The most deranged maniacs invading your world as Red Phantoms in Cradle of Nightmare

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Cradle of Nightmare Flowers to You is a huge surprise, a JRPG heavily inspired by Dark Souls and Fear & Hunger, with an insane amount of content. The main character is a student, suddenly facing a mysterious apocalypse where people randomly mutate into disturbing monsters. And all is related to something happening on the moon.

The game offers an insane amount of freedom since the very beginning, with multiple paths leading to different areas. To fit such big and open game, the bestiary is incredibly wide and varied, with every monster having a meaningful design. You don’t see rats or spiders here, and even a mimic has an elaborate and quite unique illustration. And when I say wide, I am not joking, since I think the game has more than 50 bosses, and an even higher number of regular enemies. From area bosses to invaders and mutated NPCs, you can get how the list is so big. And all the enemies feel part of the same universe, with similar dark colors and connective elements.

A significant part of the bestiary is composed of Invaders. In fact, in this single-player game, it is possible to be invaded by Red Phantoms, very similarly to Dark Souls. Red Phantoms are powerful NPCs acting as sudden bosses, appearing from nowhere, and are called Malignants by a warning message. However, they can only invade your game if your Spirit is higher than 50. Spirit is a sort of mental sanity, weaving down the more standard enemies killed, and recovered by using rare Humanities (yes, another reference to Dark Souls). So, in order to fight Red Phantoms, you need to maintain your Spirit well. But why should you use items to be invaded by powerful enemies? First, because they give a lot of experience points and strong weapons, and second, if you want to achieve a secret bad ending, you need to kill many bosses.

Red Phantoms are humans or humanoid creatures, but often with very grotesque details or anatomy. And even the ones looking human are often disturbing maniacs, from killers to vicious cannibals. Interestingly, they often have dialogues at the beginning and in the middle of the fight, showing more of their disturbing nature and motives. In the following article, I will cover the 10 most disturbing and vicious maniacs invading your game as Red Phantoms. Since Cradle of Nightmare is a Chinese game, still missing an unofficial translation, I used the unofficial translation by All-bones Jones. So while it was quite well done to play and understand the game, some of the details about the creatures could change in a future official translation.

Neck Lover

This maniac hides in a public bathroom and likes to assault his victims there. He looks like a young man, dressed as a mix of a hobo and a metal-head, wielding an elaborated knife in his hand. His expression is completely devious and inhuman, clearly showing his darkest side. Moreover, his grin becomes wider and more grotesque during the fight, almost covering the entire face. According to the accountance of another woman, this guy not only uses the bathrooms in an unhygienic way, but he also attacks women based on their necks. His obsession is confirmed during the fight, where he openly discusses his obsession with necks, even “complimenting” the main character for choosing short hair to show more of her neck. During the fight, the invader is not a huge threat, even if fought early on in the game, but he has some interesting tricks. For example, he can throw deadly syringes at the main character, and increase his defence. However, the most peculiar detail happen in the middle of the fight, when a Hollow Flower appears on his head. The flower can cast powerful spells, and becomes a potential target during attacks.

The Escapee

The Escapee is an almost pitiful character, if it were not for her disturbing appearance. She attacks the player when they enter the underground lab for the first time. She wears a triangular helmet covering the head, wields a spear and a chain, and has bloodied spider-like extra limbs erupting from her body. As the name suggests, the Escapee is an experiment trying to run away from the labs, while killing whoever is in her way. During the fight, she tells you how she doesn’t want to become a living computer, or another horrible experiment inside the lab, highlighting the many terrible things that they did to her. And the scars covering her legs support even more this tragic story. During the fight, the Escapee is a dangerous opponent, able to attack multiple times, counterattack your physical attacks, and inflict bleeding.

Wrapped Agony

This insane angel covered in black dendrites can be ironically the second fight in the game. This creature invades directly in the main hub, a place where there are no other monsters, an apparently safe heaven. And of course, fighting him at the very beginning is a suicide. The invader is a creature resembling a furious angel of wrath, wearing an elaborate and almost organic robe, and wielding an energy sword. At the beginning of the fight, the main character feels a terrible pain, related to the pathology she suffers. And Wrapped Agony seems to know about her pain, highlighting how this creature could be the embodiment of the disease or the related suffering. This is even more evident with the attacks they use, including Familiar Throbbing Pain, where the main character feels pain in her lower abdomen. The fight is, of course, extremely challenging and brutal, with Wrapped Agony able to kill the player with a couple of attacks, even if well prepared. The creature has insanely powerful multi-hit attacks, can fly away, becoming untargettable, and even absurdly increase their dodging, making them a very difficult target to hit.

Obscene Twins

The twins invade you in a connecting passageway close to an underwater lake. The invader is composed of two creatures merged or hugging together. The humanoid behind is an oozing black shape, almost melted and partially resembling a human. On the front, a gorgeous half-naked woman, with white hair and wearing a mask, definitely draws more attention. The invader’s background is very clear, since you can meet them before as NPCs. On that occasion, they are in the middle of a wild sex act, honoring the gods of lust. They also ask if the main character wants to join, but she categorically refuses. However, something horrible happened, and the male figure behind is now dead and melting, so the woman is looking for a replacement. The twins are a challenging fight, with many spells and powers in their arsenal. They can try to Seduce the main character, power up their defenses and magical power, heal, fly away in the air, and launch deadly curses.

Obsessed Doctor

A peculiar invader acting in the beginning as a friendly, yet creepy, NPC. When you first reach the rural village, a doctor hidden behind a metal gate tells you what happened to the village, from the ravenous wolves attacking the villagers to the people going insane. However, after killing the area boss, the doctor invades the game, craving for the boss’s soul. And according to the dialogue, he is also a cannibal feasting on human brains. The doctor indeed wears a lab coat, but his appearance is far more disturbing, especially the disfigured head, a mass of brain and tentacles with metal objects inserted in it. Moreover, the doctor is well armed, wielding a scalpel in his hand. During the fight, his Left and Right hands work as weapons, and are individually targetable, part of a rare multi-target invader. The hand wielding the scalpel hits pretty hard, causing severe bleeding, while the other hand can Restrain the main character, paralysing her for a few turns. Moreover, the main body can also deal huge damage with Internal Organ Critical, while also buffing his defence. If it is not ended quickly, the battle can get really dangerous.

Spiral Head

She is probably the most disturbing and utterly insane maniac, invading an anonymous side street, and a quite tough fight if fought early on. The creature is wearing quite provocative clothes, almost like a Goth; however, her face is a grotesque mass, basically only comprising a grinning mouth. And if she was not creepy enough, she is wielding a massive chainsaw. During the fight, you immediately realise that she is a brutal maniac, screaming “kill killl kill” after seeing “living flesh.” Moreover, she is obsessed with “opening up” creatures with a chainsaw through very delicate areas. And she plans to do the same to you. The fight is brutal and challenging, since she is an incredibly strong physical attacker. The chainsaw performs multiple hits, dealing high damage and inflicting bleeding. Luckily, the chainsaw sometimes gets stuck, and Spiral Head must lose precious turns to reactivate it. The price for defeating such brutal invader: her chainsaw as a new special weapon.

Sway Misa

This very peculiar character invades your world while you venture into a dimension existing inside a painting. His appearance is as simple as disturbing: completely dressed in black, tall, skinny, and with an uncanny white mask on his face. This character is a real mystery, without any dialogue during the fight to explain his motivations. He is probably an artist, since the mask is called “His Art,” and he simply wants to silently attack the main character. The fight against him is one of the most peculiar. The main trick is the mask, which can be targeted. However, you can quickly realise that it is indestructible. And when you think that the mask is only a decoy, at low health, all the attacks against Sway Misa are redirected to the mask, making him virtually immortal. I was able to kill him by throwing a battery, but I would not say this is the correct way to deal with him. Moreover, the invader can use powerful magical attacks, such as summoning Dark Grease from his body to deal damage as well as buffing his defence, or Engraved Words, a dangerous multi-hit attack.

Young Stonemason

A disturbing creature invades the player in a corridor connecting two very dangerous locations: a road full of deadly shadows, and an underground cursed village. The creature is a messy combination of humanoid traits, assembled into a sort of grotesque clay statue with female anatomy. The creature has three arms, wielding deadly instruments used to attack enemies, including a colossal hammer and an organic spear. However, the most disturbing detail is definitely the face, a round shape full of eyes, with a diagonal mouth. The creature is the progeny of a famous sculptor, who went insane after seeing something in the sky. Now, it is chasing the rarest and most exotic materials for its work. During the fight, the creature reveals its main obsession with reproducing the perfect female anatomy… especially the womb. The fight is not that difficult, since the creature has low defence/HP. However, it must not be underestimated, because the Stonemason can hit pretty hard with the hammer, stunning the main character. Moreover, a peculiar change happens mid-fight. From the belly of the creatures, a Stone Uterus emerges, a well-shaped stone connected through black tendrils to the main body. This extra creature can launch powerful spells, complicating the second half of the fight.

Impure Form

A different invader from the other ones, since this is not a Red Phantom directly invading your game. Instead, they are the invaders of a NPC’s world. Inside a toxic sewer, you can use White Chalk to join the NPC and help in the battle. The creature has a truly unique design, a mix of a shy human and a grotesque mutant. They are almost entirely covered with a black and filthy robe, with inhuman details going out of it. The arms are long and covered in spikes, the feet show demonic fingers, and the face is only characterised by a twisted and grinning smile. During the battle, the character reveals their obsessive shyness, hating to be stared and embarrassed by their grotesque appearance. They are probably wearing the robe to hide their nature, but the body or continues to mutate, or it is yet too far modified to be hidden. Moreover, during the battle, they will beg for a medicine to help them, highlighting their almost pitiful nature. The battle is fair, without much trouble, since the NPC also joins it. However, the creature can get annoying due to the many debuffs that they can throw at the party, but otherwise, they are quite weak.

Crimson Red

An insane maniac invading the very last dungeon of the game, and a very tough opponent. She wears a torn coat, covered in blood, and not much more clothes, excluding the hood covering her white hair. Her main weapon is a huge sword, almost a cleaver, also drenched in blood. On the other hand, she wields a small curved knife. If her design looks quite standard, regardless of the amount of blood covering her, it is during the dialogues that her true nature is revealed. In fact, she is actively hunting you down, a precious prey worth being… devoured. The invader is a revenous cannibal, and she will not hide her nature during the fight, threatening to eat the main character. The fight is quite tough, as expected from a phantom invading the last dungeon. She hits really hard, inflicting multiple negative statuses with her huge blade. Moreover, she is able to temporarily fly by jumping in the air, making her almost impossible to hit… at least till she rains back down on the battlefield unleashing a powerful attack. 

Not only Nemesis and Mr X: immortal stalkers and chasing enemies in turn-based JRPGs [Updated Jan 2026]

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Being chased by an enemy almost impossible to defeat, relying on hiding or running away as the only chance of surviving, is one of the most extreme feelings in survival-horror games. And if famous pursuers such as Nemesis or Mr. X from early Resident Evil games, or Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2, are the most iconic examples, other games such as Clock Tower made escaping an immortal stalker the core element of their gameplay (and you can read more here: https://surrealandcreepy.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/best-indie-games-similar-to-clock-tower/). However, pure horror games are not the only example where immortal stalkers are present. And sometimes, you can even experience this anxiety in very unexpected genres.

It is the case of turn-based JRPG, a genre usually associated with slow and static games, which instead surprisingly show several examples of immortal pursuers. As expected, several of these creatures come from Atlus games, the developer of the most known horror-themed JRPGs such as Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. On the other side, it is also true that some similar enemies can also be found in less horror-themed JRPGs such as Final Fantasy. Because I think everybody remembers the robot spider from the beginning of FF8. Moreover, this is especially true for more recent horror JRPGs, especially Idea Factory games, and even more fitting for dungeon-crawlers. Probably because of the mazes to explore, or the first-person view, dungeon-crawlers have a huge selection of immortal stalkers, chasing you till an unexpected dead end. And if instant death once trapped is not that different from any survival-horror games, being stuck in an almost impossible-to-win turn-based battle has a completely different taste. And if you find difficult to imagine that, try to think about the pressure of selecting the best move hoping to survive, while the creature annihilates at each turn a different character, or about attempting to escape the battle but failing each time. Moreover, random battles and turns create a denser atmosphere, because you don’t know how many different attacks the creature could do, or when it could appear. Another very interesting concept is that, while in pure horror games there is always a scheduled encounter to kill the immortal stalkers, in JRPGs this could be instead level-based. So maybe 50 levels later, when you are strong enough, you can come back to the stalker that was terrifying you early on to finally kill it.

So what will be on this list? I selected examples of immortal stalkers from different JRPGs, especially if horror-themed, and all with turn-based battles. If not, there would not be much different from pure horror games. The selected creatures should be also almost impossible to defeat, especially when met for the first time, and able to quickly annihilate the party. They should also be active stalkers, or appearing only when connected to rare or unwanted events or mechanics, in fact acting as a negative reward.

