Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always loved a good story. I remember begging my mom at bedtime to continue about “the three bubble princesses” despite her keeping me up late for a new installment or how I would try – and usually fail – to stay awake when watching Star Trek reruns on the couch with my dad. I could never get enough and constantly craved an exciting plot to thrill me.
This ranged from books to movies to even video games, especially RPG maker games. However, the one game I always find myself drawn to, despite watching let’s plays and playing it a thousand times, is The Witch’s House.
The Witch’s House is an RPG maker game developed by Japanese game developer and author Fummy. The game follows a girl named Viola as she navigates through this twisted house that belongs to her friend, Ellen. While this may seem innocent enough at first glance, Fummy is able to create a horrifying story that gets darker with every door you open. The game is gory and constantly evolving while keeping the player on edge and forcing them to make hard decisions.
It’s the game that got me into video games and made me want to create stories for them and Fummy’s the one to thank. Their ability to create and execute such an intense narrative – not to mention the brilliant plot twist at the end that changes the entire story if you remember a small detail from the very beginning- while still being true to the style and authenticity of the game is inspiring. It makes me want to branch out into the horror genre and make my players question their knowledge of the game and how it fits into the narrative.
Fummy was able to create a story that I can go back to time and time again and still find something new to discover and there are very few stories like that. And The Witch’s House raised the storytelling bar for me.