shutdown.

About shutdown.

shutdown. was made by kalechips, who wrote, drew and programmed it, with music and sound by atapi, for the O2A2 VN Jam 2023. As its page lists, it is built from a thousand words, one sprite, one background, one song and one sound effect. It plays in the browser on itch.io and can be downloaded free for Windows, Mac and Linux.

You are a doll, awake on an operating table, and you have mere minutes before you are disassembled and gone. Someone is leaning over you, picking at your rivets. Told in the first person over one painted, washed-out workshop scene, the game lets you choose what to give up first: your speech, your hearing, your sight, or all of it at once.

The horror is quiet and bodily. There are no chases or jump scares, only the knowledge of what is being done to you and the choice of how to meet it. Players call it creepy, cruel to dolls and sad, and the maker sums it up as four endings and a single shared fate.

It takes a few minutes to read through, longer to see every ending. It suits players who like short, strange visual novels such as It Paints Me or Hikeback, where the dread sits in one small situation.

How to play shutdown.

1. Press Run game on the itch.io page, or download it for Windows, Mac or Linux.
2. Click to read on as the doll wakes on the table.
3. Pick an option when you are asked what to give up.
4. Play again and choose differently to see all four endings.

Tips

• Use the History button if you miss a line; text can move quickly.
• Save before the choice so you can try each option.
• Play with sound on; it has one song and one sound effect, and both matter.
• It is very short, so see all four endings in one sitting.

Questions