Mary Skelter – The Nightmares

Mary Skekter is a trilogy of dark dungeon-crawlers where everything is horror-themed. Not only the games are set inside a colossal living being but also blood is a central element in the gameplay (more info here: Mary Skelter Nightmares: When the dungeon is a colossal living creature with its own needs). But what truly shines as pure horror gameplay are the Nightmares, the immortal stalkers at the core of the experience. Every dungeon has its Nightmare patrolling around, disturbing creatures that are, at the beginning, impossible to kill. They will randomly appear when the player explores the dungeon, accompanied by creepy sounds and a white aura. If they spot the party, the only chance of surviving is to run away as far as possible till the chase is over. The worst thing? The map will be disabled during the chase, so you can easily finish trapped in a dead end. In battle, each Nightmare has an external shell that can be destroyed to briefly stun them, facilitating the escape. However, if random battles happen during the chase, the nightmare will join the fight, creating a very challenging situation. A Nightmare can only be truly defeated after losing the immortality, which will happen by destroying a core at the end of its dungeon. Moreover, the Nightmares are also seriously creepy and disturbing in appearance, linked to the theme of each dungeon and the background of the main heroine there, thus incorporating twisted fairytale elements in their grotesque design. If you are curious about more details, I also wrote a long analysis about the Nightmares, which you can check here: The Nightmares of Mary Skelter: fairytale characters reborn as twisted immortal stalkers.

Downtown Nightmare
Station Grounds Nightmare

Undernauts Labyrinth of Yomi – Luci

Undernauts is another dungeon-crawler JRPG, set in 1979 Tokyo where a mysterious structure appeared in the middle of the city. Full of dangers but also resources, soon mining companies start to explore this huge dungeon to unveil its secrets. Developed by Experience Inc, Undernauts is somehow connected to their main series Stranger of the Sword City. However, Undernauts is much more horror, violent, and disturbing than their other RPGs. Let’s just say that the first scene inside the game sees you as the only survivor of your mining expedition, which was was devoured by a kid with a giant leech-like arm. And you survived, only because the child was too full to eat you. While wandering around the dungeons, you will soon meet again that “sweet” cannibal child that spared you. Her name is Luci, an immortal child with a giant leech-like arm, which follows the orders of a mysterious man from a radio around her neck. While exploring the dungeons, you could randomly hear a radio massage of the mysterious man sending the girl to devour the party. After the message, whichever random or stationary battle in the dungeon, will be instead against Luci. So the only way to surely avoid this fight is to quickly run back to the main camp before a battle starts… and this is pretty stressful while exploring. During the fight, the little girls seems so weak and yet so disturbing. But she has the bad habit of attacking the rear row, usually quickly killing your magician or healer, thus making your life pretty miserable even if you succeed in repelling her. Yes, I didn’t use the word “killing” because Luci is immortal and, after behind defeated, she will just stand up and run away, after saying some very sad lines about failure and loneliness. But she will surely come back another time, trying to devour you. Moreover, Luci will also appear in some mandatory boss battles, together with other minions and the ability of massively healing, making such fights even more difficult. Without doubts, Luci is one of the most scary and disturbing stalkers on this list.

Persona – The Reapers

Persona started as a spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei, and now is more famous than the original series. Mixing real life and dark supernatural events, since Persona 3, the saga allows the exploration of huge dungeons while investing in your daily life. And also starting with Persona 3, the Reaper appeared to torment the main party. Especially in Persona 3, the Reaper is a pure horror stalker, integrated since the beginning of the game into the mechanics. If you explore for too long in a dungeon, depending on its size, the Reaper could appear on the floor to hunt you down. Since characters with levels below 70 have practically zero chances of defeating it, finding the exit as fast as possible is the only way to avoid death. Meeting the Reaper means starting an impossible battle, where the party will be annihilated in a couple of turns. The good side is that an end-game party can instead defeat the Reaper, unlocking very rare rewards. The Reaper is also present in Persona 4, but this time it acts only as a secret super boss, which can be faced only during a second playthrough after opening a mysterious chest. In Persona 5 the Reaper is back to stalk the party inside the dungeons, very similarly to Persona 3. When the Reaper appears, accompanied by the sound of rattling chains, the other party members will try to warn you about its danger, and how running away is the only option. Again, the battle is almost impossible to win due to the Reaper’s high defence and instant killing spells.

Etrian Odyssey – FOEs

A JRPG saga that truly integrated challenging battles against almost impossible foes is the dungeon-crawler Etrian Odyssey, published by Atlus. In almost every game of the saga, strong enemies called by the acronym FOE wander around the dungeons. They are always challenging enemies, usually very difficult to beat during the first visit, so it is always a recommended strategy to avoid these fights. However, Etrian Odyssey also integrated very interesting and variegated behaviours for the FOEs. In general, red FOEs work as relentless stalkers, charging at the player if in their sight. For example, the Freed Savage (Etrian Odyssey III) is a grotesque being caged behind gates but, once freed, the creature will quickly run toward the player to attack it. Other similar examples involved FOEs acting in pairs. For example, the Cruel Slayer (Etrian Odyssey IV) is a relentless robot hound almost impossible to outrun, but it will only start to track the players if they are spotted before by a wandering sentinel called the Cold Watchman. However, FOEs also exhibit more complex, hunting, and disturbing behaviours, creating challenging predators to avoid. A deadly example is the Vampire Tree (Etrian Odyssey III), an invisible FOE with a very horror-predatory behaviour. The tough monster will get visible only if close to you while you are in battle, slowly advancing at each turn of the fight. If you are too slow in the random fight, the FOE will join the battle. And having a tough boss with high defence, and a lethal poison that will both damage the characters and cure the monster, is not an easy challenge. Talking about erratic patterns, the disturbing Taurus Demon (Etrian Odyssey V) doesn’t directly charge the player, but once they line up with the monster, the FOE will start to mirror their movements, even if they are very far away. And since the creature is a deadly physical attacker, avoiding it is a necessity. Another deadly and peculiar FOE from Etrian Odyssey V is the Mounting Horror. The monster doesn’t move from its position, but will instead generate clones as strong as it to hunt the player, and the only way to survive is to find and kill the real monster. But the top spot for the scariest and most peculiar FOE from Etrian Odyssey goes to the Death Wall (Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold). Imagine being trapped in a twisted labyrinth typical of dungeon-crawler games, trying to find your way out. At some point, maybe you start to see that a wall was never there. What is happening? This is simply Death Wall, a FOE that mimics a normal dungeon wall… which will move only if you are not watching it. And once you are trapped in a dead-end hallway, you are forced to face it. And this is a battle where you cannot escape, and the Death Wall will literally try to crush all the party with strong physical AOE attacks.

Death Wall
Mounting Horror

The Lost Child – Nyarlathotep

Another dungeon-crawler to add to the many on the list, Lost Child is a spin-off of El Shaddai, an action game involving Catholic mythology and angelic wars. Sharing many similarities with Shin Megami Tensei, in The Lost Child, the main character can trap demons and fallen angels to fight in the party. And the design of the enemies is very original and interesting, as you can see here for some demons: The most unusual Demons from the Japanese dungeon-crawler The Lost Child. However, angels and demons are not the only enemies, since the main bosses are Lovecraftian creatures, including Cthulhu. And Nyarlathotep from the bonus dungeon R’lyeh Road is an immortal stalker that deserves to be in this article. R’lyeh Road is a gigantic bonus dungeon of 100 floors, which can be faced at any point during the game. Each floor has only one exit, and a switch to open it. And the big twist is the presence of Nyarlathotep, which will manifest on every floor once the door is open. Nyarlathotep does not physically face the party but, as a sort of alien parasite, will take control of normal enemies, appearing behind them like a sort of puppeteer, enhancing them to a boss-level threat. The other unique feature is that Nyarlathotep will physically appear on the map, charging toward the player, one step at a time. By planning your moves and using big rooms to your advantage, it is fact possible to avoid Nyarlathotep and escape to the next floor. So how it is possible to truly defeat Nyarlathotep? You can discover the answer only on the 100th floor of R’lyeh Road, making Nyarlathotep one of the most relentless stalkers on the list.

Mother 3 – Ultimate Chimera

Earthbound saga is a cult game not only in Japan, but also worldwide, one of the weirdest RPG ever developed that influenced recent RPGs such as Undertale or Omori. Between funny and disturbing moments, the party will face different creatures, each requiring very peculiar strategies to be defeated. And in Mother 3, there is also an immortal stalker: the Ultimate Chimera. This creature, created inside a lab, looks like a fluffy pink monster with a pair of small wings. But behind this innocent-looking monster lies a deadly enemy. Once it sets free, the monster will roam the lab attacking NPCs and chasing the player. The terrible surprise is that, instead of starting a normal battle, meeting the Chimera means an instant Game Over. There is no hope in fighting the creature, so running away is the only alternative. Luckily, the ultimate Chimera can be deactivated by a button on its back… but only temporary since the party will meet the monster again during the game.

Death end re;Quest 2 – Dark Shadow

The sequel of one of the most horror and disturbing JRPG from recent years is even more insane and terrifying. Hopping between a cursed virtual reality and a town hiding a cult, Death end re;Quest 2 shows a set of really grotesque enemies (that you can check here: The most creepy and disturbing enemies and bosses of Death end re;Quest 2). But random enemies are not the only threat, since another entity could appear anywhere to hunt the party: the Dark Shadow. This cryptic creature appears together with some distortions in any point inside a dungeon. The towering shadow creature advances slowly toward the player, but a mere wrong turn inside a dead-end hallway… and it is Game Over. Because as with the Ultimate Chimera in Mother 3, simply touching the Dark Shadow means a sudden death. Moreover, sometimes the game will position the Dark Shadow in impossible points, where gimmicks like finding hidden suspended paths are the the only way to avoid the creature.

Shadow Hearts – Fox Face

Shadow Hearts is the first (or the second, if we consider Koudelka) entry of a dark saga of JRPGs released for PS2. Mixing European history with demons and eldritch abomination, the game knew how to assemble RPG mechanics with horror elements. And an immortal stalker could not miss this setting. Shadow Hearts involved a very peculiar mechanic around the Malice, a dark and malevolent energy released from death. The more the main character kills enemies in battle, the more Malice is accumulated. Till the breaking point, where the UI becomes red and the Graveyard opens its door. At this point, the Fox Face can appear instead of any random encountered. At first, the creature is not very intimidating, merely a human with a fox mask. However, this adversary represents the protagonist’s fears, and can be challenged only in a 1-on-1 combat, where death is the most possible outcome since the enemy has many dirty moves. The player can lower Malice and avoid Fox Face by going to the Graveyard, to then speak to mysterious floating masks demons and participate in their fighting arena. This is a perfect example of a terrifying stalker very well integrated into the game, so deadly and scary because the main character must face it alone.

Fear & Hunger – Crow Mauler and Greater Blight

Fear & Hunger is probably the darkest RPG ever made, set in a world so grim and sick that will make you often chill. Featuring a combat based on mutilations, where several negative effects are permanent, including death, and lacking any experience coming from combat, avoiding enemies is the standard in this game (and for more you can check the different articles I wrote here: https://darkrpgs.home.blog/category/videogames/fear-hunger/). But some enemies are even more specifically design to act as terrifying Stalkers. The most fitting example is the Greater Blight, a gigantic creature roaming the empty wasteland of the Void, a secret end-game area. While wandering around, sometime a message saying that something is following you will appear. Ignore the message, and soon enough more intimidating ones will appear. If you find a hole in the ground on time, you can hide there till the creature loses your scent. Otherwise, be ready for a tough battle. The Greater Blight looks like a gigantic T-rex missing the eyes, a deadly foe that can slaughter the entire party in a couple of turns. However, a strong and lucky party can still defeat the creature, which will only escape to prepare for another chase. And the player will gain nothing from this deadly battles, except probably for dead characters and mortal wounds. Another infamous enemy is the Crow Mauler, probably the most hated boss in the entire game. In the beginning, Fear & Hunger has only one save point, an old and forgotten bed inside a jail. However, saving in the game is also dangerous, since you have a 50% chances of facing the Crow Mauler. And an underprepared party will also surely die there, because the tough creature has even one-shot attacks. But if you want to freely save the game, soon or later you must defeat this creature. And if this was not enough, the end-game dungeon has trapdoors scattered around. If you fall inside them, you will finish in a basement… chased by a two-headed Crow Mauler, an enemy almost impossible to defeat. Anyway, if you are curious to know more about the Crow Mauler, I wrote an analysis here: When it is impossible to Save: surviving all the mutilations of the Crow Mauler in Fear & Hunger [Boss Battle].

Crow Mauler
Greater Blight

If you want to check the Greater Blight getting your smell, and the battle against this terrible foe, you can check the video on the Surreal and Creepy YouTube channel:

Shin Megami Tensei – Jailer and Dante

Shin Megami Tensei saga doesn’t need introduction, since it is probably the most famous and longevous dark JRPG around. Moreover, the monsters based on mythologies around the world, created by Kazuma Kaneko, are still now an example in monster designing. And surprisingly, some of them also worked as immortal stalkers. An example is the Jailer from Digital Devil Saga (also known as the Buddhist demon Kumbhanda), a deviant creature in charge of a prison. The jail is also a factory where humans are converted into canned food, the Jailer’s favourite. And yes, if you didn’t know, cannibalism is a central theme in Digital Devil Saga (and you can read more about it here: Digital Devil saga: A cannibal JRPG — Surreal and Creepy). During the first battle against the Jailer, you will realise of a drastic anomaly: the boss has an attack able to paralyse everybody with a 100% success rate, quickly ending the battle. Later on, the prison becomes its hunting ground, where the main character should physically escape from the Jailer and its traps, while finding a way to trick it into losing its powers. If the Jailer is a pure horror stalker, another enemy is an even more emblematic hunter in Shin Megami Tensei. Just this time, it is an enemy that you would never expect. “Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry Series” became quite a meme for SMT 3 Nocturne, and the legendary demon hunter from Capcom’s games truly appears in one of the bonus dungeons. Dante will literally stalk the player while exploring a complex maze, shooting them if they are far but still in his range, or starting a deadly battle when reaching them. In the last case, Dante will immediately kill the weaker demon in the party with his sword. And if the main character is the lowest-level one… well, time for an instant Game Over.

