RPG Maker horror Short horror Horror 2D horror

Sweet No Death

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A pastel village, a helpful star witch, and a lamb who will not play along.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: Rated 4.7 of 5 from 278 ratings on itch.io
Length: about 30 minutes
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard, with RPG Maker's menus
Made by: arcadekitten
Released: 2023

What frightens A pink and cutesy RPG Maker game about Stella, a star witch who keeps a village of animal friends happy, that its maker says suddenly turns dark. Lambchop, the sweet lamb who runs the shop, is not what he seems, and the maker warns of death, blood, gore and forced cannibalism.
Content: blood and gore, death, forced cannibalism, strong language.

Sweet No Death is a free, short RPG Maker horror game by arcadekitten. You play Stella, a star witch who looks after a pink, pastel village of animal friends and helps them with their troubles, until one of them, the lamb Lambchop, needs more help than the others. It takes about 30 minutes and has two endings.

About Sweet No Death

Sweet No Death is the ninth game by arcadekitten, the maker of Crowscare and It's Not Me, It's My Basement, released free on itch.io in June 2023 for Windows, macOS and Linux. Her own pitch is short: your classic pink and cutesy game that suddenly turns dark, or does it.

You are Stella, a witch with lavender hair and a star on her hat, who lives in a village of animal folk in the woods and keeps their days pleasant. You walk the pastel streets, knock on doors, visit the shops and talk to your friends. Lambchop, a polite lamb in a sweater vest who runs a shop, is the one who needs the most attention.

The maker calls it dialogue heavy, closer to a visual novel with light RPG elements: most of the half hour is spent in conversation, with character portraits over the pixel-art map. The horror comes from the contrast between the candy colours and what is going on underneath, and the maker's warnings are plain: death, blood, gore and forced cannibalism, along with strong language.

There are two endings, which the maker labels a wrong ending and a real one rather than bad and good. It suits players who liked the cute-turned-dark turn of Doki Doki Literature Club or arcadekitten's other games and want something to finish in one sitting. It is free to download, with an optional payment.

How to play Sweet No Death

Download Sweet No Death free from its itch.io page for Windows, macOS or Linux, in English or one of its translations.
Unzip it and start the game (on a Mac, the maker advises opening the nwjs file inside Game.app rather than the Game application).
Walk Stella around the village and talk to everyone you meet.
Follow the story to Lambchop's shop and listen to what he has to say.
Play again to see the other ending.

Screenshots

Sweet No Death screenshot: Lambchop the lamb in a pink sweater vest smiling in his candy shop as he says Hi Stella

Sweet No Death screenshot: Stella in a pastel town square with a heart-shaped fountain, lamp posts and a shop

Tips

Read everything: the game is mostly dialogue, and small odd lines are part of the story.
Inspect objects in rooms; some of them say more than they first seem to.
The maker warns that it may not work on every Mac; Windows is the safest choice.