Pagan Autogeny:ii
Pagan: Autogeny

The abandoned MMO premise is one that nearly always gets me, so I naturally felt drawn to this game. Stepping in, you enter a nearly empty world with not a lot explained besides your basic menu controls. I open the skills menu.

skills list with: estrogen, body forging, caffeine, poetry, and murder

Ah yes, a standard array of skills.

I genuinely love how this game doesn't say much directly, but very clearly says 'This Game is Trans' in some respectably heavy-handed ways. It specifically focuses on transwomen/femme themes.

altar of a woman

The empty spaces in this game, made to be once inhabited, now uncannily empty, serves the uneasy, absent feeling the creator was going for. You get weapons early on, and I found myself clinging to mine as I entered every new area, regardless of how few and far between actual encounters really were. It really felt like you were discovering something and anything could be around the next corner.

eerie swamp with giant mushrooms

(it's also worth addressing that I am a weenie when it comes to remotely spooky/scary games, so public opinion may differ here, idk)

hub world/food court

I'd describe the plot of the game, but it's hard to explain the experience as having any clear discernible plot, so much as trying to convey a specific vibe. There are puzzles, mild boss fights, tarot card collecting, exploring eerie landscapes... All actions leading up to the eventually release of a martyr in the form of the Venus de Milo statue, something the meta of the game actively doesn't want you to do.

glitchy error screen

But you should do it. Free the Martyr!
a little dog in an airplane