Persona Q – FOEs

Persona Q is a spin of the main series released for 3DS, with a gameplay more similar to Etrian Odyssey than the regular Persona. The similarities are so many that, even in this case, while exploring the dungeons, you can meet deadly FOEs. As well as for Etrian Odyssey, FOEs have different behaviours, and, in general, it is often recommended to avoid them. Moreover, due to the darkest nature of Persona setting, the FOEs are even more disturbing. For example, the Beast of Lust is a sort of small Cherub seated on top of a bondage horse, creating a very disturbing enemy that follows the player if they are directly watching the creature. So no eye contact, no pain. In the next dungeon, the Evil Spirit Club, the party must face creepy clusters of dolls, the Lovely Dolls, which share some similarity with Junji Ito’s Tomie. They are stationary, but tends to surprisingly teleport toward the player causing a jump-scare. Luckily, the light can repel those dolls granting safe passages. And if the Loving Dolls are not enough, the ancient version, the Old Doll, will actively chase the party and can even block some doors to create smaller hunting grounds. Other FOEs, such as the Festival Dudes, act as super tough side battles. They are a group of 4 monstrous and coloured muscled guys bringing around a shrine, which move in a fixed pattern around the dungeon. However, even if they are extremely strong, they can be defeated by selecting specific characters for a very unusual party. To conclude, the Reaper from previous Persona games is also there to hunt and terrify the party in the last dungeons.

Lovely Doll
Beast of Lust

Trench Tale – The Horse

Trench Tale is a game heavily inspired by Fear & Hunger, with a similar limb-targeting-based combat system and a dense horror atmosphere. The game is set in an alternate WW1, with even more horror elements and puppet enemies roaming gas-filled trenches. While the main game features different classes, including a sniper and a humanoid rat, the expansion follows the story of a specific character trying to escape the trenches. Interestingly, the expansion features a more open-world scenario, offering greater freedom in how to proceed. However, keep in mind that dangerous creatures are hidden in this world, including the Horse. This disturbing creature is a yellow horse carcass, with a skull head and a muscular, undead body. The lower half of the body terminates in a mass of grotesque tentacles, acting as the “strings” of this undead horror. When you first meet the Horse, accompanied by rope sounds, the grinning and yellow face of the Horse appears on the screen. And the game will tell you to run. Running away through a claustrophobic bunker, while avoiding mountains of deadly metal wire and being outrun by the deadly Horse, is definitively a difficult task. Because if the Horse reaches you, it starts a battle almost impossible to win. The Horse has several attacks, including the Bite, which inflicts an insane amount of damage. From this point on, the Horse will chase the player in other bunkers, creating a dense and terrifying atmosphere. Moreover, the Horse can also appear in unscripted events in the outside world, starting deadly chases through the maze of trenches. And quickly finding a door to end the chase, while avoiding the Horse and other monsters, is the only way to survive.

You can also see the Horse in action here:

The secrets of human-animal hybrids escaping from a SCP-like facility: Interview with RE Atelier, the team behind the great JRPG Break Wolf

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Last year was really great for horror RPGs realised with RPGmaker, with amazing titles for story, setting, and gameplay. One of these surprises is Break Wolf, a JRPG set inside a disturbing research facility where human-animal hybrids must fight to survive. Luckily, the main character, with the help of a human-cat woman, will quickly start his breakout from the facility. However, each floor of the facility hides grotesque monsters, tough champions, and moral choices, complicating the escape.

Break Wolf has an amazing art-style, especially in the characters’ and monsters’ portraits. The color palette also helps to shape the style, creating a world of gray morality. Plot and characters are also well defined, and you quickly feel involved in the fate of the bizarre group of outcasts. The gameplay also supports the disturbing setting, with brutal one-vs-one battles including metamorphosis, special attacks, and different metrics to balance. The items are essential in Break Wolf, with a wide set of items for any situation, from powerful bazookas to… throwing cats to distract the enemy. Break Wolf has many secrets, from different routes leading to completely different end game scenarios, to the possibility of recruiting a Cat God (check more about it here: When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]).

RE Atelier is the team behind the amazing Break Wolf, a Korean studio including two developers: Rei and Catspam. Today, I had the opportunity to exchange questions with the team, exploring the secrets behind Break Wolf, how everything started, and what to expect from the future. If you were also surprised by this great indie JRPG, I suggest you check the following interview with the team to discover more about Break Wolf.

The brutal battles of Break Wolf

Q1: Thank you for the opportunity to interact with you. Break Wolf was a great surprise, an intiguing JRPG with great setting and art. How did you start developing games?

Rei: I originally debuted and worked as a web comics artist. Creating a world and expressing my own perspective directly through drawings was a great source of joy for me. At the same time, I also liked games because I remember first encountering RPG Maker when I was young, and I was torn for many years between pursuing comics and making games. Back then, I felt that game development was a realm of elites I could never reach. But whenever my emotions overflowed, it was hard for me to hide them, so I naturally started creating small game projects eventually.

As I continued working, I realized that shaping a world while considering multiple choices and possibilities gave me an even greater sense of fulfillment than comics. I still feel a little apologetic towards comics, but since my time making them was honest and precious, I was able to approach game development with the same sincerity.

Catspam: When I was young, I stumbled upon the existence of an engine called RPG Maker 2003 while browsing the internet. At first, I played with it almost like doodling on a blank sheet of paper. As I grew older and understood more, I realized it was an engine with far more possibilities than I had imagined, and I became interested in implementing systems that had previously existed only in my imagination. I suppose that experience eventually led me to where I am today.

Q2: How was the idea of Break Wolf born?

Rei: The origin of Break Wolf is a short free game I made in 2017 titled “怪盜(meaning Monster Thief, not Phantom Thief)”. I had a vivid dream of monster thieves stealing treasures using their abilities, and it left such a strong impression that I impulsively created the game as soon as I woke up. My skills were lacking at the time, and with just about 4 weeks for development, the game had many shortcomings.

But when I finally got the chance to remake it, I reorganized the idea entirely and developed it into Break Wolf. Looking back, I think most of my beginnings have been impulsive. I don’t particularly like that impulsive side of myself, but projects that began that way grew into sincere explorations, and discovering unexpected aspects of the characters eventually led to the birth of Break Wolf.

The prototype of Break Wolf (image provided by Rei)

Q3: Break Wolf is (almost) entirely set inside an experimental facility. How did you design the place to keep players entertained?

Rei: To prevent the environment from becoming monotonous, we hid many small ‘strange things’ throughout the area. For example: Character conversations triggered when picking up items, Events that occur when throwing certain items during battle, Weird balloons with cassette tapes inside, Odd cats, Gene equipment, and other peculiar objects…

Rather than a simple loop of battles, we wanted players to experience small surprises that make them think, “What is this?”, gradually enriching the gameplay experience. As a player myself, I’ve always loved the joy of unexpected discoveries in games, so I tried to include many such moments in Break Wolf.

Catspam: We believe that repeating the same things too much can bore players. So as the story progresses, we prepared fields that offer additional actions, as well as increasingly expanding combat systems that become complex as the game continues. At the same time, we were also careful not to overwhelm players from the start, so we tried not to place overly difficult obstacles at the beginning, before they become familiar with the mechanics.

Personally, I think Stage 3 is where the really interesting systems begin to appear, and I sometimes worry if the gap until that point is a little too long, but I couldn’t find a better solution. Thankfully, Rei contributed many sub-event contents and side interactions that helped fill that space.

Balloons hide important hidden recordings

Q4: The relationship between the main characters is at the core of the game, but the secondary characters are also very interesting and dramatic figures. Which is your favourite character and why?

Rei: All characters have their own charm, but my personal favorite is Adius, the final boss. He is intelligent and possesses vulgarity and aggression, yet strangely, he is easily swayed by Eichi’s words. Something about that made me feel pity for him – he’s like a ‘clever fool’. At first, I wondered if he was antisocial, but he wasn’t the type to reject emotional bonds entirely, so I couldn’t label him that way. And the way he expresses emotions through strange words or actions felt familiar to me – I also have that kind of tendency.

I love villains who speak grandly but ultimately desire something very human. The villains of Break Wolf are cruel yet fundamentally human, sentimental and childish. Among them, Adius especially evokes sympathy and affection. Although he has a large adult body, I imagine he’s just someone who secretly wants his head softly patted.

Catspam: For me, Eichi left the strongest impression. I think being around him would be funny and entertaining. But it’s also true that Eichi committed terrible crimes. Although not depicted in detail in the game, he caused the greatest number of victims among all main characters.

I’m not sure why I ended up viewing him positively. Was it because his behavior was funny? Or simply because he treats the protagonist well? In the past, Eichi nearly killed the protagonist due to reckless experimentation, and even Eichi himself doesn’t deny he is evil, yet I still liked him for some reason, and I’m not sure why.

Eichi is a very peculiar character

Q5: Were there other prisoners inside the facility cut out from the game? Which characters changed the most in appearance or personality during the development?

Rei: As you pointed out, there were other monsters in the syndicate, but I felt including them in the story would disrupt the pacing, so I settled on the idea that they were away on external missions. I regret not being able to mention this properly in the game. The character whose personality changed the most during development was Jector.

Originally, he was planned as a stereotypical villain: arrogant, violent, and entirely devoid of guilt. But characters don’t always behave the way the creator expects. As development went on, he grew into someone with an overwhelming desire for recognition. Because he is intelligent, his intelligence fueled his conviction that “I can’t possibly be wrong”, and when that belief broke, he became a character capable of admitting his mistakes. He still retains some elitist tendencies, but having guilt toward a certain person eventually helped him suppress those traits.

Since he changed so drastically from the initial concept, he became one of the most memorable characters for me.

Q6: Break Wolf has 3 main Routes, completely changing the endgame with new enemies, settings, and bosses. How did you decide to divide the endgame into different Routes?

Rei: At first, I only planned the “Escape Ending”. I hadn’t considered multiple routes. But after finishing it, new thoughts naturally arose:

“What if the player chooses A?”

“What if they choose B? Would B become a different story?”

“Then what would a world look like where both choices happen?”

These questions expanded the narrative naturally into three Routes: A, B, and Extra. (Including a Normal Ending where only certain allies survive, there are essentially 4 outcomes). Even though the project began impulsively, I found myself wanting to add more and more things as development continued.

Catspam: I consider myself a huge turn-based RPG nerd. I love endgame content where new and unique challenges block the player’s path, and the player must use everything they’ve learned to overcome them. This inspired the creation of the Extra Route, which features unique bosses and special strategies. Originally, the Extra Route wasn’t meant to have much story – it was planned as bonus content for players who enjoy difficult battles. But Rei wanted to embed deeper meaning into those battles, so a proper main story was also incorporated into the Extra Route.

Q7: Could you describe to us one of your favourite boss battles and which strategy do you like to use to win it?

Rei: My favorite is Adius in the Extra Route. Initially, his motivation to fight is difficult to understand, and seeing him fight even while using a Morphing Form that he personally dislikes, left a strong impression on me. It made me reconsider what truly moves a person. A trivial reason for one person can be a desperate, life-risking reason for someone else. Maybe that’s why the world (and myself) are filled with strange, impulsive actions.

As for tactics, my favorite is equipping the Morph-related Genes, and maintaining high Contamination throughout the combat. Winning while using a Morphing Form makes me feel a surge of testosterone, and it greatly amplifies the protagonist’s presence, which is very satisfying.

Catspam: If I have to choose, I would say Clone Calbat and Annihilator from the Extra Route. Clone Calbat introduces mechanics that match its personality while also being unique to this game, and its abilities are intuitive enough that players quickly understand how to counter it, yet flexible enough to allow different strategies. Annihilator is a late-game boss with 3 phases. In fact, I considered it as the “true final boss” during its design. It is overwhelmingly strong, forcing players to use everything they’ve learned so far. However, a few unique mechanics allow players to drastically lower the difficulty of certain phases. (Some players may already know that there is a dedicated countermeasure for the mid-battle BLIT attack 😉).

As for tactics, my preferred tactic is overall stability. I prefer stable, defensive builds with versatile Gene combinations, rather than aggressive ones. I also enjoy using items at the right moment to turn the tide of battle.

The monsters inside the facility can be quite grotesque

Q8: I was unexpectedly surprised by the sudden appearance and fight against the Ink Maid, an extra battle toward the end of the game. Can you tell us something more about the Ink Maid?

Rei: There is actually no detailed backstory behind the Ink Maid. It is simply a female-shaped monster that Adius created out of loneliness during his time in hiding. However, Ink Maid is not a true sentient being, and its nature is closer to aggressive than friendly, so it never truly eased his loneliness. It can understand and follow orders, but only reacts to commands. I believe Adius must have felt unsatisfied with its existence.

The Ink Maiden in all her disturbing appearance

Q9: Are you planning more updates, DLCs, or maybe STEAM Achievements for Break Wolf?

Rei: I have several DLC ideas, but I’m still thinking carefully since I’m not sure what players would actually want. For example, an “Eichi-survival route” which doesn’t exist in the main game, and a separate Route based on losing against Adius at the Extra Route…

These ideas interest me personally, but since they’re based on my own taste, I’m not sure if players would enjoy them. And saving (or reanimating) Eichi is also complicated. He caused far too many casualties due to his desires, and even if he survived, his self-destructive tendencies make it hard to design a story where he lives on.

(Of course, maybe I’ll find an answer if I continue writing a parallel-world based story 😅).

