Related is a dark episodic point and click adventure that originally had a first episode release back in May 2020, with the team looking for funding to make more episodes.
"Related is a game about two sisters locked up in one body. The girls perceived themselves in an absolutely ordinary way, but in growing older, they realized that it is not a common feature for everyone when half of your body is being controlled by somebody else."
Two people sharing a single body sounds pretty weird, and it looks like things get a bit wild as they each control half of this body. They have to deal with the scornful attitude of the orphanage personnel, attacks of other children, immersion in insanity and much more. Linux is a confirmed platform for release of the other episodes, with the first already available and supported. You can see the original trailer below:
Direct Link
The team mentioned that they simply don't have enough funding to produce more episodes, so they're hoping the Kickstarter campaign with a goal of 63,600 Polish złoty (around £12,497) will be successful so that they can produce more. Seems the original episode had a positive reception too so that's good to see.
You can try the first episode free on itch.io (usually a purchase on Steam) during the crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. They have until December 3 to hit the required goal.
I quite like the graphics and the art direction. The darker, gory parts, sort of reminded me of American McGee's Alice, that's a plus. I was however disappointed with the actual gameplay. I was expecting something clever with the whole two souls sharing one body bit, some sort of hook to differentiate them from other adventure games, but it is pretty standard stuff. Story wise, it's a bit hard to tell from so short a demo.
Another thing. I who regularly takes a sledgehammer to the Queen's English should probably not be in any position to critizise* this, but feel I must. The English in the dialogue, the grammar and sentence structure, is quite awkward. Even to somebody who is not native to the language it's remarkably noticeable. It should be a priority, and hopefully an inexpensive task, to have someone proofread and improve all dialogue, especially since the Kickstarter only have voice acting as a stretch goal.
This might like a very negative review but overall I think it does show promise.
* Muphry's law!
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