Last Train to Gehenna

Summary

Last Train to Gehenna is a horror-themed visual novel that I wrote and coded using RenPy. It draws inspiration from the yokai of Japanese myth, using these famous monsters to evoke themes of self-hatred, identity, and transformation.

My primary goal with this story was to explore the complex and messy emotions that come with confronting childhood trauma. Players take the role of Ryan, a young transgender woman who has been traumatized by the abuse she suffered back in high school. When Ryan returns to her hometown as an adult, the player must view each of her former tormentors through a variety of different lenses - as the bullies they once were, the people they are now, and the yokai they will soon become. The player is also tasked with a small number of difficult, no-win choices that affect the plot in major ways, forcing them to decide which characters they think are - and aren’t - worth saving.

For the visuals, I drew the character sprites myself using Adobe Illustrator, and for the backgrounds, I took black and white photos of my actual neighborhood in Brooklyn. This helped to shore up my admittedly subpar artistic talent, while also creating an unnerving sense of dissonance between the characters and their environment.

Additional documentation:

Early Design Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vEakn8NY2N97dqRR3KaY6NXK_7vv_ZcwugMo3kFaQU8/edit?usp=sharing

Initial Pitch: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KfhQ5aiHxzx0yGHsOyVAyaKJrvVfEBzTJZCxRS6tw3Q/edit?usp=sharing

Play the game in-browser on itch.io here!