Catspam: We would also love to support Steam Achievements, so we’ve been researching related information a lot. However, due to the lack of stable implementation methods for RPG Maker 2003, we’re approaching it cautiously until we find a reliable method. If we eventually find a reliable solution, we definitely want to implement it. We also hope to support Steam Cloud and Steam Workshop in the near future, but we’re still unfamiliar with its structure, so we’re unsure whether it would work smoothly.

Q10: If I am not wrong, Crow Castle will be your next game, a JRPG having as protagonist a humanoid crow. Since one of the main Routes also includes a boss battle against a similar character, could you tell us something more about Crow Castle, and the connections with Break Wolf?

Rei: Rather than being a direct sequel to Break Wolf, Crow Castle presents a different layer of the same world. However, there are natural contextual connections. For example, Schroder from Route A of Break Wolf, appears as a main antagonist in Crow Castle. The story of Crow Castle takes place about 8 years after Romit finishes the Extra Route in Break Wolf. During that period, the world has changed a lot. Previously, monsters existed mostly in the shadows, but over time, some began to act openly. However, unresolved problems among monsters caused incidents in the timeline of Crow Castle.

The monsters in Break Wolf were created through relatively stable processes, but the crow monsters in Crow Castle have severe defects from birth – their genes and neural structures were damaged due to reckless experiments. They suffer from periodic blood reflux, damaged genetics, disrupted neural structures, and imbalances in dopamine, GABA, oxytocin, and other neurotransmitters, causing uncontrollable impulses and emotional deficiency. Thus, Crow Castle explores what these monsters lack, what they desire, and why they eventually become a threat to human society.

I hope players will also enjoy exploring these stories. Players can understand Crow Castle without playing Break Wolf, of course, but familiar characters appearing from time to time may bring a sense of a connected universe.

An example of a battle from the upcoming Crow Castle

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Rei and Catspam for the opportunity to discover more about Break Wolf. Their answers were really great, and I cannot wait to see more about Break Wolf while waiting for Crow Castle. If you haven’t tried Break Wolf, which, at the time of writing, still sits at 99% positive reviews on Steam, you can find it HERE.

The hidden Superbosses of Look Outside (till v2.1)

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Look Outside is an amazing comedy-horror JRPG entirely set inside an apartment building. However, in this place, tons of terrible things are hidden, from a parallel Meat World, to a glitch land existing inside a cursed videogame, and an entirely flooded apartment. With every new update, the world gets bigger and bigger, and, especially after the 2.0 Final Vision update, the game is almost in its final state.

Bosses and monsters also get expanded with each update, and now the Bestiary is simply huge. For example, according to the wiki page, there are at least 35 bosses in the game. And we are only talking about bosses, so the complete Bestiary is insanely huge. The main character and party members also get stronger, with new weapons and characters to recruit. And so do the bosses, with new and stronger bosses released at every update.

In the following article, I will focus on the superbosses hidden in Look Outside, enemies that are far stronger than the final boss of the game, often guarding powerful weapons or equipment. Some of them are really difficult not only to defeat, but also to unlock and reach. I will focus especially on completely optional bosses, guarding weapons, and not related to any ending… with maybe a couple of exceptions. Since Look Outside is always updated, including new superbosses in an update following the “Final Vision,” the article could be updated with future updates.

Hellcar

Hellcar is the first superboss encountered in the game since the first release. Hidden in a car park inside the basement, the Hellcar is a devilish orange car that will attack after the player collects the flamethrower. Hellcar has an insane amount of different phases, making it one of the longest battles. First, Hellcar attacks directly, using powerful burning attacks and its light to blind the characters. During the next phases, Hellcar will use its long tongue to swallow the player inside its body. At this point, the player has a limited number of turns to kill Hellcar before being literally dragged to hell, reaching a game over with a special bad ending. During the second phase, Hellcar’s interior is full of ghostly passengers, which of course must be killed. In the next phase, the element of the interior design transforms into demons and must be killed. During the last phase, the Hellmouth is revealed, a giant maw inflicting heavy damage. If you are fast enough in killing all the phases before going to hell, the reward is the powerful Hellblade, the strongest weapon in the first update.

Furnace

Furnace is the superboss of the original 1.0 release. The creature lies hidden in the sewers, the most challenging section of the basement. In the middle of a room flooded with water, a shut-down furnace is waiting to be awakened again. Before fighting the boss, the player must fight six giant ticks draining the heat away from the tubes. After killing the ticks, Furnace will come back to life. While even only accessing the fight is a chore, defeating Furnace is a real challenge. The boss looks like a hellish boiler room, with fire drawing a disturbing grin on the metal. Furnace uses powerful fire spells, causing the burning status with almost every attack. However, the biggest issue is its chargeable attack. Turn after turn, the fire grin becomes bigger, highlighting how the creature is almost ready for its most powerful attack. A firestorm will hit the entire party, with a high probability of one-shotting several characters. If not, the entire party. Surviving the annihilation is difficult, even by guarding the attacks, and killing Furnace before it unleashes hell is even more complicated due to the high HPs. In 1.0, Furnace had no reward for such a challenge. However, next updates introduced Furnace Edge, the only fire-based melee weapon.

Taxidermy

Taxidermy is the owner of the disturbing apartment on the 3rd floor, a place full of stuffed animals and hosting a stitched-skin dimension. In the beginning, Taxidermy appears as an immobile humanoid statue, with a grotesque mask-like face and horns on top. After traversing the parallel dimension, the Taxidermy statue starts to move, becoming a challengeable boss battle. In 1.0, Taxidermy has two main phases, with the second one called Suture Wire. In this phase, the boss covers itself in deadly metal wires, and is able to use powerful bleeding and slashing multi-hit attacks. However, the boss was still an easy fight, regardless of the disturbing appearance. But everything changed with the 1.6 update, when Taxidermy got a challenging 3rd phase. After Suture Wire is defeated, the creature merges with the stuffed animals in the room, becoming a grotesque and disturbing abomination. The main head is that of a moose, which can open up, revealing an even more disturbing interior. A bear and rhino head complete the disturbing design, merged together on a fat rhino body. In battle, the creature is terrifying, becoming a 3-enemy fight where each head has unique attacks and HPs. While the rhino and the bear are the main physical attackers, the moose launches deadly magics, including a black hole able to annihilate the entire party. To defeat Taxidermy, all the heads must be slayed. And if the normal battle was not challenging enough, in Cursed mode, introduced with the 2.0 update, the Taxidermy 3rd phase became a 5-enemy battle, since the creature now also merges with a crocodile and a swordfish.

Drowning

Drowning is a very peculiar superboss hidden in the 2.0 update. A new apartment appears in the building, a place completely flooded and underwater. The party has a limited amount of time to spend underwater before drowning, maybe a reference to the original FF7, where facing the underwater Emerald Weapon was regulated by a timer. However, in Look Outside, when the timer reaches zero, there will not be an instant game over. Instead, a battle against Drowning will begin. In 2.0, Drowning looked like a disturbing deep water creature, with giant jaws full of teeth and details difficult to understand. However, its design changed in 2.01, appearing more like a bug-related creature. The fight is not especially difficult for the damage received, since Drowning doesn’t hit very strongly, but more for the insane amount of HPs. In fact, Drowning has almost double the HPs of the final boss or Furnace. To defeat Drowning, you must heavily rely on status effects such as bleed or poison to chip away the huge HP pool. The reward for killing Drowning? Well, since the main character defeated the concept of drowning itself, he will become immune to it, and will be able to explore the flooded flat without timing. Not the best reward for the long effort.

Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina is a powerful witch trapped in a hidden basement inside the building in version 2.0. The craziest thing? Wilhelmina is inside a crossword-related dungeon. To access Wilhelmina, the player must complete the entire crossword book in the main apartment, a long and time-consuming task. After that, a secret password grants access to a dungeon contained inside a safe. Wilhelmina is trapped in a coffin protected by powerful sentences, which must be broken in order to free her. At this point, freeing Wilhelmina causes a secret ending, while facing her unlocks a challenging battle. Wilhelmina uses powerful and unique spells, including making the entire party regurgitating frogs, or breaking all their bones, causing massive debilitations and continuous damage. Moreover, Wilhelmina can also inflict almost every possible status effect, from stun to bleeding. By defeating Wilhelmina, the player can choose a special weapon as a reward, choosing from a sword, spear, or hammer.

Sybil

Fighting the real Sybil is part of a long and challenging secondary quest introduced in the 2.0 update. First, you must collect an Iris Key during the blackout, to then start to explore the Meat World to collect other keys. Then, you must explore and solve the mysteries and puzzles of apartment 12 to finally have a chance to meet Sybil. However, it is only after bringing her the repaired telescope that you can decide between two paths. And only by pursuing the truth, you are able to attack her, revealing her real form inside the Meat World. The real Sybil is a grotesque and colorful mass of flesh, with eyes and teeth all around.  However, fighting her at this point leads to an impossible battle, since Sybil can also attack 8 more times in a turn. To limit this ability, you must traverse the Meat World to kill 9 Organs, grotesque bosses with special powers, providing unique attacks to Sybil. For each Organ killed, Sybil loses a special attack, including the ability to digest your max HPs. However, the Organs regenerate after in-game hours (32h on normal), so not only you have to destroy them, but even in a limited amount of time. Even with the Organs destroyed, Sybil is still a tough fight, especially for the high HPs. At the moment, defeating Sybil mainly unlocks a bad ending inside a hidden room, without a strong reward for such a massive effort.

Baby Teeth

The apartment where the Teeth Family was corrupted by mutating into grotesque masses of teeth is one of the most disturbing locations in Look Outside. Baby Teeth is the boss of the apartment, an infant that mutated into a colossal abomination, spreading teeth on whoever gets bitten. The boss can be easily defeated or avoided, and the creature will simply hide again under the floor. However, after the update 2.0, the apartment got sealed by a giant mouth. The fauxes opened again in 2.1, where the mutated apartment became explorable again. And hidden under the floor, after a dungeon of flesh and teeth, Baby Teeth is waiting for her rematch. Just this time, the battle will be far more difficult. Considering that the apartment opens again on day 9, almost at the end of the game, says all about the difficulty of the fight. Baby Teeth grotesquely mutate during the battle and can attack with multiple body parts, including two long tongue-tentacles. The infant is highly resistant to different types of damage, can cause bleeding, and has an insane berserk attack. Moreover, the dungeon itself is constantly chewing whoever is inside, and every turn, the walls attack everybody, both the entire party and Baby Teeth, creating an even more unconventional and difficult battle. After defeating Baby Teeth for the (hopefully) last time, the player can access two new tooth weapons, including a rifle that converts HPs into tooth bullets.

Swordmaster Comatus

Comatus is another superboss added in the update 2.1. The mushroom swordmaster hides behind a fake wall in the depths of the fungal colony. The boss is probably an homage to FromSoftware’s bosses, a loyal and powerful swordmaster that fairly challenges the player to a duel. Facing Comatus is quite easy, but defeating it is a far more difficult task. Comatus hits like a truck with multiple attacks, is highly resistant against physical damage, and can adopt different stances. For example, it can counterattack physical attacks or heal at the end of the turn. Defeating Comatus unlocks the Whisperblade, a really powerful sword.

Honko

Honko is the protagonist of a videogame that you can play in the flat to learn a new skill. And in 2.1, Honko appears as a superboss in the new Glitch World. Already accessing the Glitch World is a complicated task, since it is only possible after using the cursed videogame hidden behind a secret door on a console inside a parallel meat world. Moreover, the Glitch World is a challenging dungeon to traverse, full of monsters, peculiar status effects, and glitched items. And fighting Honko is even more obscure. First, you need to find and finish his videogame, and only then can you find a secret path behind a glitched tile. Honko is a tragic figure who doesn’t want to fight but is forced by glitches. During the fight, the cute pink humanoid continuously glitches, sometimes briefly appearing as a cursed version of himself, or even dead in a pool of blood. Honko is extremely powerful, immediately showing huge defense and agility, making it very difficult to hurt, healing powers activating every turn, and the ability to inflict multiple status effects with a single attack. And if this was not enough, after sufficient damage, Honko splits into three entities… and then into five! The main Honko now launches really powerful spells, while the others hit hard and inflict status effects. The reward for defeating Honko is many candies providing permanent upgrades.

Grimdark JRPGs for fans of Fear & Hunger

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Fear & Hunger (F&H) is one of the best examples of indie dark RPGs, set in a brutal dark fantasy world inspired by Berserk, where every amorality is allowed. However, regardless of its shocking value, F&H is an intriguing and original product, set in a world full of lore, featuring brutal combats that involve menomating the enemy’s limbs, and boasting a huge connection to survival horror titles. In fact, the enemies in F&H do not provide experience, and avoiding dangerous encounters is essential to survive. Brutal deaths, tough decisions, and sacrifices shape the freedom of this title, a world where you can side with really obscure beings, or die of starvation after jumping into a well.

F&H is a new starting point for indie horror JRPGs, with many incoming titles showing a similar brutal battle system or set in really dark fantasy worlds. While many proper “fhunger-like” games, or clones of F&H, will probably release soon, other very interesting horror JRPGs are yet available for people looking for another really dark and mature experience. Many dangerous and hopeless worlds, where grotesque enemies can brutally kill the party, bad endings are behind every wrong decision, and often sacrifices are necessary to proceed.

In the following article, which I will continue to update, I will write about the darkest, most horrific, and grim indie JRPGs available. I will focus on the most interesting and brutal settings, with challenging battle systems, a bestiary full of disturbing creatures, dubious choices, and bad endings. I will focus especially on games released after the first F&H (so from 2018), briefly describing the overall world, setting, system, bestiary, and whether tough choices are included. Some products are really inspired by F&H, while others are simply too good dark JRPGs not to be part of this list.

