Daemonologie (HPS1 Game Jam 2020)
A downloadable witch hunt for Windows
Daemonologie is a short, surreal horror game inspired by the Scottish witch trials.
You play the role of a witch finder investigating a small village. Speak to the locals, sift their truths from their lies, or find other ways to draw further information from them...
On the 5th morning someone will hang, make sure you know who the witch is by then!
Controls:
Left Click - Interact
Right Click - Return to the map
Esc - Quit
Being from Edinburgh I knew of the North Berwick Witch Trials but it was really harrowing doing research for this project. There may be scenes representing torture that some people may find disturbing. I explored this largely through the sound design, which had a more visceral and emotional reaction for me.
For this jam I thought I'd try going back to 2D art and Game Maker for a change. Appologies if there are bugs, it's been years since I used it and a lot has changed! Just drop me a message if you encounter any and I'll see what I can do.
You can also listen to the soundtrack on youtube:
Download
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Comments
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the nighttime's visuals are so grim and spooky... wish I found this game earlier
Thank you! There is a remake version on Steam with brand new stop-motion style nightmares: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3048140/Daemonologie
Love the dark art style and aesthetics!! Amazing game.
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome game.
Wow, huge fan of your work Airdorf! Much appreciated!
Pretty cool game about witch hunt,i liked art style,soundtrack,and tortures which as i suppose is inspired by real tortures,probably the only thing that i disliked in this game is it seems no matter who you choosing,you still getting reward,so every character is witch,but anyway,it was pretty interesting game,5\5
Thanks for playing! The point is that nobody is a witch and that witch finders were paid to convict them based on some crazy religious evidence anyway. Exactly what really happened.
Yeah i was read about it,i just thought that this game was about witches like a real phenomenon,now this game acquire are really dark sense,considering how many people were tortured and convicted
I adore this. It's horrible and troubling and I have a funny feeling that no matter who you pick in the end, you still get your reward. Plus the music is fantastic. Two thumbs way, way up - really wish I'd played it sooner.
Hey there! I finally managed to make a video essay about your game, breaking down all the characters and their plot! It's in brazilian portuguese, so i don't expect you to understand, just wanted to say im a big fan of your work!
Thank you very much for taking the time to make such a deep video on Daemonologie and for all the research you clearly did for the subject! I really appreciate it and I watched the whole video with auto-subtitles. I'm so pleased you like the soundtrack too, I spent a lot of time making it.
Really ethereal and haunting art-style. A telling story of corruption, or lack thereof. I adored the aesthetics, and short blurbs of history
Thanks very much for playing and your kind words. Glad you enjoyed it!
No Commentary :)
Had to check this game out and I was not disappointed! Worth a try if you want to check it out. I hope to see more from this developer.
A great point & click game with a unique blackboard style. The artwork was amazing & really enjoyed the dialogue in this one too!
Hey mate, very interesting game you got here. I especially like the artstyle which for some reason reminded me of Darkwood in some places but maybe that's just me. Anyways though I love the game and hope to see more from you cause you got good style
Oh I love Darkwood, so glad the visual style reminds you of it, definitely some influence there!
Very interesting game. After multiple playthroughs, I think it's the Shepard, but you can never really know with this type of game. My other theory would be that no one is the witch. Would be a great portrayal of the witch hunts
I only say it's the Shepard because of the Smith's jaw. No one ever gives a real cause for why it fell off. Could just be disease.
Thank you! I'm glad you took the time to play a few times and try to piece it together.
I don't want to give definite answers in the comments to spoil it for others, but I do have reasoning for the Blacksmith's jaw that unfortunately I didn't have time to fully include in the game. He's suffering from a condition known as phossy jaw caused by prolonged exposure to phosphorus (which was first discovered around that time). It causes the jawbone to deteriorate. Perhaps he had his own alchemy studies going on behind the smithing front. It would explain the hell fires mentioned by other characters as such bright flames would not have been seen before by them.
Amazing game. The artwork was amazing
Watch video here:
This is the kind of game I present to people who don't play game. Horrifyingly majestic artwork, delicious dialogues and god tier music. I could have taken hours more of this.
Wow, incredibly kind words, thank you! It can be hard to explain to people that don't play why games and interactive art are legitimate medium. I even convinced my dad to play this one and I think the last time he tried a game was Wolfenstein3D on Windows 3.1 XD
Great and disturbing artwork and overall quite an interesting experience.
A great game. Loved the music, the art, the writing, and the atmosphere.
A few issues:
- in every turn there are 3 witches but you can only hang one.
- even if you choose to hang someone who is not a witch the game will say: good job! Is there a good or bad answer? Or you are the witch hunter and whoever you choose is the right answer?
I don't want to post spoilers here to let other experience it for themselves. But I am interested as to which 3 you believe are witches and why you are so sure?
Remember it is a game of sifting truths from the lies and you can't trust everything that you read.
The writing is beyond fantastic - making me do an accent I nae naught 'bout (there I go). Together with the art and audio, the atmosphere is grand! Gameplaywise - it's a vn(if) as advertised that forces a little bit of patience. It does serve the beautiful bleak atmosphere though.
You pulled off the accent excellently! I noticed the transitions are a little slow but I wanted the music to fade nicely and let them soak in the atmosphere. Great video!
I love occult/witchcraft/pagan stuff, this was a beautiful art game :).
I'm fascinated by that stuff as well. Thank you!
yup this definitely seems like a game
oh my gosh this game is fantastic! So disturbing and though provoking. The art style is amazing too! The dream sequences are nightmarish.
Thank you, all my favourite painters (Giger, Beksinski, Bacon, Ito) seem to find the beauty in the disturbing so I try to do the same.
I honestly thought this was an Adventure Game Studio game by how bang-on you captured the point and click style of games. Absolutely loved it!
Ha, thanks! It was almost going to be a text adventure like Granny's Garden on the BBC Micro (if you are old enough to remember that!) but point and click seemed faster and with less frustrations for the player.
Naw, I wasn't alive (or british!) enough to remember the BBC micro, but it looks like an incredibly interesting piece of tech. I remember playing with the incredibly old computer my grandfather had when my dad was younger and you'd have to type in all the game code before playing it. I hope you continue with the 2d point and clicks because you've got such a great and unique style with them - it's surprisingly hard to find good horror point and clicks that aren't just "and then you saw non euclidian geometry and pyramid head kills you!" hahaah
Honestly, it was a bit shit XD but it got me fascinated with art and games on computers. Oh wow, I wonder what that was! Must have been so cool to see the code you typed in turn into a game. Haha, horror can definitely see the same tropes being used time and again. If you haven't played it then I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a classic horror point and click like nothing else! I'll come back to 2D again one day, but I have a set of joysticks coming soon so I'll probably make something for them and VR next.
Ahhh it's always better in our memories eh. I have no mouth and I must scream is a classic, but I was definitely too young to play it when I first did, I should go back and revisit it. If you get a chance check out Organ Quarter then - it's a vr horror game that I feel doesn't get talked about enough, and I absolutely love the style of it. You might find it really inspiring!
The art here looks crazy good and I love the premise, I'm going to try and play this as soon as I can
Wow thank you, I love your work! Especially Water Womb World :)