Deadly Obsession (Visual Novel)
Created by: Oni Okami
Genre: Horror/Romance
I actually kept on confusing this game with Killswitch because the designs of the yanderes are kind of similar, but actually Deadly Obsession has a surprisingly good amount of content. It's one of those games that is technically a demo but feels like it could already be a full game. Most of the game revolves about the MC dealing with Luno as they've been kidnapped and the story around the two. There are about five different endings to this game.
The story starts out with the MC, Ethan waking up in a basement. Eventually, a guy with animal ears comes down to greet Ethan as they try to figure out why they were kidnapped. Of course, the yandere wants to be with Ethan, though doesn't remember them at all. They are isolated given that their parents are abroad and Ethan lives alone, so nobody would be able to find them. We learn that the kidnapper's name is Luno and that the two used to be classmates (though they've only interacted a handful of times.) Ethan will become pretty aggressive (either trying to attack or yell at him) before annoying him and eventually give in. Soon, Luno ends up leaving and Ethan is alone, only to fall asleep and nearly give up. They can either wait for Luno to come back or try to get to the boxes (which ultimately just makes Luno angry). Depending on if you're obedient or not, Luno will either give Ethan their favorite food or just regular food (Luno will try to remember what Ethan's favorite food is and if it's the almonds, then they will get really sad when they realize that Ethan doesn't actually like them). Eventually Luno gives Ethan a collar to wear (whether they like it or not). If Ethan tries to attack Luno again, it will knock Luno onto the floor before Ethan ends up killing them. The two play a type of question game where we learn more about Ethan's history before he ends up leaving and Ethan falls asleep.
The next day, Luno wakes Ethan up to make them take a shower. Of course, Luno forces Ethan to handcuff themselves after they leave the showers, and there is no windows for them to leave. If they look around, they might either find a keychain or a picture of a classroom, before they take a shower. Once they're done and slip on the handcuffs and are brought back to the basement by Luno before he brings out food to feed Ethan. If Ethan finds either the keychain or the picture, Luno will reveal that he hid it in the bathroom to remind them of their past and interactions. If they get the picture, Ethan will remember Luno trying to join their group being being shunted by another classmate and if they find the keychain, then they will remember Luno trying to give them a Valentines Day but fail to because of another classmate. Luno gives Ethan a coloring book to work on when Luno's not around. Of course at night, they can either go to sleep or try to color with no way to color the book, which will instead lead to Ethan rummaging through boxes and finding a paperclip they might use later. Luno comes back with blood on their face, revealing that he killed the classmate that was spreading rumors about them in school. Ethan is not happy with this and Luno yells at about how much they deserved it before leaving Ethan to sleep for the night. Either that or Luno decides not to tell Ethan about the killing and instead give them a stuffed animal that they fixed up (a shark)
The next day, Luno comes down late and eventually Ethan makes Luno apologize to them and then promises he won't kill anyone anymore. Luno also gives Ethan a gift as a sort of apology for what he's done, allowing the two to go to the garden together. After being blindfolded, Ethan is brought to the garden where they view the flowers together. Luno tells Ethan that he doesn't want to keep them captive and wants to have a normal relationship with Ethan. The two have a lunch together before Ethan decides to give Luno another chance. Luno gets rid of the handcuffs only leaving the collar, slowly giving Ethan more freedom. Luno goes to get Ethan some snacks. If Luno has the paperclip, they can escape after putting in the password. After using a microwave or pan to break the window, Ethan escapes running and running into the forest. If they decide to wait, they can either work on some origami or read a book until he returns. After giving Ethan the snack (and giving him the origami if he made them), Luno offers to watch a movie with Ethan, to which they accept. The two watch a horror movie together where Luno is very terrified and Ethan can either comfort or tease them. Eventually when the movie ends, Luno is really terrified and asks to sleep next to Ethan, of which we oblige and the two sleep in Luno's bed. Here, Ethan can either try to escape or decide to be with Luno. If they try to escape, they find the door is locked and try to get the key from Luno's pocket, only to drop it and awaken them. When he wakes up, he feels so betrayed he ends up killing Ethan. If they decide to give Luno a chance, they will sleep next to them and Luno will be surprised to find them the next morning. If they stay with Luno, the two of them will open a store together stocking things and Luno gives Ethan flowers to celebrate their anniversary.
