Atropa

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A mummy party in Victorian England, on a Game Boy Color.

Platforms: Browser
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: Rated 4.8 out of 5 by 6 players on itch.io; #20 overall in the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2025 results and on the judges' shortlist of 26 honourable mentions out of 250 entries
Length: 30 to 60 minutes
Players: 1
Controls: Browser: Z and X for the A and B buttons, Enter for Start, Shift for Select; or a Game Boy or emulator
Made by: calygreyhound (Dizzy)
Released: 2025

What frightens In Victorian England a professor back from Cairo brings a mummified Egyptian princess to a family's house for the guests to unwrap, and what follows is supernatural horror told in Game Boy Color pixel art; the maker warns of death, cannibalism, the desecration of a corpse and other disturbing themes.
Content: death, cannibalism, desecration of a corpse, colonialism, discrimination.

A free horror visual novel for the Game Boy Color by calygreyhound. In Victorian England, a professor brings home a mummified Egyptian princess for a family and their friends to unwrap, and the evening turns to supernatural horror in about 30 to 60 minutes of reading.

About Atropa

Atropa is a horror visual novel made with GB Studio to run on a real Game Boy Color, written, drawn and programmed by Dizzy (calygreyhound) for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2025. It plays in the browser on itch.io, or you can download the ROM for a Game Boy emulator or an Analog Pocket. It is pay what you want, and the maker says no generative AI was used.

It opens as a diary entry from 19 October 18XX. Papa has invited Professor Ingram to stay; he is back from a venture in Cairo and promises to bring a mummified body, an ancient Egyptian princess, for them to unwrap. It sounds rather gruesome in writing, the diarist admits, but she is looking forward to it, and her friend Lydia and Lydia's brother Edward will be there too.

It is a kinetic novel, with no choices or branches: about 8,500 words, read in 30 to 60 minutes, over small, careful pixel portraits and scenes in the Game Boy Color's limited colours, with a golden funeral mask staring out of the dark. The maker promises morally ambiguous characters and some very dubious archaeological practices, and warns of death, cannibalism, the desecration of a corpse, colonialism and discrimination.

It has only a handful of ratings on itch.io so far, but it was among the 26 games the jam's judges shortlisted for honourable mention out of 250 entries. Saving is by autosave only and there is no backlog. It suits players who like Victorian gothic horror and the look of handheld games.

How to play Atropa

Open the game's itch.io page and press Run game to play in the browser, or download the ROM for a Game Boy emulator.
Press Z (the A button) or Enter to move the text on.
Read the story to its end; there are no choices.
Let it autosave; there is no manual save or backlog.

Screenshots

Atropa screenshot: a golden Egyptian funeral mask with dark-lined eyes in Game Boy Color pixel art on black

Atropa screenshot: Edward and Lydia in Victorian clothes in pixel art, with Lydia asking you were in on this, weren't you

Atropa screenshot: a blonde girl in a pink dress asking whether the professor will object to a closer look

Atropa running on a handheld screen: the professor beside a girl, saying around four thousand years

Tips

Read slowly; there is no backlog to look back at earlier lines.
The maker is not sure autosave works well in the browser, so try to play in one sitting.
For the sharpest picture, play the ROM in an emulator or on an Analog Pocket.