The Singapore gaming industry is set to start 2021 with some Gloom And Doom: The visual novel by Singapore-based Neo Teogel Games launched yesterday (Jan 18).
Gloom And Doom is a throwback to the slacker movies of the 90s (think Reality Bites, The Crow, Edward Scissorhands and Before Sunrise). It tells the tale of the titular Gloom, a bitter old wraith. The other lead is Wynona, a young girl … and prophesied Doom Bringer.
Gloom kills demons on behalf on angels, in the hope of becoming one. Wynona knows she will trigger the apocalypse one day, but can’t stop herself – because she’s immortal. Now, both of them hate their lives (are wraiths alive?), and can’t do anything to change their fate.
A More Relatable Horror
Even then, Gloom And Doom aims to tell a story where the horror comes not from the supernatural, but from things that are more relatable.
“A lot of us didn’t really like who we were in high school, or what we do at work, and we desperately wanted to change ourselves,” said Drew Pan, Sole Designer of Neo Tegoel Games. “This game is about that desire for change, if you can imagine angels as the cool kids and the demons as the kids rejected for their individuality.”
In Gloom And Doom, you’ll also meet lots of other characters. Watch out for goth assassins, a skateboarding angel, and an exploitative archangel, among others. And if you grew up in the 90s, there’s much to get into. 16-bit games, CRT monitors, a Britney/Christina rivalry, and thickly-inked comic art will bring you back 3 decades.
Gloom And Doom comes with 7 different endings. Above all, will you be able to stop the apocalypse and save Wynona’s soul?
The game is designed by first-time indie game developer Pan. He says he learnt to develop this purely from YouTube tutorials. But one can expect some good writing, as Pan is also the scriptwriter of the upcoming Teenage Textbook TV series,.
Gloom And Doom is out Jan 19 on Steam for Windows and Mac, priced at S$18.50. There’s a 10% launch discount, till January 25. A console version, published by Viridian Software, is due mid-2021. We’ll also be reviewing this soon!
