories, painting
Dislikes: creepy things, Little Pickering, the dark, closed spaces
AL’THEAS
Io – the last remaining survivor of a scouting mission gone terribly wrong and a generally unpleasant character. They are scarred and bitter and filled with such sorrow beyond their few years, which has twisted and rotted into a blinding anger. Io is the first fae you meet (lucky you). Not often separated from their companion, a ferocious white lioness-like creature named Kalyke.
Traits: cold, angry, brooding, furious, distrustful
Likes: following orders, fae, the forests, Kalyke, roasted malar berries, weapons, fighting
Dislikes: large crowds, humans, you, loud people, when you ask too many questions
Lex of Thalor – a member of Io’s current forest stream-based clan, the Thalor. Favoured among the other fae, Lex is blessed with the countenance of the pantheons, and as Io says: “a pleasant face, but very little sustenance behind it.” You can decide if that’s true or not yourself.
Like most fae, Lex is sheltered from the outside world. Fae don’t tend to interact outside of their kind, and the most they know about humans is through their observations and tales. They have a lot of misconceptions, and Lex can’t imagine anything better than finding out how true those tales are.
Traits: curious, adventurous, full of wonder, flirtatious, brave, loyal, open, naĂŻve, sheltered
Likes: new things, adventure, you, the world, humans, trinkets, their adoring fans, the clan
Dislikes: when Io ruins things, burnt food, not being in control of things
WESTRAY, AL’THEAS
Ari – the only heir of the Quin and Quintess, Ari is in the human city, tracking leads and solving a millennia long mystery.
Traits: street smart, calm, clever, well-read, perceptive, level-headed, sneaky, conniving
Likes: ruins, books, poison, daggers
Dislikes: injustice
Can you trust anyone you meet?
**The World of Al'theas**
This is the world you are transported to.
It has one sun, several moons, and two seasons: Sol, when the days are longer and nights shorter, and Lune, the opposite.
To the west, are the human settlements, with a central walled kingdom: Westray, and to the east, the dark forests that the fae favour. They are a nomadic people, and travel in clans, each worshipping an individual god. The Thalor, the one we are focussing in our story, is a clan of forest streams: which is to say, their deity is believed to have created those streams.
Each fae clan has a Chief, but they are overall governed by their “royalty”, the Quin and Quintess, who live deep within the forest.
*Excerpts from the forest*
The byzantine forests of Al’theas where we dwell are naturally dark, the canopy drinking up much of the sunlight during the day, and the light of our several moons at night. Instead, our plants emit their own glow, fruits of white liquid light and luminescent flowers. The creatures themselves emit a glow, shining entities flashing through the undergrowth.
In the very beginning, it’s said that the fae possessed the power of creation, granted by the Lune itself. From our very fingers sprung life, and we painted the world with our creations, inspired by the natural wonders from our previous world. The most powerful of us became pantheons, living deities, worshipped and revered for their gifts of life. They created the streams and the seas, the forests, and the creatures that lived within it. They were gods to us, and we flocked to them, building our lives around them.
I’ve written the prologue (~12k words), and I plan on updating every month or less. In this demo, I wanted to get critique on the writing, dialogue and choice options, and the texting mechanic. I wanted the phone to go in the stats page, but it’ll live in the startup.txt file for now.
To play the demo, go here: https://dashingdon.com/play/dragonbutts/demons-like-you-and-i/mygame/
But here’s a final message: you need to realise that not everything is as it seems. Even the ones you trust the most may betray you. What happened to the lost civilisations? Are the events of the past going to repeat themselves? Revealing the true nature of the story is going to be difficult. Even with so many people helping you. Trust is difficult to come by, and you should make sure that yours is earnt properly. How will you go home? Everyone is depending on you.
Everyone reading this, if you’re going to play this game, I have a message for you, so please pay attention.
Yes, I’m trying to warn you about something that’s living inside there.
Even if you don’t want to take it seriously, I need you to understand this.
So please, watch out for the signs, and my messages? I’ve tried leaving them everywhere. So, read this again?