Plural Stories

"He never was alone before. He had himself to see, talk with, live with, nine other selves all his life."

Blurb: A clone of ten named John Chow come to help mine a hellish planet... but when disaster strikes, there's only one John Chow left. How does he deal?

Why is it worth your time?: The John Chows are referred to as A clone, not TEN clones, and have an interesting sort of group self. And of course, Le Guin is a legend. Give it a shot! It's good!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, identityblending, copies, setting-specific, intimate and teamwork relationships, on purpose

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Accessibility Notes: This story has been anthologized more than anything in the catalog. Available in print, ebook, and audio, and in German, Dutch, French, Serbian, Spanish, Italian, and Lithuanian

Misc. Notes (if any): "singleton" is used in this story to refer to non-clone single selves. Is this possibly where later ('90s BBS) plural usage came from?

"A woman who hears voices is a lot more dangerous than a woman with an army. Keep that in mind."

Blurb: Radical feminist play about a smartass butch lesbian named Jeanne Romee (AKA Joan of Arc) who recounts her story as the hero of France, heretic burned at the stake, and redeemed saint against her will.

Why is it worth your time?: This play is award-winning for a reason. Jeanne is incisive and insightful, witty and angry, and Gage has a rare ability to cut to the heart of dissociation as a tool of control. This play is very much of its time and culture, but if that's not a problem for you, check it out! It's good!

Plural/1+ Tags: Abuse intermediate-focus, the dead (saints), spiritual, voices, nonswitching

Content Warnings: It is not a spoiler to say that Jeanne suffers the fate of the historical Joan of Arc. Others DO involve spoilers; see comments

Accessibility Notes: This play is shockingly easy to get, aside from an actual performance! It's available in audio form as MP3 download or CD, in script form, and in the collections The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and other plays (printed in 2004 from HerBooks) and The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and Selected Plays (self-published and A DIFFERENT COLLECTION), the latter of which is available both on paper and ebook. It was also published (and now freely available online) in Sinister Wisdom #35, Summer/Fall 1988, pg. 95-116. Archive.org has audio recordings of various performances. Available in French, Bulgarian, Chinese (Mandarin), Portuguese, Italian, German, and Spanish.

Submitted by beepbird! Thank you, beepbird!

"I'm so tired of the bad blood between us. But it's hard to let it go. You've hurt me. And I've also hurt you."

Blurb: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess. You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

Why is it worth your time?: Overtly median protagonist where hearing voices is a central part of the narrative, an ever-changing princess whose fluidity of self is emphasized, and it's all amidst a narrative where your choices all have meaningful consequences (despite the time loops). Hearing voices is presented as a strength, not a flaw, and you even have the chance to tell one of them that you missed him.

Plural Tags: nonhumans, the dead, realitymashing, enmity, teamwork, nonswitching (mostly), median, voices, possession

Content Warnings: a detailed list of content warnings written by the developers can be found here (it even breaks it down by route): https://blacktabbygames.com/content-warnings-stp

Accessibility Notes: Game can be purchased from Steam, Gog, itch.io, and on Switch. Dialogue is narrated and the accessibility menu includes font replacement and adjustment, text-to-speech for non-narrated dialogue, and contrast improvements. Game is a visual novel, so it's mostly text, though there are some stunning images that don't give much information that's not also stated in text.

The audio is only available, however, in English. (The text is available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (both Catalan and Latin American), Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.)

If the violence is too much for you, ManlyBadassHero did a censored Let's Play here covering all routes and updates.

Misc. Notes (if any): Abuse is not related to the plurality; there's never any explanation given for the voices existing, actually. Check the content warnings for sure on this one. It's definitely a horror game.

Also, there is merch: shirts, stickers, and posters!

"I cannot hold onto this body when another will need it far more. We are a single existence, split only by the tides of time, joined together in death."

Blurb: You play as a body-hopping Foundling, borrowing bodies of the dead, finding out who they were when alive, and fighting your way through a corrupted doomscape. Each "shell" has different skills and playstyle, from Eredrim the long-suffering king with all health and no stamina, to Tiel who runs up stairs for fun and chugs poison like candy.

