Visual novels can cater to very specific niches, and this one’s a very specific niche indeed.
Gloom And Doom, developed by indie studio Neo Tegoel Games, is described as a “visual novel throwback to 90s slacker movies (but with wraiths and demons)”. It has a horror aesthetic, but the ghosts and horror creatures aren’t attacking anyone and feel powerless, toiling away in their existence and trapped fate they cannot escape.
The story is centered around Gloom, an old wraith that wants to be an angel but currently stuck with a job killing demons for them. And there’s Wynona, a young girl that attempted suicide to avoid the fate of being the Doom Bringer, but she’s immortal. Both currently stuck in the mundanity of life.
If you love the tone and story beats from slacker movies of the 90’s like Reality Bites, Clerks, Edward Scissorhands, and Before Sunrise, you’re in for a treat with Gloom and Doom.
There’s also more 90’s throwback elements, more quirky characters to meet (like “a skateboarding angel, a demon girl-next-door best friend, and an exploitative archangel that echoes bad bosses everywhere”) and seven different endings.
Gloom And Doom is out now on PC via Steam. A console release, published by Viridian Software, is coming in mid-2021.