Purple Maniac

Bro what is this

This game was over faster than my bathroom break.

Purple Maniac is a short and sweet horror experience, you'll get less than 20 minutes out of it at best, but I'd still argue it to be worth it's price. The gameplay is lacking in nearly every aspect, it's a visual novel with even less to do than average, it has the basic VN options of saves and loads and occasional choices, but outside of that it's lacking even an option to skip cutscenes. There is practically no gameplay substance here, you'd be playing for the story. Speaking of, the story is satisfying enough, the premise is extremely inviting, having the player stuck in a bathroom stall while someone is murdered just outside. It's a solid premise that makes the player feel endangered knowing they have nowhere to go if they make any mistake. However I feel the premise is slightly wasted, you can completely bypass the game's whole substance if you make a specific choice early on, and then the choices you're provided lack any real agency, you choose between rocking the baby or covering it's ears and there feels to be little indication of WHICH one you're meant to do. You are given other choices, but they still have little severe compact on the story which is dissapointing con…

Purple Maniac takes a remarkably confined situation and turns it into the foundation for a disturbing psychological horror experience. Developed by Thighisen and published by BARGAIN BIN ENTERTAINMENT LLC, the game places the player in the role of a father hiding inside a public bathroom stall with his baby. What would normally be an ordinary moment becomes terrifying when a murderer enters the restroom with a victim. From that point forward, survival depends less on fighting or escaping and more on remaining unnoticed while keeping the child quiet. The restricted setting is one of the game's strongest ideas. There are no enormous environments to explore or complicated routes to memorize. Instead, the bathroom stall becomes a tiny sanctuary that could become a trap at any moment. The protagonist's responsibility for his baby adds another layer of vulnerability because he cannot focus entirely on his own survival. Decisions involving whether to comfort the child, cover the baby's ears, or react to events outside the stall make otherwise simple parental actions feel considerably more stressful. Gameplay follows a visual novel and interactive fiction structure, with choices serving …

10/10 my choices really mattered in this game

I like the graphics and sound design. The murder sound effects were really good. I couldn't see anything, but it still worked. 🩸