Oh also!! the visual novel M3nticid3 also has a really cute male yandere character, though you only realize he’s a yandere if you get the bad ending too. It was a really surprising twist!
Oh, I did actually see this on tumblr a while back and was planning on playing it (along with my ginormous list of backlog games.) The art style looked fun but boy was I not expecting it to go into that kind of dark territory. It's a pretty fun short game though and I really hope to see more from this creator and world. If you are interested in it please check it out at @gr33n-schema and you can play the game here.
The story starts out with Inari having a flashbacks of sorts. While in New York, the entire world basically went under a bomb attack, with her last memories of her trying to call her dad. The game continues suddenly with an automated screen, telling the patient, Inari to take a morality dilemma test, involving questions relating to various morality questions. After answering them, she wakes up to the two scientists who are observing her. After pretending to swallowing some pills, she is about to go back to her room when suddenly she sees a fight break out between patients. It seems that one of them had some sort of bad reaction with the medication and has started killing other patients and doctors. After the patient is sedated, Inari is sent to a new part of the facility where she is grouped with three other patients: Kzkr, an aloof and a bit rough patient, Oorr, a sedated patient that pretty much lives in a vegetable state and Fefo, a really shy and skiddish patient. After meeting her roommates, she finds a keycard under her gown which she keeps a secret and plans her escape.
We go to the next day at the cafeteria where Inari watches as Fefo gets bullied and drops his food. To prevent Fefo from attempting to eat pizza off the floor, Inari gives Fefo her portion of the food. The two talk about what little they can remember or recall from the outside world, with Inari remembering there is better pizza, though not recalling the specific things relating to it. Oorr gets taken by the scientists to get medication and as the days go on, Inari must take a surpression therapy, essentially repeating phrases from a book. At night, Kzkr talks to Inari about his nightmares that he has, stating it's one of the only things he remembers. The two of them talk about how important memories are despite the ones they remember being bad. The next day, they get jenga and play together. Afterwards, Inri talks to Fefo about his bullying as well as Kzkr's treatments, as he is being drugged, causing him to be much more complacent.
At night, Inari catches Fefo and Kzkr trying to escape, with Kzkr threatening to kill Inari with a makeshift knife if she rats them out. Inari instead tells them off about how their plan won't work without her, and uses her card to get them out and aim for the laundry chute to escape. Thanks to Kzkr's knowledge of the guard schedules, they are able to get down to the basement level no problem. The basement is rather disgusting and Inari even finds mounds of flesh, which are presumed to be discarded patients and a strange being before running back into the group. After checking in the rooms, they come across a strange green triangle that makes them feel painful, before Inari is able to shut it off. While getting lost, Kzkr and Fefo talk to each other and we find out that Fefo has a habit of stealing things, which is why he ends up getting bullied. He ends up even stealing a pair of Inari's panties which she does not appreciate and takes back. In one of the rooms they unlock, they find a map of the facility, but soon after must hide after a giant monster comes into view. They are able to avoid it and head to the kitchen next where they find a shotgun with a single shell. Soon after, the monster comes back and Inari shoots it, only to realize that the monster itself seems to be a patient that has been stitched together with other patients, leading it to be in agonizing pain. They are able to hide in the fridge, but Kzkr ends up getting hurt, and Inari has no choice but to use her panties to help bandage the wound.
After wandering around again, they come across another green sign. After painstakingly unlocking it, they end up in a room with three guards. The guards use a remote to shock collar Oorr. Inari tries to bluff that she'll shoot them with her empty gun, but the guards don't buy it. This leads to Fefo killing and slitting the guards throats, stabbing them multiple times in the process. This is where Inari can either decide to help the others or herself.
If she decides to help herself, she will end up eating the drugs she refused to do so before, leading her into a sedated state. Because of this, Fefo continues to kill and stab the guards long after they're dead. Kzkr tries to stop him, but he turns on him, getting jealous and annoyed at his previous counting to check the guards and how he actually enjoyed life in the facility. He gets incredibly jealous that Inari apparently spent more time with Kzkr than him, even believing that the two slept together when Inari was comforting Kzkr that one night. We learn that the memory that Fefo remembers is killing his bullies, threatening to kill Kzkr the same way, getting angry at Inari touching him and even having her panties wrapped around his wound. All this escalates to Fefo slitting Inari's throat and stabbing him multiple times. Meanwhile, the shocks to Oorr's collar don't stop, eventually leading to his head exploding. Kzkr uses the last of his strength to cuff Fefo to himself so he can't attack Inari, with Fefo having a complete meltdown afterwards. The creature ends up coming due to the noise and killing Fefo, eating his insides. The last one remaining, Inari takes the knife to stab out both of her eyes before dying herself.