If you are a fan of F&H or, in general, of really dark and horror RPGs, this is an article that can definitely get your interest.

Look Outside

The best indie horror RPG together with Fear & Hunger, and not simply a dark JRPG or a F&H clone, but a completely independent product. The game is set in modern days, where something terrible happened. People live trapped inside, with the window closed, because only by looking outside, they mutate into a horrible monster, entirely losing their humanity. The setting is extremely dark and disturbing, especially at the beginning, with a few moments of comedy relief. For 15 days, the main character must survive while trapped inside his apartment building, with a lot of freedom on how to spend the days. Between recruiting neighbors, scavenging, exploring the other flats, fighting grotesque abominations, or simply spending time playing videogames, Look Outside has an insane amount of content to offer. And with each new update, the game gets even bigger, featuring a parallel dimension made of meat, around 10 different endings, and a world of secrets. Every apartment is a new world, a place shaped by the horrible mutations that happened there. An example is the “Teeth Apartment,” where every monster is uncontrollably growing teeth out of their bodies… for a very disturbing and sad reason. 

The bestiary of Look Outside is insanely huge. Seriously, I have no idea how many enemies and bosses are now inside the game, but definitely more than 50… if not more than 100. From grotesque insects to an entire boiler room or the different faces of a painter, fighting the monsters is not an easy task, and the player must scavenge improvised weapons to defend themselves. The problem is that every weapon can break if you are unlucky enough, even the super-secret weapons such as the Hellblade. Luckily, there are many melee weapons to discover, from bats to machetes or chainsaws, including firearms and throwable weapons.

The world became a hellish mutant landscape, and everyone is suffering from the effects of this change. From kids to innocent people, the grotesque mutants, when insane, must be eliminated. Some people seem to retain their sanity, even while mutated, and can even be recruited. However, for every small bright side and comedy moment, there are even more horror and extremely tough decisions. For example, a hungry hole will only feed on a child… or a main character’s arm, wounding him for all the game or forcing him to lose a party character. The majority of the endings are also incredibly bad, often involving the destruction of the entire earth (including being absorbed by a hamster god, check about it here: The Rats in Look Outside: A spreading disease of fur and teeth) or terrible mutations for the main character. There are also proper game-over endings while making quite bad choices, often after trusting somebody who definitely shouldn’t have been trusted.

Materialization of Memories

The game is probably the first F&H clone, following everything that made F&H famous. With one big difference: the characters are mainly… well… anthropomorphic animals. The protagonists are working on a mysterious experiment, which will soon go sideways, teleporting everyone to a mysterious parallel reality. This place is infested with anomalies, deadly and invisible events, causing harm to whoever gets too close to them. And of course, deadly monsters also roam every corner of this parallel world. Because here, everything wants to kill the main characters.

The three main characters always fight together, each of them covering a specific role, from healer to brawler. Thankfully, several weapons are also there to help, including firearms. The battles are almost identical to F&H, including targettable body parts. The world is freely explorable and very open, with almost every building accessible since the beginning. Looting a building is always an extreme danger, due to the unknown creatures roaming inside. The monsters are well varied and with different strategies, from a horde of TV-headed illusions with only one of them real to a disturbing smiling entity summoning biting mouths. The healer can also perform an autopsy on the monsters’ bodies, revealing lore and important information on how to defeat them.

The grimdark parallel world is full of dangers and monsters, where everything is ready to kill or mutilate the party. Finding a way to escape this world is the main task of the characters, but soon, this will become even more difficult. A group of deranged NPCs will soon start to torment the main characters, offering brutal choices, including permanently wounding or killing characters.

Blood Soaked Bastard

Just by looking at the amazing and dark art-style, you see how this game fits the article. Set in a dark fantasy world, the story follows an unconventional antihero: a blood knight, a dark paladin using blood as a weapon. During his journey, the knight will meet other twisted and peculiar individuals, from a ghoulish mass of flesh to an ugly elf obsessed with being a chef. While the game shows some hints of comedy, the world is always a hopeless and violent place, inhabited by grotesque and mischievous beings.

The game is a bite-sized dark fantasy JRPG, a short but intense experience. The party characters all have different powers and roles to play, including specific equipment. While there are very few enemies, the main bosses are different and satisfying to battle, from a zombie lord to a peculiar siren. But the first price goes to the final boss, an insane battle with 4 completely different phases. 

Even in its small size, the adventure offers an unexpected set of tough decisions and evil choices. Party members can be coerced into a ritual to be reborn as bloodthirsty abominations, and boss battles can be avoided by permanently sacrificing a character. Moreover, every “normal” person is terrified of the main character, since the blood knights are feared across the land.

Do you want to check all the weird and grotesque party members and the evil moral choices related? Check our video here:

The Pale City

Set in a city, on a platform made of bodies, existing high on a black and deadly sea, Pale City offers one of the most hopeless and grim settings in any JRPG. Seriously, in this world, babies are born from tunnels and must crawl to the city to be adopted, all this while a cult of cannibals loots for the bodies inside tunnels. I could write many paragraphs about this dark and complex world… but since I already did that, feel free to read my article about the setting of the Pale City: The grim world of the Pale City: where cannibals are looking for eternal life and babies are born crawling out of Tunnels [Grimdark Worlds].

The gameplay is a linear JRPG, amazingly written, and full of “gray morality” characters, including dumb or mad Gods. While the enemies are serviceable, with grotesque demons and other disturbing beings, the characters are what truly shape this complex world. For example, magicians are truly scary beings, able to rip people in pieces with a world or to coexist with grotesque skin parasites.

The game always walks on a dense gray line, following a linear and well-written path where many terrible things happen, and characters evolve toward their tragic fate. However, toward the end of the game, some quests feature some drastic choices. For example, you can join the cannibalistic Cult of Life, partaking in their special meal to increase your health, side with an imprisoned titan to help him in his revenge, or even murder the only human Gods.

Slimes

Slimes is a philosophical and extremely grim RPG inspired by Lucah Born of a Dream, an amazing surreal action RPG. While the similarity in the art style is evident, the two games drastically diverge in gameplay and setting. The world is a dangerous place due to the descent of a mysterious winged entity from the sky, taking residence on the moon. However, the scales from its wings crossed the sky as falling stars, reaching earth and causing terrible events. The main changes that this phenomenon brought include magic and monsters. Among the monsters, the weakest and dumbest are the slimes, which all originated from a single dungeon, deep underground. But if the slimes are so mindless and weak, why has nobody ever come out alive from their dungeon? On the other hand, magic is persecuted by insane crusaders. And one of this religious fanatics is the protagonist of the game, accompanied by a magical healer.

The main characters are not only at the opposite of morality, divergent on every topic, but also in terms of fighting mechanics. The priest uses bullets and firearms to fight off slimes, while the magician, of course, needs to balance the mana for healing and debuff. While venturing into the dungeon, each floors offer new mysteries, battles, and a lot of dialogues, often based on previous expeditioners. The bestiary is quite straightforward, basically involving almost only slimes, but their design and abilities evolve during the game.

The setting and the plot are extremely mature, dealing with heavy themes, such as persecution and religious fanaticism. The main character is far from likable, and even far from an anti-hero. During the evolving clashes between the main characters, the healer is of course the one to side with more easily. Moreover, the mysteries about the real origin of the slimes and dungeon keeps the interest high, offering other complex moral dilemmas.

Break Wolf

Break Wolf was a true surprise, a JRPG with an amazing art-style entirely set inside an SCP-like facility. The main characters are human-animal hybrid experiments, forced to continuously fight and win in order not to be disposed of. Between true friendships and brutal manipulations, the main characters survive this environment till the beginning of a lucky escape. Floor after floor, the main characters will try to escape this hopeless world. The biggest surprise? The characters are all well-written and likable, part of a cohesive story. The facility is also full of secrets, including hidden rooms, deadly bosses, and even a Cat God to summon (check more here: When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]).

The game is heavily focused on battles, brutal 1-on-1 fights between the main character and the other grotesque experiments. With multiple health bars, fine-tuning of the many abilities, and a great set of items, including bazookas or flamethrowers, every battle is a tough and brutal tactical puzzle. An example? The main character will also learn to morph into a werewolf, adding an extra layer of complexity, while the recruited characters act as special abilities that need turns to recharge. The bestiary is well varied, including grotesque animal monsters such as bats with humanoid legs or colossal worms with a drill in their mouth.

The game includes some tough choices regarding the secondary characters, who can die or survive based on the player’s choices. And choices truly matter, because based on the characters saved, the game has an entirely different final chapter, with new locations, enemies, and bosses, based on the Route selected. And by finishing both Routes, the player can unlock an even more difficult Extra scenario. Break Wolf also includes mild sexual scenes between the main characters, which can be performed in “quiet” rooms.

Trench Face

Trench Tale has some great thematic connections with F&H2, especially for its setting inspired by WW1. As a soldier with a permanent gas mask stitched on the face, you must venture through eerie bunkers and foggy trenches inhabited by disturbing puppet-soldier entities. There is no hope or help in those trenches, only enemies and mysterious cows helping you save the game.

In the beginning, you can select between different classes: brawler, sniper, or medic, including two other unlockable classes. Exploring the hopeless world is a huge challenge, since the enemies hit hard, provide no experience, and healing is quite costly. Moreover, saving requires rare resources, and finding metal scraps around the battlefield is essential to craft items. The enemies are relentless puppet abominations, suspended between life and death, from normal soldiers with a gun to colossal skeletal whales. They each possess multiple body parts, often including the threads that keep them suspended, and are able to kill the player with a couple of attacks. As you guessed, combat is very similar to F&H, and fans will feel at home.

While the atmosphere is constantly dark and oppressive, the gameplay is quite linear, with almost no choice. Exploring every new trench, while avoiding monsters and looking for save points, is the main gameplay loop. There are very few NPCs, and the hopeless journey proceeds in almost complete solitude. While the game is pretty short, a recent free DLC doubled the length by offering a new story.

And if you are interested in the enemies of Trench Face, here our video covering all of them:

The Rats in Look Outside: A spreading disease of fur and teeth

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In the world of Look Outside, living indoors, with the window shut, is the only way to survive. In fact, merely looking at what is happening outside the window will mutate your body, creating a set of complex and disturbing creatures. Without spoilers, the mutation somehow involves your true self, or at least how you are “perceived.” While the majority of mutants become mindless monsters, some of them retain their mind, such as in the case of Lyle (read more here: Forever trapped inside a picture after kissing an eldritch being: all about Lyle from Look Outside). While directly looking outside is the easier way to lose your humanity, becoming a grotesque being, some of the mutations are also “inheritable.” This is what happened to the entire family and their three kids on the 3rd floor. The youngest daughter watched outside, mutating into a sad and disturbing being, and with her bite, she spread the “teeth mutation” to all the family. A similar situation is what is happening to the rats infesting the building.

The first floor of the building is infested with rats. In general, rats are quite simple enemies, dying in a few hits, with the biggest threat of inflicting the Disease debuff. While rats of different sizes occupy several rooms on this floor, the biggest monstrosity roams the corridors. The Rat King is a colossal wolf-like creature, an abomination of twisted fur and multiple faces, all showing red eyes and deadly maws. And to give rights to its name, the creature wears a rusted metal crown on its head. The Rat King is a unique creature and an incredibly tough boss, usually better to be avoided till later in the game. It hits hard, with a huge health pool, and is able to inflict several negative debuffs. The only help is its weakness to fire. Defeating such an abomination rewards the player with a unique accessory: The Rat Crown. Other than being a quite powerful equipment, the Crown has a peculiar hidden effect, allowing the player to talk with all the rats. This opens to a world of possibilities, with rats giving you items or opening up shops, instead of attacking you. Of course, the rats that survived your murderous spree before getting the Crown. Yes, whichever rat you killed before, closed the door to a unique conversation. From their conversations, you will quickly discover that they were all human before. The Rat King spread the mutation by biting people in the building, mutating them into rats and expanding its “kingdom”. The 1.6 update introduced a new Bad Ending for dying against the Rat King. In this case, while keeping their will, the main character slowly mutates into a new colossal Rat King.

Before getting the Crown, you can also get additional information about rats and their mutation by talking with the Rat Hole. This creature is a merchant hidden behind a wall of darkness, a twisted mass of flesh and eyes hidden inside a hole in the wall. Regardless of the disturbing appearance, the creature is quite friendly, and will offer you powerful items and weapons in exchange for Rat’s Tails. And you got it right, you can obtain the tails by slaying random rats. The Rat Hole got infected by the King, becoming a rat aberration after a painful mutation. How painful? You can ask them directly, and they will give you a very detailed report about the grotesque mutation. The transformation was so painful that the most gruesome details are censored, with examples such as “intestines” and “screaming.” For this reason, the Rat Hole still wants revenge against rats, rewarding you for slaying them.

Interestingly, the Rat Hole also speaks of another side of themselves. And later, you will meet the unavoidable Mouth. The Mouth is the “other half” of the Rat Hole, just this time it is much less friendly. The creature is a disturbing rat-mouth opening in the wall, constantly hungry. The only power it possesses, other than eating living beings, is to create illusory halls to imprison people. Food doesn’t satisfy it, since the only meal it craves is babies. Feeding the mouth is mandatory, and you can do it in two ways. First, you can really feed it a baby, specifically the Rat Baby, an innocent creature that follows you after being discovered abandoned in a crib. If this deed is too mischievous, you can decide to feed it your arm, debuffing the main character for the entire game. I like to believe that this creature is a connection with the other two greatest RPGmaker horror JRPGs: Lisa and Fear & Hunger. With Lisa, the connection is with the tough moral choices, offering sacrifices or character mutilations, including losing an arm. Regarding Fear & Hunger, the Pocketcat is another disturbing NPC asking for kids as a form of payment (more here if interested: The Pocketcat of Fear & Hunger: what RPG merchant could be more disturbing than one exchanging items for children? [Evil Characters]).