If they don't, they'll try to escape again, running away, Unfortunately they end up running into the forest and passing out. Luno finds them and Ethan wakes up again in the basement, unable to remember anything, thus starting the cycle once again.
I was pretty impressed at how long this game was and honestly how this could have been a full game already. Most of the story takes place while Ethan is being kidnapped and seeing all the interactions (including essentially getting stockholmed and living a better life) is pretty fun to say the least. Ethan is pretty annoyed the entire time though (which I guess makes sense given that they've been kidnapped, though whether or not that's the smartest move is another story) so seeing the two kind of bicker back and forth was entertaining. The fact that the two escape endings are either vague or otherwise force Ethan back to the start really gives an eerie feeling that there's not really anyway to escape from Luno (that and I'm a sucker for endings that loop back to the start, symbolically or otherwise.) It's cute that he is afraid of watching horror movies despite the fact that he's already killed someone before that time, and that having a certain amount of likability can change from showing that he did in fact kill Ethan's classmate or by instead giving them a plushie to make them happy. I also like that Ethan can know things wrongly as a yandere knowing what Ethan likes, for instance not realizing that they don't actually like almonds despite watching them get them every day or forgetting to give Ethan something to use for coloring the coloring book. Personally I like it when yanderes make small mistakes like that because it shows that they're also human and not infallible creatures within the game. Plus it makes him a bit goofy and gives him more personality haha.
Luno as a yandere is pretty controlling at least initially, making Ethan wear a collar, getting generally really angry when they try to escape or otherwise hurt themselves and deciding which meals they get based on how nice they are. We see later that this controlling nature is more out of fear, that he wants to be with Ethan and make them happy but is afraid that they will escape if try to leave, thus why he slowly releases Ethan as they gain his trust. We also get to see that Ethan barely remembers Luno (or anything initially given he seems to have lost some of his memories), mostly because they very barely interacted with each other. It's kind of cute seeing him try to jog their memory by leaving things like keychains and photos while Ethan is taking a shower so that they'd remember. He is very obsessed with them otherwise, knowing what kind of food they like, stalking them and otherwise knowing the exact place to have him kidnapped. He's very dedicated, getting a basement to put Ethan in and even renovating the bathroom as to get rid of any windows or anything that they could use to escape or try to hurt themselves with. He does get things periodically wrong though, as stated before and he has a limit when it comes to many things, like if Ethan tries to attack him multiple times or attempts to escape and wakes him up by dropping the keys, he will not hesitate to kill them, even when they are begging for their life. Still the best ending for the two involves them opening a store together which is very cute and we get to see more of Luno's goofier side buying way too many card packs, which I think is nice and would be cool to see even more moments of. One of the things that has me curious is the ears that Luno has. I think Luno is supposed to have dog ears (or some sort of canine ears) that aren't really mentioned anywhere. Is this something that is normal in this world? We don't know what Ethan looks like and we don't have a context to any other characters appearances so I'm not sure if this is just something that everyone has. How did he get them, was he just born with them? Can the ears flatten or otherwise feel pain? I think it would be cool to expand on the idea since it is a pretty noticeable part of his design and it would be cool if it tied into some other things he's done (like for instance he is able to stalk Ethan better because he has an enhanced sense of smell or something).
Overall, a pretty fun game that I enjoyed. I like playing games that feel like that have a more fuller story or have interesting concepts so playing this was pretty fun! I hope that in the future that there will be more about Ethan we can learn about or another game that can continue the story as well!
