Tell It Slant

About Tell It Slant

Tell It Slant is a visual novel made for the 2024 Spooktober Visual Novel Jam by a team directed by E.C., with writing and programming by B.L. McDarragh, art by Jessey N. Droz and music and sound by Senaeris. Apart from the player character it is fully voiced: CobaltKobold as the Narrator, Vanessa Benoit as An Old Friend and Chase Via as The Other One. It ranked 13th overall and 3rd for voice acting in the jam, and the team's devlog celebrates CobaltKobold being named the jam's best voice actor. It is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux on itch.io.

The makers describe it as an intimate and layered parable about friendship, grief, and what is left behind when power is traded for belonging. You are caught between a forgotten friend and unseen threats, and you have to find the angle where the lies you are told start to reflect the truth. If you fail, the game tells you not to fear: you can start again from the beginning.

The look is Victorian: an overgrown courtyard under a violet sky, a lamp-lit room with a crystal ball and a grandfather clock, and a hooded, red-haired old friend whose smile shows fangs as she promises that all will be well. Text sits on ornate card-like panels, and the music and ambience are original. One player quotes its opening, the cold settling over your shoulders like a shadow left out in the rain.

Players on itch.io rate it 5.0 out of 5 from 13 ratings and praise its voice acting, prose and atmosphere; one calls the story chilling and its climax the best part. It suits players who like slow, literary ghost stories where the threat is in what you are told.

How to play Tell It Slant

1. Download Tell It Slant from its itch.io page for Windows, Mac or Linux, unzip it and run it.
2. Click to advance the narration and voiced lines.
3. Make your choices carefully, weighing what your old friend tells you against what you see.
4. If you fail, start again from the beginning and try a different angle.

Tips

• Play with sound on; it is fully voiced and the voice acting placed 3rd in its jam.
• Use History in the menu to reread a line before you choose.
• The settings offer a larger text size and a more legible font.
• Rollback lets you step back through recent lines.

Questions