The two rat hole creatures are very disturbing examples of how far this mutation can go, creating split personalities of the same creature, one talkative and understandable, the other only looking to satisfy its gluttony.

The Rat King is not the only colossal rat abomination, and another challenging being lurks inside the 1st floor apartments. The Rat Freak is a gigantic humanoid rat, a giant made of fur and red eyes, a cluster of multiple rats fused beneath the fur. The giant is a tough opponent guarding a key item on the ground floor, so avoiding it is quite challenging. However, this gigantic abomination will also become friendly after slaying the King and wearing its crown. In fact, the silent but generous creature rewards the player with powerful hidden weapons after talking with it, including the ultra-rare Sewage Sword. Sure, some luck and RNG are involved, but the rewards are really worthy of the time.

A battle against a swarm of rats welcomes you inside Rat Hell, a new rat-based dungeon available in the 1.5 update. Venturing into this crawling hellhole is necessary to recruit Ernst. The place is practically shaped by rats and their red eyes, creating a maze-structure that works as a gladiator arena. Win enough fights against the rats to save your friend. However, be ready for tough and bizarrely fantasy-inspired battles, including: magician-like rats of poison and fire elements, gladiator rats, a champion paladin-like rat, and a beast similar to the Rat King. With the Crown, you can understand the rats and have tips on how to defeat them; otherwise, be ready for many puzzling battles and a world of squeaking dialogues.

It could come as a surprise after reading about all these abominations, however, the strongest and most dangerous rodent in Look Outside is not a rat but a hamster. By offering Cinnamon, a cute and innocent hamster, as a final gift for the ritual, you will face a very peculiar final boss: Xin Amon. This grotesque and eldritch mutated hamster is, all in all, a rodent god, and a very tough battle. The creature offers two main endings, both quite disturbing. In one ending, the creatures start to exponentially mutate, covering the entire world in flesh towers made of mutated hamster heads. In the other ending, Xin Amon truly evolves into the God Rat, an immense “Kaiju” rat able to level cities and swallow their entire population. The multi-headed abomination is always followed by piercing screaming… coming from the mutated heads of all its victims now appearing on its skin.

Look Outside is an innovative and interesting RPG full of grotesque and unique enemies, with praise for creating a very varied bestiary around simple creatures, such as rats.

When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]

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Break Wolf is a very interesting JRPG that is entirely set inside a research facility. The amoral syndicate in charge of the structure is amorally experimenting on combining human and animal DNA, creating humanoid hybrids. The poor prisoners only fight in this structure, trying to score high enough not to be disposed of. However, something triggers between friendship and relationship, and from the depths of level B9, a rebellion toward the surface starts.

Break Wolf is very peculiar in several details, from the brutal 1-vs-1 battles to the anime art-style and animation. Gameplay-wise, the game shows quite some deep mechanics and many secrets, including Genes to equip to alter the gameplay, different Routes leading to entirely novel end-game scenarios and abilities, and secret bosses. The items found during the game are also unique and powerful tricks to treasure during the tough boss battles. A Bazooka can easily remove an entire enemy’s lifebar, while a rare injection can provide two free turns. Interestingly, some items change their effect based on the situation or the enemy faced, or they can even be powered up. For example, use noise generators against bat creatures to stun them, but a power-up can be found later on to have the same effect on all creatures. Or try to use a Cryoblaster on cold-blooded creatures to freeze them. Fur burns pretty well if you use a flamethrower, and even more if you throw kerosene the turn before. However, the most unique and bizarre items are definitely cats.

During the escape, one floor at a time, you will find empty cages as items. Using them in battle is pretty useless, only doing minimal damage while triggering a funny conversation, with your healer suggesting to use your fists to fight the enemies. However, you can also find free-roaming cats scattered around the facility. Some of them will willingly join you in the cage, while others must be convinced with meat. But what is the purpose of having cats in your inventory? Well, surprisingly, cats are very powerful and versatile items.

Throwing a cat during a battle against an enemy could have different effects, especially on bosses. In general, cats offer a great distraction, giving malus or free turns where the enemy is not active. Plus, each boss has quite a comedy scene when “dealing” with the cat. For example, the cat will jump onto the back of the first boss, which will run around like a crazy man, offering you an opening. The third boss, instead, is not impressed by the cat, claiming to be a dog person. However, his healer likes cats, and will start to distract by chasing the cat around. Cats really hate the last boss and will attack him directly when thrown. Cats are not only a powerful item to gain free distraction against difficult bosses, but they also provide interesting hidden scenes with lore and comedy. And in a game dealing with extreme experiments, abuses, and violence, these moments provide needed relief. Sadly, cats do not always work. For example, the second boss, a blind woman mixed with bat DNA, loves cats, and throwing her a cat will only make her giggle with happiness.

Regarding cats, the end of Route A hides a funny secret. When venturing inside the sewers of the crow’s bunker, at some point, the water in the middle becomes of multiple colors. If you walk long enough in the water with cats in your inventory, they will mutate! The cats’ icon changes in a composition of colorful cats, a radioactive rainbow of bizarre creatures. The items also change their function, at least for one use. The colorful cats now inflict a huge amount of damage, and also remove any buff effects from the enemy. After being used, the radioactive cats come back to their usual function.

Cats also have an additional function related to a secret boss battle and a recruitable character. In one of the offices, you can find a golden cat statue, a bizarre idol with an even weirder story. A hilarious scene reveals how a crazy amount of the research budget was used to build the statue, in order to hide a powerful ally to help the main character during the escape. But how to summon this ally? Of course, by bringing 7 cats to the statue. After collecting enough cats, the golden idol will indeed summon the Mighty Cat, a tough and ultra-muscular humanoid cat wielding a toy hammer… and covered in blood. The only problem is that the cat will not help you till you show your worth in a fight. The battle against the Mighty Cat is incredibly hard. The creature has 7 lifebars, hits really hard, often buffs its evasion and attack, and has some special attacks, such as The Big Bang Hammer, able to stun and inflict insane damage, or the Radioactive Conversion, which converts contamination into healing and bonus attack. Moreover, while other bosses offer to immediately retry the battle, with the Mighty Cat, you have only one attempt. After that, the Mighty Cat will mock you and disappear. If you are finally able to defeat the Mighty Cat, it will really join your group, offering a powerful item and ability. The Mighty Cat can inflict huge damage to the enemy, plus removing all the buffs on them.

Why are cats so important in this disturbing research facility? First, let’s start with Amoria, the healer of the main character, and the character who starts the escape from the facility. She is a shy and quiet girl who suffered through a lot, with the ability to heal even the most lethal and brutal wounds with a series of thin artificial appendages. Like every character in the game, she was also mixed with animal DNA, specifically cat DNA. For this reason, Amoria has an affinity for cats, and this is why she collects them around the facility.

Eichi is the main scientist creating the hybrids; however, instead of being a pure evil mind, he is a weird and bizarre character wearing a cardboard box on his head. For the main character, Eichi is almost a father figure, even if he is the one responsible for the wild experiments and brutal tests. Eichi is also obsessed with cats. Not only is he the one who created the golden cat idol, but he also claims to have an imaginary cat friend. However, in theory, he sent his imaginary friend to protect Amoria, because she needed it the most. Of course, this imaginary cat could be only a figment of his crazy mind, or maybe it could be the Mighty Cat itself, which, afterall, is quite real. Eichi is also the crazy mind responsible of bringing all the cats inside the facility. Why? Because not only he loves cats but he also want to share them with his test subjects, saying that having cats around will improve the morale.

Break Wolf has an amazing fighting system, with very interesting and diversified items to use during the escape. Specifically, cats are very intriguing items with several applications, from distracting bosses to a one-use nuke and unlocking a secret boss fight.

The symbolism behind a grieving family: Analysis of the Axons of Clair Obscur Expedition 33

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The following article will dig into the symbolism and secrets of this dark fantasy world. For this reason, the article has MAJOR SPOILERS of the main twists of the plot, so it is intended for players that reached at least Act 3. Or even better if they finished the game.

Clair Oscur Expedition 33 (COE33) is definitively this year’s surprise, a JRPG shacking the fundamentals of the genre by being loyal to the classics while innovating in every aspect. With dynamic turn-based combats, believable and complex characters, and a dark fantasy world shaped by deadly creatures and French Belle Epoque, the game was a risky but rewarding project. In COE33’s world, every year the Paintress rises from a slumber to paint a number on a colossal monolith, erasing the entire human generation with the same age as the number. And every year, an expedition of heroes starts a journey to reach and stop the Paintress.

The world of Clair Oscur is a complex reality shaped by different demiurges. People, monsters, colossal deities, and fairytale characters clash and coexist in this painted world, each of them brought to life by a different hand. Simply examining the “who painted what” would be already an important task, probably fitting for another article. In this one, I will focus only on the Axons painted by Renoir.

While the Nevrons are the main foes and enemies during the game, the Axons are the most impressive boss battles. Even lore-wise, the Axons are the gateways to reach the Paintress, the last boss battles before entering the endgame. Visages and Sirene are the two main Axons inside the game, and harvesting their energy is crucial to break the barrier protecting the Paintress. The Reacher is a hidden Axon reachable during the endgame while trying to achieve the maximum level of Maelle’s relationship. The first and last Axon is the Hauler, the forgotten one, only visible as a dead body in Old Lumiere.

What are the colossal Axons? As previously specified, the Axons are the only contribution to the painting made by Renoir, the father of the Dessendre’s family. While the Axons could appear only as random monsters, or a colossal version of Cleo’s Nevrons, the reality behind them is far more twisted. The Axons are symbolic creatures, Renoir’s way to mitigate Verso’s trauma by painting a version of his family enriched in symbolism and different layers of interpretation. Each Axon is one family member, including his wife Aline, his son Verso, and his daughters Clea and Alicia. The Axons are imbued with both the delusion after Verso’s death affecting each beloved one and Renoir’s vision of them before the trauma. However, a self-portrait Axon seems to be missing, since Renoir didn’t paint his Axon.

In the following article, I will analyse each Axon, including their setting, appearance, and the symbolism behind the painting. Because while Renoir painted the Axons, he also painted their world and the Nevrons living in it. Moreover, during the final fight, the real Renoir will summon the Axons to help him during the battle.

Visages (Verso’s Axon)

Location: The first Axon inhabits a very peculiar island, full of huge stone masks. They have different expressions on their faces, and they almost whisper something to the wind. The island is full of rich nature, especially red trees, with mountains, gorges, and stunning scenery. Interestingly, the island is divided into biomes according to the main emotion and the associated mask dominating it. The Joy environment is full of light and blooming vegetation compared to Anger, which is a desolate landscape with fires all around. At the end of each area, a huge mask connected with the emotion will ask you a question, and start a fight in case of a correct answer.

Enemies: The Nevrons change with the environment and the emotion of each zone. In Joy, the main enemies are creepy mannequins dressed in white with disturbing smiles, shaking violently. And if this is not enough, the Contorsionists are gigantic nightmare-fueled abominations, with their body twisted on four legs and an eye opening on their body. The creatures here remind of the Windmill Village in Elden Ring, also inhabited by white-dressed and joy inhebriated maniacs. Anger has knights with a stone mask as a shield, while Sadness is inhabited by small imp-like masked creatures flying on a mask. There are no main bosses in the island, but each area has a fight against a powered-up version of a regular enemy supported during the battle by the gigantic mask.

The Axon: Visages is a colossal abomination made of stone faces and wielding two staffs. The different emotions power up the abomination, giving it boosts and special powers during the fight. However, this is not the real Axon, since the disturbing Maskmaker is the final battle on this island. The Maskmaker is a tall knight in heavy armor covered in masks. When he appears, the light always goes off, and he moves under a mysterious spotlight, like the main actor entering the stage. There are many correlations between the Axon and theater, including the masks and the way of dramatically speaking. The Maskmaker is a tough battle right after Visages, a challenging duel of impossible slashes and energy attacks powered by masks and related emotions. During the fight against the real Renoir, Visage will join the battle to shield him from attacks.

Symbolism: Visage is described by Monoco as the one hiding the truth. This Axon is the symbolic painting of the real Verso by the hand of his father Renoir. Nobody in the family was expecting Verso’s death, and how he willingly sacrificed for his sister. Behind the facade, Verso was troubled, maybe to the point where he wanted to die. He was weighed down by the family’s ambition and expectations. He liked music more than painting, but his destiny was already written. Regardless of the weight on him, Verso put on a mask to fake his emotions. He never said anything about it, just kept the real feeling to himself. After all, he is the one who hides the truth. This is related to all the masks around the island as the main theme of the Axon. Moreover, Verso never felt the protagonist of his own story, just part of other people’s expectations. This is why the Maskmaker lives instead under the spotlight, a being hidden but always at the center of the story. The real being behind the masks, the one creating them, but with knowledge of the truth behind them. As a father, Renoir realised too late the complexities and anxieties troubling his son. He couldn’t see through Verso’s masks till it was too late.

