Submitted by a kindly anon! Thank you, anon!

Full title: Clock Tower Ghost Head AKA Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within

"Don't be afraid, Alyssa..."

Blurb: Teenager Alyssa Hale is trying to start over in a new city after a horrific incident at her previous school. She is haunted by someone named Bates who has been taking control of her body against her will. Things go from bad to worse upon reaching her uncle's house and finding a dead body shortly after. The reason why Bates exists will be revealed, but she must learn to accept him in order to find that truth and, most importantly, survive the night.

Why is it worth your time?: Alyssa and Bates switching is a game mechanic that can be used to solve puzzles! One can do or find something the other can't, and vice-versa. That itself is pretty cool, especially for a PS1 game.

That said, the game's got a lot of issues. The English version's box claims that Alyssa has an 'evil split personality and she is thirsty for blood oh nooo' without acknowledging Bates as his own person. The Japanese version at least makes it clearer that they are two separate souls in the same body. In both versions, Bates, the so-called 'evil' one, is really more Chaotic Neutral.

See comments for clarifying spoilers!

Plural Tags: spiritual, teamwork, enmity, switching, the dead, family

Content Warnings: death (child and adult), bodily mutilation, strong language, parental neglect, medical experimentation

Accessibility Notes: It is a PS1 game long out of print with two language options (Japanese and English, separate releases); the English version is prohibitively expensive to acquire secondhand, but it's available to play on archive.org. This Let's Play has unobtrusive commentary, reads all text aloud, finds all endings and extra bonuses. The game itself comes with all dialogue subtitled and audio both.

Misc. Notes (if any): Honestly...the game kind of sucks lol. But this system appreciates protector tropes, and Bates very much hits that trope. Plus, in the English version he's voiced by Roger L. Jackson who is so very fun to listen to!

Submitted by a mysterious anon! Thank you, anon! :D

"As no one philosophy can fulfill all aspects of human life alone, your one self cannot go on unless you learn to work with the trio."

Blurb: A small crew of astronauts is on a mission to investigate Mars, where rumor has it a strange energy called 'Evil Mind' is stirring up delusions. One of these crew members is protagonist(s) Laika, a rookie radio engineer who is also plural. Like most instances of Mars in fiction, things quickly go south. Between solving mysteries, interacting with Mars' varied inhabitants, and hopefully putting a stop to the impending 'Judgement,' Laika and their bodymates - Ernest, Spacer, and Yolanda - confront their joint past and find who they all truly are. Also, everyone has a dog face, and yes, it is plot important.

Why is it worth your time?: The depiction of plurality is surprisingly sympathetic and dimensional for the time. If any bodymate dies in combat, it's a game over because the story considers all of them important. Most residents of Mars may be or are explicitly shown to be two-in-one; a few are three-in-one and Laika is five-in-one. Bodymates are usually treated like their own people, always called by their own name and pronouns by other characters. Though the writing at times can be questionable and other times very hard to follow, there are some legitimately interesting examinations of trauma, identity, and how the conservative Christian ideals of 'pure good' and 'sin' can be damaging. Like Xenogears, it's best to go in remembering when it was made, especially if you go looking at the original Japanese materials which...are more of their time than the English fan translation. (As an example of a strange writing choice, the bodymates are labeled as separate types of 'evil' but are not depicted as bad people in their actions.)

Plural Tags: fictioneers, fusion/integration, setting-specific, memory work, on purpose, otherworld, realitymashing, teamwork, community, enmity

Content Warnings: A TON. alcoholism, animal cruelty, assault, child abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), death, dissociation, domestic violence, hospital surgery, integration (portrayed both negatively and positively)*, misogyny, murder, pedophiles, psychosis/delusions, religion, strong language, suicide and resulting survivor's guilt, trauma, very stereotypical depictions of Native Americans.
*Spoilers, one system of three integrates via killing a bodymate, but the one responsible turns into a boss battle so it seems more negative. In comparison, Laika& integrates by the end and the vibe seems to be positive.

Access Notes: Available for the PS1. The game is long out of print but has been uploaded on archive.org in Japanese, Spanish, and English. (No vouching for quality, caveat emptor.)

Let's Plays: For Japanese speakers, NicoNicoDouga has a couple of different playthroughs to check out, some which go into more detail than others. There's also one on YouTube with no commentary: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYnPhfZ3IEC0gVoIAvFp_S1veJosDqw1C

In 2022, an English fan translation was released. A full playthrough of that is also on YouTube with no commentary (except at the very end): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLegyQtkE9qr02L83RyYu19HzKdrHecp2B

The translation tries to be sensitive while acknowledging the game's shortcomings. E.g., it treats obviously trans characters with more respect than the original script, but the term 'personalities' is still used to refer to bodymates, and it keeps the term 'psycho' which the game uses to refer to one of the three types of evil on Mars.

"Gameplay:
- Go to sleep in the bed and open the door to enter the dream world.
- Explore the dream world and collect effects.
- The dream world is very large, so use landmarks to navigate: walk straight in one direction until you come across something to use as a landmark, then change direction and walk straight until you find another landmark, and so on.
- If you get lost or stuck, press 9 to wake up.
- You can save your game at the desk when you're awake." (from the Readme)

Blurb: A young woman who cannot leave her room explores the strange world of her dreams instead.

Why is it worth your time?: This game has a devoted niche following for its surreal, open-ended sense of mystery. It just drops you into an environment with lacking instructions and leaves you to figure it out. There are all sorts of strange little easter eggs, including dream creatures you can't interact with or even see under most circumstances. This is a game that's easy to get lost in, in all senses of the word; I had to play it with the Wiki open. It's something to be experienced, rather than beaten. Also, it's free!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, dreamfolk, enmity (but only if you choose it), visions

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: There are surely a bajillion Let's Plays of this game, but we haven't seen any of them and can make no recommendations. Being an RPGmaker game, both the old fan-translated version and the new Steam version are Windows-only, far as I know. (We played the fan-translated one.)

