Pumpkin Eater

About Pumpkin Eater

Pumpkin Eater is a kinetic visual novel by the solo developer thugzilladev, first made for the 2021 Spooktober Jam and released on Steam in November 2021. It takes its title and opening from the nursery rhyme about Peter, who kept his wife in a pumpkin shell.

There are no choices to make. You read a story of about 40 minutes, split into numbered days, about a well-dressed mother, father and daughter looking after the son of the family. He sits in a wheelchair, and his head is a carved jack-o'-lantern. The family talk about smiles and good weather; the narration watches what is happening to him.

The pictures are hand-drawn and painted in soft watercolour: a pink sofa, a neat living room, a girl with a blue bow in her bedroom. That gentle look is what makes the subject land. The makers promise medical accuracy about human decomposition, and include a glossary and a timeline of events, and the Steam page warns of child endangerment and graphic violence. The graphic pictures can be censored in the settings.

It suits readers of short, quiet horror visual novels who want unease and grief rather than jump scares, and who can take frank body horror. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, and costs a couple of dollars.

How to play Pumpkin Eater

1. Buy and install Pumpkin Eater from Steam on Windows, Mac or Linux.
2. Open the settings first if you want the graphic pictures censored.
3. Start a new game and click or press a key to advance the text through each day.
4. When the story ends, read the glossary and timeline of events to see what the family would not say.

Tips

• Set aside about 40 minutes and read it in one sitting with the sound on; it is built to be read straight through.
• There are no choices, so you will not miss an ending by reading at your own pace.
• Use the censor option in the settings if body horror bothers you; the story still makes sense with it on.

Questions