Sirene (Aline’s Axon)

Location: Sirene’s arena is a gigantic structure in the middle of the sea, one of the largest buildings in the entire world, after the Monolith and the Endless Tower. The place is a desertic environment enriched with structures, including temples, statues, and columns all around. Everything is embraced by light, and music is always in the air, highlighting a place full of life. Some areas are entirely covered in drapes and fabric, hanging curtains, and mountains of threads. Hooded figures sitting on a moving platform work as elevators and transport inside the colosseum. Sirene is dancing in the bottom of the arena, a gigantic and delicate figure constantly moving.

Enemies: Dancers very similar to Sirene are the main enemies of the area, graceful Nevrons that are not particularly threatening. Other foes are wrapped balls of threads full of eyes, a more grotesque and disturbing sight more common in the bottom of the arena. On Sirene’s island, there are also two important boss battles. The first one is the Tisseur, a gigantic mechanical being constantly sewing clothes for Sirene. It is not a direct threat, however, if spared, it will make the battle against Sirene more challenging by shielding her with new clothes. The second boss is the Glissando, a disturbing and grotesque worm made of scrapped fabric and shrouds, wearing a mask. The creature attacks with its head, but can also summon dancers to join the combos with complex ballets.

Axon: Sirene is a towering, delicate, and elegant figure, a dancer wearing a mask and yellow clothes. At first glimpse, she is not particularly intimidating or dangerous. However, this is far from true, because the Axon can charm people into deadly dances or trick their minds by showing their departed lovers. As a proper siren, Sirene plays with minds and alters people’s behaviour. During the battle, Sirene uses deadly, tricky, and extremely choreographic moves. First, she can charm the party member to dance while floating away. On your turn, you can shoot them down to recover them from the trance, otherwise, this could bring to a quick demise. The most powerful Sirene’s attacks bring other dancers into the combo for a deadly ballet, or even colossal Glissando smashing around. In the final attack, the Final Act, Sirene will also throw an entire building to the party. During the fight against the real Renoir, Sirene will join the battle to heal him.

Symbolism: Sirene is the Axon painted by Renoir to symbolize the Paintress herself: Aline. Why in the beginning, there was some speculation if this could be Alicia or Cleo’s Axon, Monoco confirmed she is the Paintress. Renoir probably painted her as a beautiful and charming dancer, a representation of her elegant and gorgeous nature, from a time when they probably met. Sirene is a charming figure who seduced and conquered the heart of a young Renoir, depicted as this elegant dancer. Moreover, her painting style was described as a “dance,” literally imbued into Sirene’s design. However, Renoir’s creations are heavily symbolic, with different interpretative layers in their design. Her dancing is mad, constant, and also aggressive, highlighting how now the Paintress is trapped in her own creation, forever painting. Moreover, her ability to show people their gone beloved ones strongly connects with her inability to abandon her grief. She is not only trapped in her grieving but also constantly reminding her family of their sadness, allowing nobody to move on. Even if they would like to forget Verso’s death, Aline forces them to remember, as Sirene charms people into a mad dance. During the final fight against Renoir, Aline herself as the Paintress will attack Sirene, destroying with huge hate this representation made by her husband.

Reacher (Alicia’s Axon)

Location: The third Axon lives on top of tall mountains, a secluded place hidden from the world. In there, the creature is building a gigantic wooden tower, a monolithic and imperfect structure, trying to reach heaven. The immense wooden structure is at the center of everything, a place always under construction, made of nails and impossible wooden plancks crossing the void. Hot air balloons are scattered around and work as the main transportation on the tower.

Enemies: Inside the wooden tower, Nevrons fight each other. Apparently, there are two factions inside the tower, the ones contributing to building or destroying the tower. The destroyers are disturbing figures, wearing improvised helmets made of nails, metal, or rope, and wielding tools including hammers. They are fast and dangerous enemies, able to spin around for deadly attacks that are difficult to dodge or parry. The ones building the tower are peaceful NPCs with heads made of grass, creative beings thinking only to their next invention. On the mountainside, engulfed in mist, disturbing hooded beings use lanterns and lights to walk around. Some of them walk on sticks, similarly to the Axon, while others, bigger and more intimidating, also wield an organic club.

Axon: The Axon is not a direct threat, nor does it attack in any way the characters. The Reacher’s only interest is to build the tower, adding more and more pieces to it. The Reacher is probably the largest Axon, a creature so big that it is practically impossible to have a complete view of it during the game. Sometimes, you can see the huge poles that it uses to walk around or the woods part of its head. Only on the very top of the tower, you can see a huge eye in the middle of its face. Luckily, the official concept art helps to understand the Axon’s anatomy. The head is shaped like a wood umbrella, with an opening in the middle, while the creature moves around on the four legs, each of them supported by a pole. The umbrella-shaped design, with a single eye, resembles the Japanese Yokai Kasa-Obake, which is a jumping one-eyed umbrella. However, the true Axons’s essence hides inside the head, a doll sitting on a throne, crowned by chaotic hair. During the final fight against Renoir, the Reacher provides him with artificial wings in order to perform his deadliest flying combo.

Symbolism: The Reacher is Alicia/Maelle’s Axon, which is very clear from every conversation. In her father’s eyes, Alicia is a geyser of potential ready to explode. Everything is possible for her, every idea realisable, without any limit to the heights she could reach. As the Axon, constantly building, constantly aiming for the sky, Alicia’s talent has no limit. However, after her trauma, Alicia lives hidden inside her shell of pain and fear, unaware of her talent and possibilities. As the doll inside the Axon, she is hiding from the world, without even knowing how tall the tower is. She lives repressed, shielded from reality, without trying to use her abilities to reach her full potential. And for a father, this is a tough and silent pain to endure.

Hauler (Clea’s Axon)

Location: Old Lumiere is the part of the city that remained on the continent after the Fracture. However, almost nothing of the original city survived, and everything is only ruins, death, and silence. Huge light swords and melted buildings are the sign of another battle, the one between Simon, the lost member of Expedition 0, and the Axon itself. A battle that the Axon lost, and now the colossal creature’s body is part of the city’s architecture.

Enemies: The ruined area mainly only host one kind of Nevron. Knights in heavy armor, with a rapier, mask, and a full set of decorations, roam across the ruins attacking every survivor on sight with deadly and quick combos.

Axon: The Axon is a colossal dead body, now mixed with the ruins. The Axon has long hair, almost covering the face, and the body is mainly human. While it is not easy to see the Axon from inside Old Lumiere, flying around it on Esquie grants a perfect view of the giant. The colossal humanoid is half buried in the earth, with Simon’s giant swords stabbing it on the ground. The Axon lifts on its back a huge part of Old Lumiere, as a sort of modern Atlas. During the battle against Renoir, the Hauler will help by throwing from afar an entire building against the party.

Symbolism: The Axon is Clea’s representation painted by Renoir, this is confirmed in Simon’s diary after defeating the superboss. Clea is the only one in the family that accepted Verso’s death, and she was able to move on better than her parents. And not only that, she is actually trying to help the family in everything. She is fighting a war against the Writers, creating the Nevrons to weaken the Paintress, and even helping Renoir to erase the painting. As her Axon, she is carrying all the weight on her shoulders, all her family’s problems. However, the real Clea was not a fan of her Axon and, for this reason, her lover Simon destroyed it.

Building a tower to reach heaven in a world that could be from a cult lost PS2 RPG: Interview with Ghrian Studio, the developer of BURGGEIST

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In a world of extraction shooters and games that are all the same, Burggeist is a fresh wind. Inspired by classic Japanese RPGs and adventures, Burggeist is able to create something completely new and innovative while appearing as a lost Japanese game for PS2. Because if you feel similar vibes to Shadow of the Colossus, Nier, or Drakengard, you are totally right. And be aware that, as a huge fan of Yoko Taro’s work, I tend to use this comparison very wisely.

Burggeist is set in a unique land, Aliscans, a place where elements of our reality clash with magic and demons. The protagonist, Ignace, together with the gigantic demon Burggeist, must build a tower reaching the heavens to save his petrified wife. However, this information comes from Axiom, a demon that communicates through letters only with Ignace’s daughter. And since demons can only be seen between the fingers of a kid’s hand, several magicians implant a kid’s arm on their bodies. However, the main obstacle to this task is that building something too high is impossible in Aliscans, and will cause a horde of monsters, the angelic-looking beings called Abhorer, to appear to destroy it. As you probably already understood, Aliscans is an unconventional, bizarre, and unique place full of lore to discover.

A showdown between demons couldn’t be more epic than this

From the very beginning, the game offers you complete freedom, without holding your hand. While the goal is simple, building a tower of 5000n, the player can freely decide where to build the tower while exploring the open world. Whether you are looking for collectibles or only seeing very different and vibrant places, the world is a silent and iconic place to explore at your own pace. This is due also to the complete absence of enemies in the world. Of course, the pace drastically changes when building a tower. In that case, hordes of Abhorers will try to destroy the tower, marching toward it while you bomb them with a rain of magical attacks. Because of course, the cannons that the giant Burggeist brings around on the platform are not just a decoration. Moreover, the main character can unlock an insane array of magical attacks, from a Gatling gun that uses in-game money as bullets to explosive traps and fireballs, and the majority of them are affected by gravity. So the higher you are positioned, the higher the damage on the battlefield.

Secondary characters will come to visit your towers once they are high enough. This is another side of the intricate gameplay, with complex and long cutscenes, quests, and amazing rewards, including new skills to travel the world. The characters add a dense layer of lore to the already convoluted world, offering every time some unique moments. Seriously, I could talk a lot about the brilliant and unconventional characters, with their different shapes of gray morality, but since I already wrote a big analysis about them, go to check it: The Walking Cataclysm from Mars and the other bizarre and creepy NPCs of BURGGEIST

Burggeist was a huge surprise, and one of my favorite games of the last years. Burggeist is so well done and innovative that already got a place in the Top 10 RPGs on this page. Today, I have the unique opportunity to talk with Ghrian Studio, the solo developer behind Burggeist. Yes, you read it right, Burggeist is the work of one passionate and talented developer. Together with Ghrian Studio we will discover more of Burggeist development and secrets, including Abhorers’ lore, how the fictional language was born, the influences from Astrology, and, of course, the future DLC.

Q1: Thank you for the opportunity to interact with you. Burggeist was one of the biggest surprises of last year. How did you start working at Burggeist?

A1: I’m truly grateful to you for giving me this valuable opportunity. Burggeist is the third work from our studio, and we had decided that odd-numbered titles would be major projects, crafted over a long period of time. I love immersing myself in the worlds within games, and I believe there’s nothing better than if that world is something I’ve created myself. With that in mind, I decided to develop an open-world game where the presence of that world could be felt even more deeply.
Additionally, developing an open-world game single-handedly might seem, by any normal standard, like an insane undertaking. However, I intend to continue making games in the future, and I also wanted to test how far I could push myself to endure such a challenging development process.

An original concept art of the colossal Burggeist [credit Ghrian Studio]

Q2: Which were your main references and inspirations while developing Burggeist?

A2: The core pillar of the setting is, without a doubt, “Western astrology”—specifically, the version that was once suppressed in Europe, passed through Islamic culture, and then returned. Horoscopes required calculating the positions of stars to predict births during the day, and that’s why mathematical elements are woven into the story within the game.
Beyond that, I’ve drawn inspiration from a wide range of sources, including medieval European history, animal behavior, numerical sequences, and even oddly shaped rocks—really, all sorts of things.
I’ve always enjoyed researching history, so while I didn’t necessarily aim to make the game strictly historically accurate, I wanted to have a basic understanding of things like how inkpots were used or the spacing between pillars in buildings. That said, I’ll admit I got pretty sleepy when reading medieval court records about adultery cases.

The world of Aliscans is full of impossible architectures

Q3: Burggeist features an invented language, the Cargrish, which is spoken during the dialogues. Can you tell us something more about the process behind defining this new language?

A3: Cargrish is a language used across a wide region, including Galacia and Diutisk. As you can tell from the characters’ names, their roots—whether tied to a specific region or generation—vary widely, and so do their speaking styles and quirks.
This game was designed with support for multiple display languages in mind, but when it came to voice acting, recording in several languages proved challenging for various reasons. Since Burggeist is set in a fictional world, I thought, “Why not have them speak a language no one understands? It’d really enhance the atmosphere of this world.” That’s how I decided to create an original language.
Cargrish was built from Japanese, which served as the base script, mixed with French-like sounds and a touch of hieroglyphic-inspired tones, then generated using an original cipher tool. In fact, the name “Cargrish” comes from “Cardan grille,” the encryption tool that inspired it.
While Cargrish was born out of various production constraints, when I actually started generating it with the tool, I ran into issues like unpronounceable combinations. In the end, it took an incredible amount of effort to tweak each line by reading it aloud, adjusting it while considering the length of the audio.
Naturally, since there are no real-life speakers of Cargrish, it was nearly impossible to predict what kind of troubles might arise during recording. There’s a substantial amount of dialogue, and I hadn’t seen many games with a fully voiced fictional language before. Yet, the recording sessions went remarkably smoothly. Even now, I feel truly fortunate to have worked with such talented voice actors.

Even the menu is full of style in Burggeist

Q4: From tower defense to action RPG, the gameplay of Burggeist is very diversified. How difficult was it to combine all these different gameplay elements?

