Plural Stories

Submitted by quailfence! Thank you, quailfence!

"No one can choose who they are in this world."

Blurb: You control Kris, the only human in a town full of monsters. One day, you and the local bully, Susie, are sent to get something from a supply closet, and end up falling into a mysterious other dimension called the Dark World. There they meet the Prince of Darkness, Ralsei, who tells them that the three of them are the "Delta Warriors" of an ancient prophecy and are destined to save the world. As they explore and fight through the dark world, however, they soon begin to question the prophecy and whether following it is the right decision. It also becomes increasingly apparent that Kris is their own person separate from you - and that they do not like what you're doing

Why is it worth your time?: The game explores questions about free will and destiny in a very interesting way, with the tension between Kris and the player being a big highlight of that theme. Also, engaging gameplay, fun and funny characters, lovely pixel art, and a banging soundtrack

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse:low-focus (unless you play the alternate/secret route, which is abuse:high-focus), 1+: otherworld, relationships:enmity, relationships:teamwork, type:possession

Content Warnings: non-lethal violence, minor blood, threatened apocalypse, past character death and resulting grief, you (the player) are controlling someone against their will, bullying, death threats, abuse is mostly implied/referenced but there is a brief scene of verbal/emotional child abuse, brief scene of a parent being drunk, trauma due to parental divorce, self-esteem issues, Christianity-esque religion

The alternate/secret route involves the player forcing two characters into a manipulative, abusive relationship and murder

Accessibility Notes: Available on Switch 1/2, PlayStation 4/5, and PC via Steam. The first two chapters are available as a free demo, the rest is paid. The demo is also available on Itch.io. A Japanese translation is available. All text is on screen but there is no dub; one miniboss fight in ch 4 involves audio and visual cues with the visual cues going away after a while, but the visual cues will stay if you die and retry more than once or tell one of your party members that you can't hear something in the scene prior to the miniboss. Let's Plays exist but I haven't seen any

Misc. Notes (if any): This game is a not-quite-sequel to Undertale, and Toby Fox recommends that you play that game first; however you will still be able to enjoy/understand Deltarune if you haven't played Undertale. Currently, only 4 of a planned 7 chapters are out - chapter 5 will release in 2026, and beyond that the release schedule is unknown

Submitted by a generous Anonymous! Thanks, anon!

"Become the new #1 hit idol group, battle interdimensional music monsters, rebel against your corporate overlords, wield a mighty soul-devouring experimental weapon, and be unstoppably, unapologetically gay."

Blurb: Mobile Rhythm Game/Bullet Hell/Visual Novel hybrid about an idol group fighting monsters born from music. You play as their Producer, a wheelchair-bound accountant working for the Antiphon company who was suddenly promoted to their manager. She is tasked with developing the girls' bonds with each other to fight Noise Beasts by Beyond, a mysterious masked figure who hides much more then she lets on.

Why is it worth your time?: One of the members of STARLIVHT, Sumire, is plural. Her alter Hitori is written with nothing but sympathy and is treated as his own person despite his doubts. Both characters are playable, which I'd like to go into more but it's hard to really get into how well the gameplay functions with their plurality in a short blurb, so I'll just say it's very interesting. Their other alter, Firebird, is also treated sympathetically despite being a minor antagonist for part of one chapter. Firebird is not playable directly, but two of Sumire and Hitori's shared styles make several references to them.

Producer is also revealed to be plural, but I don't know how to summarize that here succinctly.

Plural/+1 Tags: abuse:intermediate-focus, identityblending(? regarding Firebird), relationships:family, relationships:teamwork, relationships:friendship, type:switching, type:setting-specific, type:on purpose, visions

Content Warnings: (contains spoilers) unreality, identity issues, abusive parenting, references to physical and emotional abuse, depictions of transphobia and mentions of transphobia directed at trans characters, some blood, major character death, minor/previous character death, forced outing by a shitty parent,

Accessibility Notes: Game is free on iOS and Android mobile devices with optional one-time in-app purchases. Game is also a sequel to NOISZ for PC, but can be played and enjoyed as a standalone title.

Misc. Notes: Game is just generally really good with it's representation, including a very canon major sapphic couple, major trans girl character, and several other minor queer characters.

Also the lead developer is plural.

Submitted by quailfence! Thank you, quailfence!

"There is a radio in the distance. A radio of the world. Playing sound: Good morning, Elysium. Soon you will return to the world"

Blurb (from TVTropes): One miserable morning, you awaken from pain and darkness in a trashed motel room with the hangover to end all hangovers. You have no idea where, or even who, you are, but some details begin filling in as you explore: you are a police detective visiting Martinaise, harbor district of the city of Revachol, jewel of the Insulindian Isola, in the year '51 of the current century. Perhaps most importantly, you were sent here three days ago to deal with a lynched corpse, but instead went on a deranged bender of drug and alcohol abuse.

Now, you must resume the investigation with the aid of Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, a fellow detective from a rival precinct. But of course, it won't be as simple as it seems — the victim, a security contractor for a major international shipping company, stands at the center of a labor dispute involving the local dockworker's union, corrupt businessmen, communist agitators, and foreign interests, with blood on the streets looking more likely by the day. Everyone involved is eager to use you for their own ends — and of course, you're no titan of mental stability, what with the two dozen voices in your head vying for your attention...

Why is it worth your time: The aforementioned voices in your heads are your skills. As you get your skills higher, they become more talkative and interact more with you and each other. Overall the game places a lot of emphasis on crafting an identity and making your own choices. While the player character has a past and a personality that goes along with said personality, the main character's amnesia means that you can choose to follow that past or create your own identity. How you choose to shape your personality also affects your ability to connect with and learn about other characters and engage with sideplots, with certain dialogue checks being easier if you level up certain skills - though there is always a small chance (3%, to be precise) chance of success or failure.

Plural/1+ tags: abuse low-focus, people: the dead, people: copies (you can talk to the victim's corpse if you pass a check), people: nonhumans (you can also talk to your necktie in certain circumstances), voices, visions, otherworld (in the form of dreams), type: spiritual, type: medical(?), type: setting-specific (to elaborate: it's theorized in-game that the skills/voices are a result of some combination of an in-universe phenomenon known as The Pale and the player character's pre-existing mental problems, but it's ultimately left unclear as to exactly why this is happening), teamwork

Content Warning: It's a murder mystery where the player character is a cop who struggles with addiction to/withdrawal from alcohol and other substances. Other warnings are spoilers, see comments.

Note: due to the nature of the game, compiling a full and accurate content warnings list is rather difficult - I had to ask on Discord for help, and even then I still probably missed some things. Some of these things are unavoidable, while others can be avoided with varying amounts of difficulty

Accessibility notes: All dialogue/lines appear on-screen, and all dialogue and most narration is read out loud, though menus and such aren't. There exist let's plays/streams but I haven't seen any of them and the nature of the game, involving lost of little variations and branching choices, means that a completionist playthrough is basically impossible. Translated into Japanese, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Polish, Turkish, and Arabic, though audio is only available in English. Available on Steam, Gog, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, and Switch

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.

"Her horror grows to anger. Her anger grows to rage. Her rage grows to berserker fury. She is not Petra now. She is not even Mayanna. She is..." (from Section 3 Chapter 3 of the prose serial)

Blurb: (adapted from the intro from Section 3 Chapter 3 of the serial) "Modern English schoolgirl Petra Stone is a reincarnation of the matriarchal warrior princess Mayanna. The Princess and the schoolgirl exist as two independent personalities. She has been taken back into ancient matriarchal Britain by an Amazon group: Rahiyana, the leader; Thunder, a seven-foot powerhouse; Whirlwind, the teen tornado and a shape-shifting imp named Uisce. But the evil patriarchal Lord Fear is determined to kill Petra and has sent a powerful and mysterious band known only as the Swarm..."

Why is it worth your time?: This is a heck of a ride: a mostly-lost sword-and-sorcery prose serial and computer game about a lesbian matriarchy whose chosen one is a multiple. The serial is pulpy.

The game is a throwback, even by 1992's standards, but it's spoken of with fondness and respect by text-only game fans, and while we took  a while to get our sea legs, we found it enjoyable with its dreamy, whimsical tone. It's the first computer game I know of with any multi themes at all. Unusually for its time, it involves multiple female party members, all of which you can play by typing the command BECOME WHIRLWIND (or Rahiyana, and so on), so there's a strange element to the player becoming multiple people and questing to bring a different multiple to power. I have never seen a project like this, and it is an odd duck that I'm glad has been salvaged, even piecemeal. If you're into sword and sorcery, or just the oldest multi computer game I've found, give it a shot!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, the dead, nonhumans [goddess, dog], spiritual, switching, possession

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: The prose serial is the most overtly multi part of this story, and it gives valuable context for the no-intro-given game, so read it first. Sadly, it seems to be mostly lost media; only Section 3: Berserker Chapter 3: Berserker and Section 4: Histories Chapter 1: Trial by Conscience have been scanned, though at least they've been posted online as both PDF and screenreadable plaintext. The special collections at UC Davis may have more?

Both halves of the game can be played thanks to emulator on archive.org, but despite being text-only, it is probably not screenreadable, and only Silverwolf Part 2: the Sacred Mountain has Petra/Mayanna/Silverwolf in it, and in a fairly passive role. (The two halves can be played in any order. We found Part 2 more enjoyable, but if you're dying for completionism, here's the link for Part 1: Quest for the Sword.) There is also a walk-through, which I found invaluable.

There was a comic meant to be released with the game, but far as I know, it never came to be.

Misc Notes: Okay, I fell down a rabbit hole with this one,because it is an odd, odd duck. I am restraining myself from infobricking about the kinky matriarchal Irish women who dressed in Victorian fashion and also became a well-reputed text-only gaming house. What a wild ride.

Also, I'm leaving the authors' names as "various" in the header bar because here are the names associated with this project:

• Michele Dennis (illustrator of prose)
• Laeretta Krenne-Genovene (writer of prose)
• St. Bride's (credited as the game creator, also the name of the group that the creators were part of)
• Priscilla Langridge or Marianne Scarlett, who were credited as St. Bride's Game Mistresses in this 1986 article from Crash Magazine.
• Zenobi Software (the company that picked up the Silverwolf game after St. Bride's went bust and actually got the damned thing released)

Submitted by monsterqueers !

"It's okay not to feel `whole'. Even if you feel only partly complete, if you repeat that enough, it'll eventually be `whole'. A part... is better than zero."

Blurb: A cult-classic extremely plotty JRPG about a amnesiac guy named Fei Fong Wong, who journeys across the world with some other folks to overthrow the fascist government, and in the process uncovers the secrets of their world and things about his past. Also there are giant robots.

Why is it worth your time?: Ok so this is a bit of a spoiler but Fei has DID canonically. Really not sure how to sell it as a plural game without saying this. Now its portrayal is deeply DEEPLY dated to 1998 Japan's understanding of it, but for its time its startlingly accurate and sympathetic. The depiction in the game matches the understanding of the time quite well, its just that time was 1998.

They really made an attempt at depicting dissociation through a visual medium, and the dynamic between Fei's alters is well developed. Its not amazing, its got SO many flaws in accuracy and unfortunate tropes, and its definitely not aged the best in many ways, but we did enjoy it quite a bit.

If you want a historical look at something that has a Very Robust plot -by that we mean lots and lots of lore-heavy cutscenes- and a plural character that has their plurality focused on, its beloved for a reason. One just has to keep in mind its from 1998 and everything about it is incredibly dated to that; from the gameplay to the portrayal of plurality and mental illness to the tackling of a variety of other subjects.

Please note this game is well known for being wildly dark and having a complicated and often confusing plot. The plot requires your full attention to make sense, and even then it can be confusing to many people. Its not for everyone but we personally enjoyed it and thought it wasnt as confusing as a lot of people find it.

Plural Tags: memory work, fusion/integration, otherworld, children, mpd/did, enmity, abuse high-focus

Content Warnings: This includes spoilers. See comments.

