seemed kind of transphobic frankly when i played it.
A lot of it is about like, weird metamorphosis providing community/spiritual connection and destroying traditional values. It felt like it was about the horror of that from a conservative perspective, and I'm not quite sure that's a good thing.
the horror elements i use in my stuff are not really there to cast something in a negative light for the purpose of condemning it/pointing at it and saying "this is bad" or for the purpose of merely trying to scare/creep out the player. i am not trying to make some sort of video game version of an evangelical hell house. i think horror can be an interesting way of dealing with fear and anxiety, and fear and anxiety is often not as simple as recognizing something as harmful/a threat but instead is complicated and entangled with different ideas and impulses. sometimes fear is just a threshold between the known and the unknown.
i originally made this game when thinking about my own body as it began failing me for various reasons and I began considering my relationship to it and my mind and time and death/infinity.
so while someone could play this and read it at face-value as a serious condemnation of trans-humanism and a condemnation of the destruction of traditional values, i would really disagree with this interpretation, although you are probably not the first person to get this message out of it.
For the record I am not a conservative and I support trans people although I am not trans myself.
Apologies for misinterpreting your work. That may have been a snap judgement on my part as a lot of the game particularly rang true for myself as someone who has been through the gender identity clinic etc. (the rotting bones particularly-- some trans folks end up with bone damage due to the gender clinic incorrectly dosing and prescribing antiandrogen medication.) I've very much met people who think of gender transitioning as being something similar to this sort of thing.
I'm a little ashamed for jumping to conclusions so quickly, as I'm not really interested in trying to 'cancel' artworks that make me uncomfortable, especially when that's an important part of the aim of horror works!
Thank you very much for your response to my worries. I very much appreciate that.
You really don't have to apologize! it's a pretty short game anyway so its easy to come to a snap judgement haha. I didn't mean to come off as disregarding/explaining away what you wrote, but I wanted to give my perspective. I think it's valuable to me to get feedback like that from time to time I think it helps me become more deliberate in my work and re-interrogate my own decision making practice in art. it can be tricky navigating artistic freedom vs. responsibility to the audience. in any case, hope you are well too!
A body horror experiment in the indie game scene.What if David Cronenberg were to leave the cinema and were to learn some coding and some pixel art?Well,this masterpiece right here would be present in that new marriage.Year is 2040,and people in that age are trying to find new ways to fit in to the society.Traditional values like Church and the Family are obliterated because of a new devices that can make your body to mutate into a new metamorphosis conclusion creature.Yames' surreal and psychedelic art style shines here again and the game mechanics are really basic but it really supports the plot and the poor man's metamorphosis story.Like every other short horror story,it makes you wonder ''wtf happened???'' in the end.Only negatife appearance of the game is it does not have much of an backstory to story's backbone need.A definite must play.4 out of 5
Simply amazing, I was left on edge along the whole experience, but not overwhelmingly frightened, A good spook to be sure! I like the retro style and the way that the patient spoke, made them seem so much more inhuman and I loved it. 10/10
Long Live the New Flesh, Batman! It was like an Artaudian hypertext retelling of Merlin Sheldrake's 'Entangled Life'. I like to imagine that the man on the table was the late Terence McKenna.
Incidentally, if you havent listened to the radio soundscapes of Gregory Whitehead, I'm pretty sure you'd be keen: https://gregorywhitehead.net/
edit: i finsihed it! there are no jumpscares :) its not very scary but very beautiful and disturbing, there are are sudden noises but not so bad : D (this is for my fellow horror fans that get scared easily)
as a lady gamer that is desensitized to horror, this one was not super scary, but that isn't the point, it's unsettling, and disturbing, with a great atmosphere you have to give this one a try! Check out muy full let's play!
This game reminds me of Clifford Simak's Desertion - a short story about humanity trying to conquer Jupiter. By altering men's into completely another lifeform - into Lopers. The idea was to shapeshift a human into a new body and keep the mind, and shapeshift back when necessary. But that did not work, at least for the first four men. The story protagonist is the 5th one, and before transformation, he is tasked with one mission - just to come back from Jovian landscapes to prove that it is possible - to go back.
This is some quality body horror, its not horror in the classical sense that you will get scared, but it is horror in the idea behind it, and the unnervingness it will bring, you won't be comfortable playing this game and that makes it amazing!
Very original. Good usage of audio and also has simple but nice visuals. Sadly, halfway during the Flowering process the game just stopped working, which is a shame as i genuinely kind of liked it! Is there any way to fix this? (Note that i was using the Fullscreen option.)
I've been getting requests to play this game and it's my first real introduction to 'body horror'. I am honestly super unsure of how to feel about it because it's not that I was scared but I was pretty damn uncomfortable throughout the entire thing. If you're more interested in watching than playing you can check my experience out here:
The way this game makes me queasy from beginning to end is absolutely genius. From the terrifying visuals to the descriptions, I love the way it hints at an incredibly weird, nightmarish society where this process is somewhat desirable. Beautiful work, I played this a while ago and still think of it.
I liked it a lot, I was really hoping that it would continue on into his final phase and i'd be left with scanning this unintelligible ascending being. Still, great atmosphere.
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seemed kind of transphobic frankly when i played it.
A lot of it is about like, weird metamorphosis providing community/spiritual connection and destroying traditional values. It felt like it was about the horror of that from a conservative perspective, and I'm not quite sure that's a good thing.
the horror elements i use in my stuff are not really there to cast something in a negative light for the purpose of condemning it/pointing at it and saying "this is bad" or for the purpose of merely trying to scare/creep out the player. i am not trying to make some sort of video game version of an evangelical hell house. i think horror can be an interesting way of dealing with fear and anxiety, and fear and anxiety is often not as simple as recognizing something as harmful/a threat but instead is complicated and entangled with different ideas and impulses. sometimes fear is just a threshold between the known and the unknown.
i originally made this game when thinking about my own body as it began failing me for various reasons and I began considering my relationship to it and my mind and time and death/infinity.
so while someone could play this and read it at face-value as a serious condemnation of trans-humanism and a condemnation of the destruction of traditional values, i would really disagree with this interpretation, although you are probably not the first person to get this message out of it.
For the record I am not a conservative and I support trans people although I am not trans myself.
Thank you for your reply Yames!
Apologies for misinterpreting your work. That may have been a snap judgement on my part as a lot of the game particularly rang true for myself as someone who has been through the gender identity clinic etc. (the rotting bones particularly-- some trans folks end up with bone damage due to the gender clinic incorrectly dosing and prescribing antiandrogen medication.) I've very much met people who think of gender transitioning as being something similar to this sort of thing.
I'm a little ashamed for jumping to conclusions so quickly, as I'm not really interested in trying to 'cancel' artworks that make me uncomfortable, especially when that's an important part of the aim of horror works!
Thank you very much for your response to my worries. I very much appreciate that.
I hope you are well,
Hex.
You really don't have to apologize! it's a pretty short game anyway so its easy to come to a snap judgement haha. I didn't mean to come off as disregarding/explaining away what you wrote, but I wanted to give my perspective. I think it's valuable to me to get feedback like that from time to time I think it helps me become more deliberate in my work and re-interrogate my own decision making practice in art. it can be tricky navigating artistic freedom vs. responsibility to the audience. in any case, hope you are well too!
hiya itake,
nah i just made a bit of a snap judgement above. You can see that yames and I talked it over in the comments.
Really enjoyed the game, and even recommended it to a streamer to play:
A body horror experiment in the indie game scene.What if David Cronenberg were to leave the cinema and were to learn some coding and some pixel art?Well,this masterpiece right here would be present in that new marriage.Year is 2040,and people in that age are trying to find new ways to fit in to the society.Traditional values like Church and the Family are obliterated because of a new devices that can make your body to mutate into a new metamorphosis conclusion creature.Yames' surreal and psychedelic art style shines here again and the game mechanics are really basic but it really supports the plot and the poor man's metamorphosis story.Like every other short horror story,it makes you wonder ''wtf happened???'' in the end.Only negatife appearance of the game is it does not have much of an backstory to story's backbone need.A definite must play.4 out of 5
a masterpiece
One of my new favorites, extremely creative use of minimal UI...look forward to checking out your patreon
This was a very unique and creepy game. Great job!
Great game, unique mechanics and interesting story
Pretty cool. The concept of leaving our human form and metamorphosing into something different is pretty scary. Looking forward to your game.
Simply amazing, I was left on edge along the whole experience, but not overwhelmingly frightened, A good spook to be sure! I like the retro style and the way that the patient spoke, made them seem so much more inhuman and I loved it. 10/10
What a weird and intriguing experience.
you have got my attention and now I'm quite looking forward to "Discover our bodies"
very poetic
Long Live the New Flesh, Batman! It was like an Artaudian hypertext retelling of Merlin Sheldrake's 'Entangled Life'. I like to imagine that the man on the table was the late Terence McKenna.
Incidentally, if you havent listened to the radio soundscapes of Gregory Whitehead, I'm pretty sure you'd be keen:
https://gregorywhitehead.net/
Cant tell if i hate or absolutely adore this game. Joking aside, great work on the art, the atmosphere was immaculate. Defenetly worth a play.
This made me sick and left a questionable stain on my soul. Have been on edge the whole playthrough. Good work! Will recommend.
this is the type of game i can play hundreds of times and still love
does anyone know if it has jump scares :,D
edit: i finsihed it! there are no jumpscares :) its not very scary but very beautiful and disturbing, there are are sudden noises but not so bad : D (this is for my fellow horror fans that get scared easily)
as a lady gamer that is desensitized to horror, this one was not super scary, but that isn't the point, it's unsettling, and disturbing, with a great atmosphere you have to give this one a try! Check out muy full let's play!
This creeped me out in a way nothing else has. Such a cool experience! Great job :)
Very atmospheric!
This game reminds me of Clifford Simak's Desertion - a short story about humanity trying to conquer Jupiter. By altering men's into completely another lifeform - into Lopers. The idea was to shapeshift a human into a new body and keep the mind, and shapeshift back when necessary. But that did not work, at least for the first four men. The story protagonist is the 5th one, and before transformation, he is tasked with one mission - just to come back from Jovian landscapes to prove that it is possible - to go back.
bro that's interesting as heck thanks for telling me that exist :D
My pleasure :) I encourage everyone to check it out. It's great.
Just in case anyone is looking for a copy of this to read, here's a PDF copy
i like it a lot! i really want more stuff like this
thanks for playing!
it was weird i liked it tho
thanks!
This is some quality body horror, its not horror in the classical sense that you will get scared, but it is horror in the idea behind it, and the unnervingness it will bring, you won't be comfortable playing this game and that makes it amazing!
Thanks for playing!
Turns out, I had a body!
Thanks for playing!!
Thanks for making! It was a pleasure. ;{D
Thanks for making! It was a pleasure. ;{D
interesting!
Very original. Good usage of audio and also has simple but nice visuals. Sadly, halfway during the Flowering process the game just stopped working, which is a shame as i genuinely kind of liked it! Is there any way to fix this? (Note that i was using the Fullscreen option.)
This was a nice little game! I like the overall style
I've been getting requests to play this game and it's my first real introduction to 'body horror'. I am honestly super unsure of how to feel about it because it's not that I was scared but I was pretty damn uncomfortable throughout the entire thing. If you're more interested in watching than playing you can check my experience out here:
Masterpiece of Body Horror
this made me feel so uncomfortable but kinda cool
The way this game makes me queasy from beginning to end is absolutely genius. From the terrifying visuals to the descriptions, I love the way it hints at an incredibly weird, nightmarish society where this process is somewhat desirable. Beautiful work, I played this a while ago and still think of it.
Masterpiece, very disturbing, very well written, original gameplay.
it is a short but fun game.
I liked it a lot, I was really hoping that it would continue on into his final phase and i'd be left with scanning this unintelligible ascending being. Still, great atmosphere.
a very fun game :)