If she decides to help the others, she will use the drugs on Fefo, forcing him to swallow them down. Kzkr is able to grab the remote to unlock Oorr's collar and throwing it away before it explodes. Oorr, now finally have shaken off the drugs is able to carry Fefo as the sprinklers go off. The monster starts to go after them and they all flee the facility and outside. They are greeted by the two scientists that aided Inari during the trials, as it seems that they had planned this escape for a long time. They talk about how they are dedicated to stopping the terrorist group, the one that caused the explosions in New York that Inari remembers and they all escape the facility.
I will say that I was not expecting this game to go that dark, especially on the bad ending. The character sprites themselves have a pretty cute look to them, which adds to the charm of the story itself. The whole thing is a cool take on the sort of experimentation and the whole endeavor seems to still be shrouded in mystery. Even based off what we learn in the game, we have no idea why these guys were captured. It's implied that they were taken to use and become terrorists as well, likely bombing other areas too, which is likely what the drugs and the various tests are, but why they chose these specific patients are pretty unknown. We barely know the backstory of most of these characters either or even their real names, much less the strange monster that was found under the facility itself and what's going on with the green light. These kinds of questions are not really related too much the main plot of the story, which is just these four trying to escape the facility, but it does make for pretty cool world expansion, especially since we don't know anything about this terrorist group and it makes me want to learn more. I also wonder if the animal choice will be relevant in the future as well since it does seem to be a specific decision with each type of animal. Like I said, a lot of mysteries that I would love to see more of.
Now let's talk about Fefo. Fefo as a yandere seems to have basically come out of left field, but there are a lot of small hints this was the case even from the beginning. The most obvious one is Fefo stealing things, specifically from Inari, something that he wails and moans about when Inari forces him to give it back to her. In terms of his memories, while we don't really know for certain, it seems that each patient has a core memory that they dream about, as we see with Inari and Kzkr, though they don't tend to be particularly pleasant memories overall. Fefo's memory seems to be of killing his old bullies, making him dangerous indeed. It is ironic that even at current he wasn't even aware he was being bullied until Inari pointed it out. We do see that Fefo does have a crush on Inari in very brief moments, seeing him blush a lot compared to someone like Kzkr, who Inari seems to spend more meaningful time with. Unfortunately for Fefo, Inari seems to be the type of person who finds Fefo annoying, especially since she views him as cowardly most of the time. I think as well Fefo only has a good relationship with Inari out of the three of the other members. I'm not sure if the sudden bloodlust came out of the desire to keep Inari for himself or not, or if it was something he kept inside for a while. It does make me wonder in the good route when he's knocked out by Inari if this yandere behavior will persist in the future, seeing that none of the characters are aware with his obsession with Inari at that point. Kind of fun to think about. The bad ending on the other hand is completely brutal, with Fefo directly or indirectly getting everyone killed thanks to Inari's choice to drug herself. Fefo himself also meets a cruel fate at the hands of the monster who not only guts him but eats his brains as well. How terrible. He is definitely incredibly jealous and capricious, possessive over Inari and the fact that he could try to keep her here in the facility afterwards and completely paranoid. The off the rail yandere action caught me off guard, since besides some brief creepy moments with the panties, he seemed pretty shy and meek, very cute in my opinion. I do like more meek yanderes that turn completely crazy so that kind of stuff is up my alley.
In any case, it's a very good game and something I wish to see more about. It was very interesting doing the various morality tests in the very beginning and seeing how everything unravels, given that the characters themselves are not completely aware of what's going on, only the idea of getting out. I really am excited to see more of this as it comes out!
M3NTICID3: Control Group will debut as a demo for NaNoRenO 2024! M3NTICID3 is a psychological horror otome visual novel set in a strange hospital that performs cruel and unusual experiments on its unwilling patients.
Play as INRI as she plans to escape the facility with her roommates: FEFO, KZKR, and OORR.
[DESCRIPTION] M3NTICID3: Control Group is a psychological horror otome visual novel created for NaNoReNo 2024.
[TREATMENT SUMMARY] Play as INRI, a patient at a mysterious research facility who was robbed of her memories and autonomy. INRI, along with the other patients, are forced to undergo a series of strange psychological tests where they are administered the experimental drug, Ichor.
INRI’s plan to escape is thrown into chaos when she is suddenly moved into a new room with KZKR, FEFO, and OORR. Can the four of them uncover the facility’s secrets and escape with their lives, or will they lose themselves trying?
[CONTENT WARNING] M3NTICID3: Control Group is a work of fiction and is NOT suitable for anyone under 17 years old. M3NTICID3 depicts uncensored graphic violence, heavy gore, drug usage, psychological trauma, and mature themes. Please PROCEED at your own risk.
[SIDE EFFECTS]
18,000 Words (1.5 - 2 hours of gameplay).
2 Endings.
5 CGs.
13+ unique sprites for each patient.
Experimental soundtrack.
[DOWNLOAD AND PLAY TODAY]
//M3NTICID3: the Systematic Destruction of the Self//