A4: I didn’t set out to create a game by deliberately combining specific genres or rules. I decided to make an open-world game, but when you’re doing it solo, you quickly run into problems that anyone could easily predict. Typically, the fields in AAA open-world games are packed with quests, caves, and other locations—because without that, you’d just end up with a pointlessly vast, boring space. Naturally, creating a game that relies on that kind of sheer volume isn’t realistic for one person. So, I turned my attention to “ordinary terrain irregularities.” I was familiar with a terrain generation software called “World Machine,” and I wondered if I could make gameplay out of the landscapes it produced. If even the unintentional bumps and dips of the terrain could be entertaining to some degree, it’d be hard to find a more efficient game design approach.
For example, I came up with ideas like dropping something from a height to gain potential energy, spotting an enemy raid from atop a hill, or issuing commands to allies. Climbing to high ground offers strong advantages, but it comes with the time cost of getting up there. Plus, if there’s “something to protect,” you might need to decide to leave that spot depending on the situation. I thought that gameplay where you weigh these benefits and costs while running around the field could offer a unique experience unlike anything else.
That “something to protect” refers to the towers. Since they stretch upward, they’re easy to spot in 3D space, even in environments full of obstacles.
In terms of design philosophy, imagine a strategy game where you move a UI cursor to direct characters and execute plans—Burggeist takes that cursor movement and turns it into an action game. Even getting to a position to intercept enemies is part of the action gameplay, so there are challenges like falling off edges or being unable to move straight ahead due to ledges. Players overcome these with control skills or by spending some resource to skip movement altogether. And that’s how this game’s design carved its own unique path.
Since I solidified these aspects before starting development, I didn’t go through much trial-and-error like “build it and scrap it.” As a result, I didn’t face too many struggles with the game design itself. If I had, I might not have released it yet.
That said, the bigger challenges came from the high degree of freedom in movement and the sheer volume of systems I had to implement.

A rain of bullets from the top of Mount Gelwaz

Q5: In Burggeist, building towers across different locations is a core element of the gameplay. However, the player needs only one tower to reach the ending, and different locations offer a different challenge. While testing and developing the game, which was your favourite tower to build and why?

A5: It’s the tower on Mount Gelwaz. The battles at this tower are designed around a strategy where you throw all your available resources into fending off enemies who charge in with overwhelming numbers and momentum. It’s a location with fewer obstacles and slightly deviates from the core gameplay of fighting while being mindful of the terrain, but I think it showcases the broad scope of this game’s design. Also, back during development, the difficulty was far higher than it is now at release. I vividly remember repeatedly challenging it during the tuning phase, only to have the tower destroyed over and over again. Nowadays, Salina Porporossa comes closest to that original difficulty. That place has its own charm—its striking color palette contrasts with being the toughest challenge in the game, and I really like that gap.

Q6: From a woman looking for her head to the disturbing Cataclysm from Mars, the NPCs visiting the towers are very unique unconventional. How did you decide to create them to be so unique?

A6: The stories of the tower’s visitors are positioned like a breather between battles, somewhat akin to quests you’d find in a typical town. This is purely a matter of personal taste, but if I had to choose between being given a ton of simple requests like “Gather three herbs” versus having just one memorable request, I’d pick the latter. It’s because the emotional range in a given time is greater that way. I get that ensuring game volume or providing small, frequent success experiences is important, though.
When creating them, I didn’t start this game intending it to be an adventure game, so I felt that drawing out dense human drama at length wasn’t really the right approach. Instead, I focused on crafting fleeting interactions with NPCs who have strong personalities or backgrounds, leaving a lasting impression in just a few exchanges.
Each story is given a purpose, with elements that let players sense the world’s backdrop. Things like witch hunts or the Black Plague fit into this. And by shifting the tone of each tale—almost as if you’re stepping into a different work—it makes them stand out. Depending on the story, it might feel like a comedy, a horror, or even a sci-fi vibe reminiscent of SCP—all sorts of flavors.
Since these stories are kept short, I can’t pack in too many developments. That naturally leads to conversation-driven scenes with characters who embody the elements above. This might be what makes their presence so striking, elevating them beyond typical quest NPCs into something far more unique. That said, after writing all this, I should add that the characters in my works tend to be pretty weird to begin with.

She has a really important story to share

Q7: As you previously specified, Burrgeist’s fantasy world is still quite connected with our reality, from the Black Plague to the Solar System. Can you explain to us about these connections between fantasy and reality?

A7: Those familiar with astronomers like Albumasar might have already noticed, but the medieval European view of the universe was generally geocentric, and in Burggeist’s world, somewhere along the line, a misstep turned that into reality. For example, being born on a Tuesday might make you prone to certain illnesses, or there might be specific professions suited for those born on a Wednesday.
Of course, to us in the modern era with advanced science, these rules seem utterly nonsensical. In Burggeist’s world, fantasy serves as an element that seemingly reconciles these absurd rules. The “Demon” is a prime example of this—an entity that isn’t clearly perceived by humans but subtly distorts the natural rules, bringing its effects into reality.
These “anomalies” are concentrated in Aliscans, which is why the setting feels so steeped in fantasy. However, in truth, if you leave Aliscans, the world beyond—at least on the surface—stretches out as something quite ordinary, much like our own reality.
There’s a line from a certain character near the end: “Because an incorrect proof was made.” It’s interesting to think about what kind of stance or background that statement comes from.

Q8: The Abhorers are the main enemies in the game, a flow of different entities marching to destroy towers. Which is your favourite Abhorer for design and lore?

A8: It would be the round-shaped enemy that moves by jumping. It has not yet been given an official name, but in English, it is simply referred to as “Fluffy.” This enemy possesses a somewhat relaxed demeanor, yet it exhibits extreme aggression by striking the tower with powerful punches when it draws near. Observed from afar, it appears somewhat endearing, but up close, it reveals an unsettling and savage nature—a duality reminiscent of a megamouth shark, which is perhaps why I find it appealing. However, despite my appreciation for its appearance and movement, I find it a challenging foe due to the difficulty of landing attacks on it.
To expand on this in relation to Abhorers as a whole, Abhorers are monstrous entities crafted from Heleticlime and human flesh, created by the Metademon Primshlange. Each Abhorer draws its motif from objects or entities that once existed in Aliscans, such as weapons or plants. In the case of Fluffy, it appears to be inspired by a mushroom combined with another element.
Primshlange is a Metademon fixated on the pursuit of Repunit primes, endowed with abilities associated with repetition. One of its most notable powers is the ability to repurpose the dead of Aliscans into Abhorers. The Margrave, a brilliant demonologist, summoned Primshlange to Aliscans with the intention of reuniting with his sister, who had perished there long ago. His continuous production of Abhorers served a strategic purpose, as he states in the game, to establish a military buffer zone. However, his personal motivation was akin to a lottery, an attempt to retrieve his sister
from among the deceased.
The walls and floor of the Margrave’s room are marked with countless lines, as if counting something. These represent the number of times he failed to resurrect his sister.

The Abhorers and a Metademon in an amazing concept art [credit Ghrian Studio]

Q9: Recently you confirmed that Burggeits will receive new content, including towers, quests, and characters. Can you tell us something more about what to expect?

A9: I’ll answer this with the caveat that much of it is still TBD and subject to change. In a major update, the terrain of a certain section of Aliscans will be altered, turning it into a new site for tower construction and a battle area. As with the other towers, new visitors will appear, and some kind of interaction with them will begin there.
In addition to things tied to what’s already in the game, I expect yet another strange entity to show up. The character featured in the visual released with the announcement is one of those visitors. Also, separate from the above, there might be an event with a slightly unusual format.

Q10: While I am really looking forward to find new towers and NPCs in the future update, I am also curious about your plans further in the future. Are you already planning a sequel for Burggeist or a new title?

A10: Burggeist could certainly have its story continued, but creating a sequel on the same scale as this one—or even larger—would likely take another seven years or so, which is a bit of a tough call. Part of me wants to write a sequel, but another part wants to create something entirely new. It’d be great if someone could make it for me, though.
As for new titles, I do have rough plans for the next two projects. It’s still a long way off, but the next title will be the studio’s fourth work, an even-numbered one, so it’ll likely be more compact than this one. It might be something that resonates with the readers of this article, so I’d be delighted if you’d consider covering it when the time comes.

I am pretty sure that they will be visiting a Tower in the future DLC [credit Ghrian Studio]

Final Remarks

I would like to thank Ghrian Studio for the nice opportunity and really interesting answers. The work behind Burggeist is incredible, not only to build the world and the gameplay, but also to create something so rich and full of references. Learning about the influences from Astrology, the lore behind the Abhorers, and how the Cargrish language was created, was a unique opportunity to learn more about Burggeist. And now that I know it, I appreciate the game even more. As a huge fan of the game, I really cannot wait to see the new characters and entities appearing in the DLC. I would also like to especially thank Ghrian Studio for sharing such cool concept art with us, the ones used in this article. While waiting for the update, I urge you to play one of the best RPGs out there, and if you don’t believe me, check the 100% very positive reviews. You can find Burggeist on STEAM HERE, but be quick, because I am sure that this game will soon become a huge hit.

Forever trapped inside a picture after kissing an eldritch being: all about Lyle from Look Outside

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Look Outside is a huge surprise: a dark JRPG with a killing art style, challenging, and full of secrets. The player wanders entirely in one apartment building since something outside is horribly mutating people. You have only 15 days to explore, gather supplies, and discover what is happening. And with 100+ grotesque monsters and disturbing bad endings behind every corner, this will not be an easy task.

During these days, you can meet different NPCs. Some are still hiding in their flats, while others come knocking at your door. However, deciding who to trust is challenging, since several neighbors already “watched outside.” Because trusting and welcoming to your place a devious maniac, who then demands your bone marrow, is not the best choice.

Luckily, in all this grotesque madness, there is always Lyle. He is a nice neighbor, well, maybe a bit creepy and stalkerish, but not that bad. Lyle lives in his flat and happily welcomes you inside. He is passionate about photography and even has a dark room in his flat. However, regardless of his kindness, the fact that is wearing a long robe with a hood, and that bug-like appendices are coming out of it, are probably a good sign that Lyle watched outside. In fact, he tried to take a picture of whatever being was up in the sky.

Luckily Lyle retained his personality after watching outside, and he can still help the players by providing them with photographic paper to capture the bizarre phenomena around the building. However, Lyle will ask for something in exchange. Something as simple as taking a picture of the main character… or a kiss. Don’t worry, nothing super pushy, and you can refuse it. In this case, Lyle would break the tension by joking about it. If instead, you accept the wild proposal, Lyle demands you to close your eyes before the kiss. Would you really trust this creepy creature? Luckily you can, except for the feeling of kissing something burning and mechanical, nothing bad happens. However, Lyle will also take a picture of the main character, with or without the kiss.

During the game, Lyle can also help you to develop pictures in his dark room. He doesn’t allow you inside, because he is working on a secret project, but gladly develops the picture for you. Again, he will ask for a kiss as a reward, and again you can refuse. Just try to don’t break his heart, because Lyle is a good guy, especially in a world of grotesque dismembering monsters. But seriously, you can truly break the poor guy’s heart by peaking after closing your eyes during this second kiss. In this moment, you can glimpse Lyle’s true appearance: a mechanical grinning face with a lens in the middle. While the main character’s face appears terrified in the reflection, Lyle’s only reaction is to run away ashamed and in tears. He locks himself in the dark room, crying and with a broken heart. Yes, monsters do have a heart, and you broke it.

As for any other NPCs in the game, the player can also attack Lyle at any moment during the dialogue. However, the battle against Lyle is quite unconventional. First, he doesn’t directly attack the player, he just passively endures the attacks, showing to be stronger than the appearance, with really high defense. After being attacked, with a broken heart, Lyle shows the player the picture he took of them. At this moment, the Polaroid also joins the battle, appearing in the top-left corner. Starting now, the player has only a few turns to kill Lyle before the picture is fully developed. At every turn, the picture reveals a grotesque face behind, each time more disturbing. The problem is that the main character’s portrait also mutates in synchrony with the polaroid, becoming at each turn a far more twisted being. And then, they will become forever trapped inside the picture, reaching a very unexpected Bad Ending. Or not that bad, considering that Lyle will always bring you around in his pocket, taking the picture out only to show you the world around. Sadly, one day Lyle will lose the picture. And the main character will remain there, forever alone and trapped inside the picture.

During the fight, if you attack the Polaroid instead of Lyle, especially using fire, you can challenge Lyle’s true form. If you defeat the Polaroid before being trapped in it, a furious Lyle will reveal his true form. However, Lyle is not exactly angry with you but more sad about the loss of his treasure. He wanted to keep that picture (probably with the main character’s soul imprisoned inside) forever with him, and now everything is lost. The true form is the one of a disturbing bio-mechanical abomination, a sort of caterpillar mixed with cameras and lenses, with grinning mouths, eyes, and pictures all across the body. Lyle’s passion for photography got imprinted in his design after he watched outside. Regardless of the twisted and disturbing appearance, the grotesque Lyle is not a very dangerous enemy, and he is still weak against fire. After all, he needs to protect his body from extreme temperature and light, as if he was made of film paper.

After killing Lyle, regardless of his form, you can acquire the key to his dark room. What kind of mysterious project was he developing there? The answer is easy and only slightly shocking: dozens of pictures of the main character, his apartment, and his door. Apparently, Lyle was truly obsessed with him since he was still human, a crush that started to become a disturbing obsession. After all, we warn you that Lyle was kind of a stalker. Moreover, if pictures all around are not enough, hidden in a corner you will find a copy of the key to the main character’s apartment. If Lyle already used this key or not, and to do what, is a secret that will die with him.

Lyle is a fragile soul, a grotesque being, a helper, and a creepy stalker, all packed together in a well-written character with a striking design. Lyle truly shows the potential of Look Outside, a small game with so many secrets, variables, and details to discover. And, of course, in a world of devouring rats, teeth spreading like a disease, and beings who steal your flesh if you stare at them, Lyle “the kind stalker” is not such a bad NPC.

This article has also a video compendium on the Surreal and Creepy channel, where you can see all about Lyle: