In a rare instance that I usually don't do due to having more than enough games lined up to play, friend of the channel Napostriouf has asked me to play a game he's made for a "Spooky Surprises Jam" on itch.io just in time for Halloween. I liked what I saw, so here we are. Happy late Halloween, people.
Unlike other games that I've played for the channel, this one is made by friend of the channel Napostriouf aka Nap'n'Retrogaming for riggy2k3 and PhillyGameMechanics' "Spooky Surprises" Jam on itch.io. Napostriouf has asked me to play this as a special Let's Play of sorts, and I honestly felt honored to be asked to do this, so here we are.
This Let's Play (and longplay) are played with English version 1.01. While making this blog series, I also found out that there is an English version 1.02 as well as a Quebecois French version 1.02 which fixes a few bugs, one of which I may have shown off. You can find the game here: https://napostriouf.itch.io/sainte-vibrisse
If any of the English text seems a little odd, it's because Napostriouf is from Quebec and English is not his first language. (English is usually learned as a second language, which is far from an uncommon occurrence in Quebec to the point that it's considered a second official language in the province. WWE Superstar Kevin Owens learned English from watching WWE back in the day, while former WWE Superstar Maryse learned a bit of English during the 2006 WWE Diva Search and learned more of the language while she was in the company.)
I mention my lack of enthusiasm towards AI-generated art and music briefly in the title screen; it also extends to AI-generated video, for those wondering. It did not stop me from playing the game, though.
Arrow keys move you around, and Enter allows you to interact with things. You can enter the main menu with Page Up. Arrow keys choose, Enter selects/confirms, and Esc backs out. Interestingly, you can control the game with a wide variety of controllers, and for some reason, the PS1 controller that I had connected to my Mayflash USB controller hub for PS1, Saturn and N64 controllers was usable in the game as well.
The story begins with Marc-André Ste-Croix (Marc for short) and his daughter Chloé having a car breakdown on a rural road off the path of a national road on their way to a camping trip. After figuring out that Marc forgot to give the car an oil change which has caused it to overheat, Marc and Chloé - both of whom have been affected by Françoise, Marc's wife and Chloé's mother, committing suicide (with one of the endings mentioning that Chloé actually witnessed said suicide) - figure out what to do next, as they are unable to receive a cellphone signal and cannot call for a tow truck. Marc decides to walk further down the road and comes upon the entrance to a village known as Sainte-Vibrisse, and decides to enter the village, even though Chloé has a bad feeling about things. From here, you have control of Marc and Chloé.
When Marc and Chloé enter the village, they notice a convenience store...and a lot of cats. Marc decides to enter the convenience store and call for a tow truck on a landline phone. From here, you can choose what to do.
East of the store is a large cross, a farm, more of the parking lot, as well as some of the few human children who live in the city, who are surrounded by angry cats. The two smaller crosses you can interact with are monuments to the author Napostriouf's two cats.
Speaking of cats, you can interact with the cats in the game, and you can get different sounds depending on which cats you interact with.
If you interact with the trash can and decide to rummage around in it, you'll find an AI-generated picture of a Cat Jesus. Aside from the title screen, this is the only other AI-generated thing (that I know of) that is in the game. Everything else comes from something else and is sourced in the end credits. This is entirely optional and has no bearing on any of the gameplay or any of the game's endings.
Other things you can interact with in front of the convenience store are the grapes in front of the store, the stop sign, the drink machine and the ATM.
There are four endings and five paths in which to get them all. I show them all off here.
Stay Safe Ending
After the dialogue outside of the convenience store, you can head back to the road outside of the village and head west. If you do that, you'll hear Marc's inner thoughts where Marc decides where to go back to the village or stay safe in the car. You'll then get a choice as to what you want to do. If you stay in the car with the camping equipment, you'll get the Stay Safe Ending.
If you leave the road where the car stops and come back, the car will not be in the same position as where it stopped at the beginning of the game; instead, it will be all the way to the far left. You cannot interact with the car in any way.
Happy Cats Ending
There are two paths to this ending. When you enter the convenience store, Marc will wonder why there is a young girl at the counter, and Chloé starts having even more misgivings about being in Sainte-Vibrisse, as being in the supermarket starts to remind her of the dream she had after her mom died when she burned her and her father alive.
Eventually, you'll have to make a choice, both of which lead to the same ending, albeit with slight differences depending on which path you choose.
If you choose to call a tow truck, you can explore the convenience store and look at everything (including the cash register, which reveals that Marc has went to jail before) before talking to the girl at the counter. When you talk to the girl at the counter, Marc and Chloé start finding out that not everything is as it seems, especially when there is no phone to make a phone call from, but it is too late. The cats act as if they are possessed and surround Chloe while Marc is run out of the store, where the kids on the other screen show up sobbing with leashes around their necks surrounding him, with the non-collar ends being held by the cats themselves.
It becomes very apparent to Marc that the children are being enslaved against their will by the cats, who seem to have a mind of their own, and that the children are enslaved to treat the cats like literal village kings until they turn 18, after which they are sacrificed and killed. Marc finds this out the hard way when he is beaten unconscious with a nailbat and nailed to a cross, while Chloé is kidnapped and forced not only into servitude under the Kings of Sainte-Vibrisse, but into denouncing her human life and relations and setting fire to the cross - with a barely conscious Marc nailed to it - with gasoline and a match in order to pledge loyalty to the cat. Marc, unable to do anything while nailed to the cross as it is about to be set on fire, hopes for Chloé to stay strong and eventually escape servitude as well as the hellish nightmare she is about to endure.
If you choose to leave the store without making a call, the kids show up and surround Marc and Chloé as they are about to get back on the road leading to the village. Chloé is forcefully kidnapped and taken through the trees by one of the children before Marc is beaten with a nailbat before being nailed to a cross that is set on fire. The dialogue and events between these two versions of the ending are largely the same.
Flee While You Can Ending
Believe it or not, if you go all the way to the right on the road where the car breaks down, you can find an abandoned dog. If you talk to it, Marc will reluctantly allow Chloé - who names the dog Poilu - to keep the dog around in case the dog's owner does not show up, so they can adopt the dog later. The dog will then join the party as a third member, and this will affect the convenience store endings slightly. This does not change anything about the "Stay Safe" ending at all, which is why I do not do it again with the dog.
If you leave the convenience store without making a phone call, the cats will strike as soon as Marc and Chloé step out. Marc and Chloé will get away, but Poilu will not be so lucky and become an unfortunate victim of the evil cats. Marc and Chloé head back to the car to camp out and head back onto the national road the next morning.
Purrfect Ending
On the other hand, if you decide to make the phone call in the convenience store with Poilu in the party, the dialogue will be the same as if you did not have Poilu in the party, but this time, you'll have some additional dialogue where Poilu gets scared and runs away, with Marc chalking it up as Poilu being scared due to Chloé scared and blaming it on the dog's abandonment issues. Other than that, the rest of the ending is exactly the same.
And there you have it: the roads to all five endings! All in all, this was a short, fun, little game, and I enjoyed it for what it was. It's a short yet fun experience that fits the "Spooky Surprises" theme pretty well, and the fact that there are multiple endings in an already short game is a nice touch. If you have the time and the chance, definitely check this one out.
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