The time for itch.io’s 2023 Spooktober VN Jam has arrived, and a number of games have been submitted with horror-esque themes to keep in line with the spirit of the event. One of these is a title that was just recently released on September 21st; its name is Eldritch Idol.
Fuwanovel will begin covering more Spooktober VN Jam titles around the beginning of October!
This game was developed and written by ebi-hime, a well-known name in the OELVN scene who has published no less than 29 of her games on Steam, including the popular yuri title, Blackberry Honey. The character art, meanwhile, has been credited to Konayachi, while Minikle is listed for BGs. The UI was produced entirely by Elduator/Anna-lena.
So, What Should You Expect Out of the Game?
Eldritch Idol is a more minor release on ebi-hime’s end, and is a visual novel that makes use of its Lovecraftian inspirations in a more lighthearted manner than many of its contemporaries. As such, this certainly isn’t a work that’s going to scare your socks off like Song of Saya, or hype you up like Demonbane. You should go in expecting a comedic take on the subgenre.
That said, ebi-hime still put a lot of effort into Eldritch Idol. Despite being a free game dedicated for a contest entry, there are 28 endings and a customizable main character. There are even some gameplay segments to add to the visual novel’s narrative, which are centered around simple stat-raising mechanics. Sessions of the game can also be quite quick—according to the game’s itch.io page, they can last anywhere from 10-60 minutes.
As far as Eldritch Idol’s story, the visual novel revolves around managing the idol career of cute anime girl, KuKu. But while she seems pretty nice at first glance, KuKu’s got a bit of a secret: she’s actually an eldritch abomination who plans to use her abilities to gather more followers and conquer humanity, idol-style. Naturally, she’ll need a little help to get there though—specifically from you, her producer. Will you be able to make KuKu’s quest for fame a reality and stop her from destroying the world? There’s only one way to find out.
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If you’re interested in giving the game a try, you can find it on itch.io for free! You could also always choose to pay ebi-hime a few dollars for her efforts through the download link… just sayin.
For more updates, you can also check out ebi-hime’s Tumblr and Twitter for her future releases!*
*There’s a lot of passionate gushing about her original characters to be found there.
Disclaimer: One of Fuwanovel's graphic design advisors, Anna, contributed the UI design for this game.
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