Why is it worth your time?: It seems like a fun souls-like! It's lighter on story than other games in here, but I didn't mind watching it. The Virtuous Cycle expansion pack gives a little more story.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, nonhumans (the Foundling), the dead, bodyhopping, possession

Content Warnings: It's a gory game with a grim atmosphere and a bunch of hyperdevoted cultists around. Comments contain warnings with spoilers.

Access Notes: Available on X-box Series and One, Playstation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, Epic Games, and GOG.

Audio is English only, but subtitles and interface are available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Russian.

Due to the nature of the bodyhopping gameplay, I haven't found a total completionist Let's Play, but Lotus Prince has a pretty thorough series with unobtrusive commentary:

• Mortal Shell proper playlist (covers base game and the start of Virtuous Cycle)
• Virtuous Cycle beating (as Eredrim)
• Discovering Foundling Obsidian Black
• Virtuous Cycle final ending (as Foundling)
• A silly alternate ending for the base game
• Bonus interactions with Brether Corvid
• A Forever Alone run (playing through the base game as the Foundling, no bodyhopping at all)

Misc Notes: A review of the game is here. And just so you know, you can pet the shopkeeper's cat.

"The Blight may have taken them, but they are still watching over us. And... I will never leave your side."

Blurb: A young girl wakes to a land blighted by an unceasing rain that steals the sanity and mortality of everyone it touches. Unable to fight as herself, she relies on the spirits of bosses and enemies that she befriends to protect her, fight for her, and help her explore and traverse the environment, so she can lay the dead to rest and end the cycle of horror.

Why is it worth your time?: It's good! Elegiac and bittersweet about flawed people at the end of the world trying to make things better. Nobody shares a body, per se, but the spirits who make up the members of your party can only manifest in the girl's vicinity, they all rely on her survival to continue, and she relies on them to progress through the game. Also, as a multiple whose system is stuffed with upset, hostile ghosts, the mechanics of soothing the dead, befriending them, and building strength through alliance with them rang true! This is a game about generation upon generation of horror finally being laid to rest. Also, the soundtrack is really nice!

Plural Tags: abuse low-focus, cofronting, teamwork, friendship, the dead

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Xbox One, Series X, and Series S. The game has no spoken dialogue, only written, and languages available are English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. A completionist Let's Play with unobtrusive commentary and almost all text read out loud is here.

Misc Notes:

"There are people who can never go to Fantastica, and others who can, but who stay there forever. And there are just a few who go to Fantastica and come back. Like you. And they make both worlds well again."

Blurb: A strange book draws a lonely boy named Bastian into the beautiful but doomed world of Fantastica. Only a human can save this enchanted place--by giving its ruler, the Childlike Empress, a new name. But the journey to her tower leads through lands of dragons, giants, monsters, and magic--and once Bastian begins his quest, he may never return. As he is drawn deeper into Fantastica, he must find the courage to face unspeakable foes and the mysteries of his own heart.

Why is it worth your time?: This book was a hit for a long time, and it's not hard to see why. It's a love letter to the power of the imagination, wishes, and story, a mythical fable of exploring the self and desire. Fantastica follows its own rules of reality and does not try to be like the "real" world. It's good, and probably the most famous thing on this catalog.

Plural Tags: fictioneers, otherworld,

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in ebook, audiobook, and dead tree forms, in many languages (including Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Dutch, and Swedish), and an easy library find. The book has also been adapted into movies, radio, and animation, none of which I have seen. Ah, the benefits of an extremely popular bestselling book! Personally, I think the editions with different colored text are best, as long as you aren't colorblind; the text color helps keep you oriented.

“I... we... we're so fragile... so unlikely... so precious. ...eh, rat?”

Blurb: An abused teenager with a synchronistic link to Beatrix Potter, runs away from her London home, accompanied by her pet rat, who later becomes an imaginary friend who stays with her the entire book. With the help of her rat, her art, the works of Beatrix Potter, she does her best to survive and find a better life for herself.

Why is it worth your time?: It's really good. Both art and story are intricate and well-crafted; we have reread this book countless times and still find little visual details and motifs that we hadn't noticed before. It rewards rereads. This book has apparently been used with abused teens in the decades since it's been out, with good effect. There's a reason it won multiple awards.

Plural Tags: imaginary friends, nonswitching, introjects, abuse high-focus, nonhumans [rat]

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: Available on paper, ebook, and in many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, and Polish I think.