DreadXP’s sequel to Sucker For Love is still a ways off, which is all the more opportunity for dating sim fans to give Black Heaven: A Necromantic Dating Sim a look. Out now on Steam (with a demo available on itch.io), Occult Triangle Lab‘s dark fantasy/horror visual novel mixes inspiration from the worldbuilding aspects of From Software’s Bloodborne with a few novel ideas of its own.
In Black Heaven, you play as a former scholar of the Itzon Academy, where students studied the art of immortality. Ironically, that school (and all of your classmates) perished when you and your mentor accidentally unleashed a cancerous plague that wiped out most of the continent, leaving you one of the sole survivors. Your lonely exile from Itzon is interrupted when you meet No-Eyes, a mysterious necromancer who offers you a deal: bring him the souls of your former classmates at Itzon, and he’ll rip your soul free from the flow of time and allow you to relive the happiest moments of your life on a loop, forever.
According to the developers, Black Heaven is based on a concept in Buddhism called “the hungry ghost”, which is a spirit that can’t fill the void in itself or let go of the past. This became the blueprint for the ghosts in the game, as well as the narrative overall, where the protagonist can’t let go of the past.
The devs also recognized the idea that players will “save scum” (saving a reloading said save game in order to achieve the result that you want) in a dating sim to get their desired result. To offset this, Black Heaven uses a mechanic called “Fractal Madness,” which warps the game if you repeatedly attempt to undo your past actions by reloading a previous save file. As an added aspect to this, Occult Triangle Lab says that the mechanic shows the player “how love can be twisted if you go into it for the wrong reasons.”
Adding to all of this is Black Heaven: A Necromantic Dating Sim‘s multiple endings, as well as the soundtrack, which can change depending on the player’s Fractal Madness level.
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