Misc Notes: This game may have helped inspire Lisa: the First! There is also a manga and a TON of fanmade games, none of which I have touched. Seriously, if you want a fandom to dive into, Yume Nikki will keep you busy forever.

"When the rose ???s, so too will you ??? away..."

Blurb: You play a nine-year-old girl named Ib who, upon visiting an art exhibit with her parents, gets sucked into a world spawned from the imagination and creations of the deceased artist being exhibited. Unfortunately, the vast majority of that imagination DOES NOT LIKE YOU.

Why is it worth your time?: It's pretty good, fun and spooky! Both are short, and the original is still free online. The only plural themes are getting sucked into a fictive world created by someone else, inhabited by beings formed from that psyche. The Fabricated World doesn't work on conventional rules of reality, and the game does some fun things with that idea.

Plural Tags: otherworld, fictivity

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: A pretty good completionist Let's Play of the remake exists! (Alas, I haven't been able to find a Let's Play of the original that I feel worth recommending.)

Misc Notes: There are multiple versions of this game. Version 1.07 of the original game, translated to English, is still up for free online (back-up link 1 and 2), but being an RPGmaker game, running it on non-Windows machines may require some fiddling. The remake, which only came out a few months ago, is $13 on Steam and streamlines the game, makes some of the puzzles easier, and fancies up the graphics a bit, but the core experiences are about the same.

“This guy is a true freak!”

Blurb: You play as the Killer7, a one-vessel assassin team who shoots and murders their way through a suicide-bomber death cult, organ traffickers, a superhero team, and their own creation, accompanied by the ghosts of their victims along the way. Each headmate plays in a different way and has different skills, and waking them up over the course of a level is a key gameplay mechanic. All are needed to switch in at one time or another, from Con the blind speedy punk, to Kevin the spidery silent knife-thrower, to Garcian, the black man you never, EVER want to die.

Why is it worth your time?: This game has a cult following, and its weirdness is both strength and weakness. It has a singular style, a lot of over-the-top cool, and the story is a self-contradictory fever dream. We only get to know a few of the Smiths outside of gameplay, but the little touches of individual body language is charming--they fight, speak, move, and even go up and down stairs differently. (Mask de Smith's goofy gallop downstairs amuses me every time.) It wasn't my thing, but it is SOMEONE'S.

Plural Tags: switching, spirits, introjects, the dead

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: This game is available on Steam, for Gamecube, and for Playstation2. It has both audio dialogue and subtitles, but unfortunately, never both together. A completionist Let's Play is available. Also, this game has an epilepsy warning for flashing lights, and the high-contrast cel-shading-and-gradients color scheme is a migraine in a jar. It gave me headaches.

Misc Notes: There was a comics adaptation, but it was mediocre and got canceled before finishing its first arc; don't bother.

"Isaac and his mother lived alone, on a house on a hill. Isaac kept to himself, playing with his toys while his mother watched Christian broadcasts on the television. Life was simple, and they were both happy--that is, until the day Isaac's mom heard a voice from above: 'Your son has become corrupted by sin. He needs to be saved...'"

Blurb: A computer game following an abused child and his possible-headmates fighting through randomly generated dungeons filled with poop, trauma, and abortions. Offense guaranteed. This game has very little narrative, but McMillen has stated that all the player characters are Isaac, so I don't think it's a stretch to see them as headmates, or to interpret the levels as a form of violent headspace. (Especially since there are items which, if possessed, allow you to die and come back as a new player character--i.e., switch.)

Why is it worth your time? The game is a blast to play, as long as you aren't bothered by the grotesque aesthetic. It has insane replay value, due to its randomness. It rewards experimentation, though it does rely on fine muscle control.

Plural Tags: nonhuman headmates, abuse high-focus, switching, otherworld, children, the dead

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: No subtitles for spoken cutscenes, but there are only maybe two or three of those, all of which you can probably follow through visuals alone. There are a bazillion Let's Plays of this game, but I haven't watched many and the nature of the beast makes completionism kind of impossible, so I can't recommend any one in particular. Any one playthrough lasts maybe an hour tops, but getting everything can take hundreds of hours, making this impossible to length-tag appropriately.

Miscellaneous Notes: There are two main versions of the game, a bunch of expansion packs, and a card game now, the last of which I have not played.

"You've gone quite mangy, cat, but your grin's a comfort..."

Blurb: After a house fire kills her family and gets her shipped to an asylum, the emotionally traumatized Alice makes a mental retreat to Wonderland, which has been disfigured by her injured psyche. She has to hack and slash her way back to reality.

Why is it worth your time? It's fun to play. If you're into the Hot Topic, Tim Burton aesthetic, and find smashing through a violent headspace cathartic, this game is for you, though the controls are a bit clunky by nowadays standards. (We admit, we have been unable to finish it.) Also the soundtrack is fantastic.

Plural Tags: non-switching, headspace galore

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: game has both audio dialogue and subtitles, and a Let's Play is available. (Note: if I link a Let's Play, it's to a completionist version with an unobtrusive, leisurely player who focuses on the game.) Despite this game's age, you can still get it in a good few ways--used original copies for PC are still pretty easy to find, and the sequel comes with a copy and is available for PC, Playstation3, and... er, whichever Xbox was in use at that time. www.myabandonware.com also seems to have put the game up for free, though we cannot vouch for the quality of that, and the comments show that it has glitches and bugs.