Fern Flower

About Fern Flower

Fern Flower is a horror visual novel by the Ukrainian indie team Midnight Hiccup, the artists and writers seanlired and fixseel, who made its story, illustrations and soundtrack for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2025. It was written in Ukrainian and translated into English. It plays in the browser on itch.io, with downloads for Windows and Mac that the makers recommend, and you can pay what you want. The makers say no generative AI was used.

It takes its title and its folklore from the old legend of the fern flower. In the ashes of a ruined world, a religious cult in a distant village is dying of a disease, and it believes only the flower's healing power can save it. A desperate squad of chosen ones is sent into the dark forest to find it, where every step may be their last.

You follow them in text over grim, hand-drawn scenes in dark greens and black, lit by red: eyes in the dark, a silhouette that watches you wake, red hands reaching up through water, figures walking between the trees, a radio that only buzzes with static. The danger is not only the poisoned air and the cursed land; fear, doubt and loss work on the group as well.

It takes 40 to 50 minutes. The makers warn of flashing lights, unsettling noises, and themes of illness, psychological instability and death. Players on itch.io rate it 5.0 out of 5. It suits players who like folk horror told as a short, atmospheric visual novel.

How to play Fern Flower

1. Download the game for Windows or Mac from its itch.io page (the makers recommend it), or play it in the browser.
2. Pick English or Ukrainian as your language.
3. Read the story and click or press a key to move on.
4. Follow the squad through the forest to the end of their search.

Tips

• Play the download for the best experience, as the makers suggest.
• Use headphones; the sound design carries much of the fear.
• Take care if flashing lights bother you; the makers warn of them.

Questions