Accessibility Notes: Physical copies for the ps1 are rare and expensive due to being out of print, but it may be bought on the ps vita/ps3 eshop, it's been uploaded to archive.org in English and a Quebecois French patch (can't vouch for quality) and there are lets plays available on youtube. Linked lets play is a no commentary run: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMHR2xnx8VCrRvNrgh10j0eq5UQFvM_WC It isnt a completionist run, but shows the full main plot.
A lets play is the recommended option as the gameplay has aged considerably and its on an old system.

Misc. Notes (if any): Its also worth noting that some of the director's later works also feature plurality, and are more accurate to the experience indicating that the portrayals flaws were more due to the times than views towards plurals.

"Get back to your room..."

Blurb: An abused young woman tries to escape through her imagination and fails.

Why is it worth your time?: It's free, short, and pretty good. I played it and enjoyed it, despite its depressing tone and disturbing imagery.

Plural Tags: nonswitching, otherworld, introjects, abuse high-focus

Content Warnings: Contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Free to play, text dialogue. A completionist Let's Play with the dialogue read out loud is here, though it's not the best.

Misc Notes: This game is the first in a series, and I am not going to play the other two because the first is about as upsetting as I can take. It is an RPGmaker game inspired by cult hit Yume Nikki, which I'm also working on playing through.

Play it here! (Back-up link here.)

submitted by yolcatzin !

“Okay. We're both here, neither of us lost our minds in the synthesis process. As far as I can tell, the operation was a success. We're meant to be one person now, unrecognizable to anyone who knew us before.”

Blurb: The rebel Andra and her partner-in-crime Alex live in a world where words are reality. There are tools that can change the names of things to transform the things themselves. These even work on people — Alex and Andra have disguised themselves from the police of the oppressive island nation Anglophone Atlantis by portmanteauing themselves into a single being named Alexandra. Now, armed with only a letter-remover, they must escape from Atlantis before the day is over.

Why is it worth your time?: The way Counterfeit Monkey uses plurality as a narrative device is interesting to us. The player character's headmate is the narrator of the game. He often expresses his own opinions on the situations you find yourselves in and suggests things for you to do, and the game is sprinkled with scenes where he takes control to deal with things on his own. He's repeatedly acknowledged as a separate person from the player character by others who know of their predicament. It's a surprisingly good depiction of plurality despite the fantastical circumstances, and even though the author is (as far as we are aware) a singleton.

Also, the player character and their headmate remain in the same body for the whole game (aside from one bad ending that the game immediately lets you undo).

Plural Tags: on purpose, switching

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; in comments

Accessibility Notes: Free. Can be played in a web browser. Only requires you to read and write. There is an ingame tutorial. There is also a walkthrough (or "Invisiclues"). There are visuals (in the form of a map on the side of the screen), but you don't need to be able to see them in order to complete the game.

Can be found here: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl.

“I tried. I'm doing my best.”

Blurb: a depressed girl decides to climb a mountain, only to discover that the place brings your mind to life. And the girl's mind really, REALLY doesn't like her. The mountain and her own mind seems to fight her every step of the way, leading her to wonder: why is she doing this?

Why is it worth your time?: It's really good. Easy to learn, hard to win, fun to play, beautiful soundtrack, striking visuals, and weds its themes to its gameplay. I loved playing this game and regret that I've been unable to play the expansion due to injury. We wrote a more personal, spoilers-included explication of why we love it here.

Plural Tags: realitymashing, fusion/integration

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers. This game is kid-friendly!

Accessibility Notes: This game is HARD. Let's Plays get through it in roughly 20 hours, but it took us 140+, and we haven't done the expansion pack. Access Mode allows you to toggle various settings (such as game speed, increased stamina, and invulnerability) to make it more playable for folks who can't manage the intense twitch reflexes required. I had to use the mode myself to complete the game, and I appreciated that the game did not insult or punish me for it. That said, the voice audio is intentionally jibberish, and the text cannot be resized. There are Let's Plays for this game, but I haven't watched any and thus cannot recommend any in particular.

This game is also available in German, English, Castilian Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Portugal), and Russian.

Buy it here!