Imago Dirge

Would you mind if i make a novel about this? I'll give you credit istg, amazing game btw, i cried 🥲.

Dear SummerOrigins,

I am a final-year student pursuing a degree in English-to-Spanish Translation preparing to undertake a final project focused on video game localization. As an enthusiast of visual novel games, I am deeply fascinated by "Imago Dirge". I enjoyed exploring its different endings! The plot is engaging, and the overall audiovisual aesthetics are delightful. Therefore, I would be pleased to contribute to your community by offering English-to-Spanish translation services at no cost as part of my thesis, whether for "Imago Dirge" or another game from your studio. My aim is to introduce their captivating experience to a broader audience of Spanish-speaking players who may not be proficient in English.

If you are interested, I would be happy to provide further details. Thank you in advance for your time!

holy shit holy. this was great!!

i got here because i was interested in the art with a limited palette but the story was very good too! trying all the different endings was really cool (and the way things changed in each of them was really interesting)

i love maisie...... i hope she gets away from that house soon, too.

it is soooooo good. ty for this game! very cathartic

guess whos back ladies bros and nonbinary hoesmasie in the house with elsbian she ,,lik grils

literally crying, love this game. know its based on Kafka, but for me it’s a lil metaphor for being transgender. like an exact parallel to my experience as a trans woman (well, except for the body horror haha). anyways drew you some fanart + might draw more l8r!!!

(Copied from my Spooktober rating page review to help this game within itch.io's algorithm!)

Maisie... I got ending 5 in the game, and gosh, Maisie and the MC's relationship is genuinely very sweet. I love seeing strong sibling relationships in fiction, and this one's no different.

I was heartbroken when I saw how the MC's parents (especially his mother, good lord) treated him post-transformation, but there's still that little thread of hope that the MC can come back home - or that the MC can survive on his own (since he has all of his legal documents with him).

The art style for this game is lovely too: I'm always a sucker for limited palettes in games, and this one's no different - with its bold shading and red highlighting important character details (like the photo frame in the Master Bedroom). The way you draw hands is gorgeous too.

Great stuff all around - thanks so much for making this!

This was awesome! I got three endings on my own, but needed help to find the other two. Thank you for the walkthrough, it saved me lol.

I really enjoyed this game, I actually love body horror and narratives of change and changing. I loved the like - references to changing as a human, beyond the supernatural change into Something Else. The way it's a supernatural narrative of something so realistic and close to home - and, tbh, a lot of stuff that is... very relatable.

Parents really struggle when kids grow up, huh?

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

The only thing I wish is that we could have killed our parents but still spared Maisie - she was decent, y'know? That's the only flaw with the game, not having variants on ending 3 :P

You did a great job on this Spooktober game! 

omg this was actually so sad , i felt that personally omfg i wanna hug the main character nowww ;0;

The fifth ending really resonated with me since I related very much with the main character. Great story!

No Linux version? I'm not sure but I *might* be able to run it on a virtual Linux machine, so wondering :)

Man... I just... man.

When I read Kafka I immediately started thinking about different ways it could have gone, and was furious how they didn't even try to communicate with the protag once he transformed. Not even a yes-or-no question. Its nice to see that at least the sister wasn't that braindead, and was willing to call out the parents on their bull.

I managed to get all the endings after looking through the walkthrough. Loving the various small changes depending on what you do beforehand.
SPOILERS BELOW


I like how Maisie becomes a silhouette once she stops trusting us.
I'm assuming Maisie never actually asked us for help with homework, and therefore assumed we were trying to impersonate her bro?
Also, what happens in the second ending, exactly? The first one, we fail to come out of the cocoon and die. The third one, we kill our parents. The fourth one we run away, and the fifth we run away but with actual prep. 

But what happens in the second one? 

AUGH this was an experience it just. really . really hurt yknow? like how the parents treated their son and everything it just. stung a lot. the writing is really good and. god. the music. maisie. everything. it just

hurts. in a good way. i really love this.

i went through a couple of routes and MY GODDDD, there were parts that gutted me. i'm sure this story is one that hits close to home for many. man, it was tough trying to stomach through all the dehumanizing comments. the opening scene is sooo deliciously body horror i wish it lasted a little longer. i also adore this art style and it was incredible seeing how it plays out in the scenes where you try to make sense of your own face. overall, super cool game!!! thank you for breaking my heart!!!

made me actually cry man. id say more but itd make this comment a fairly long one and idk how much i have the time to type rn

this is a game i really really wanna play, but i'm noticing a content warning of insect imagery..now that i can cope with, but i get serious panic attacks if i even see an image of a cockroach (even just typing the word feels super uncomfortable) so iiii am too scared to play in case something like that happens :3

boy oh boy do i love myself some body horror stories where the body horror is just a metaphor for being trans

trans rihgts

A very enjoyable if certainly unsettling story (but of course, to be expected!). The artstyle is very nice/unique and brought to mind a fairytale or children's book with a sudden, or gradually building, dark twist. Even then, despite the contrast, I felt they complimented one another very well.

The story was certainly one that struck me personally, so kudos to you for writing such a believable and thought-out game! It was a lot of fun uncovering the endings and seeing how the story could end because of it. It was very interesting to see Kafka's work with a more modern spin. Well done!

(And, minor point, but I adore how you draw hands oh my goodness <3)

Thank you for writing this game. I can see you put a lot of time and thought in it. I felt myself strongly identifying with the main character, and it was a little close to home. But that is what good art does, it lets you go the places you don't won't to go, and come back with both insight and some hope for resilience. I love that you own the Kafka influence, the art direction, and the solid writing. Bravo.

nice

Cannot get the third ending for the life of me help lol

The colors, the abstract art style, the writing, amazing, conveyed the fear and anxiety in this story oh so well - shout-out to the shadows on the family being used so effectively-

But oh gosh this game destroyed me emotionally, Ending 5 my heart augh-

It's very much a game about waking up as a monster, but certain bits of dialogue, the way the parents react, I feel like it tells an unfortunately relatable story across the board really well... 

I really enjoyed combing through this story and getting as many endings as I could! The art style is simple but striking and I honestly found the MC very much relatable (despite my not literally having woken up as a monster yet lol)

This was freaking awesome, I loved it a lot!! The MC and their sister, Macie, were especially great. I loved their relationship. The art was very unique and captivating. I love how you never really see the MC's face but neither do you see the parents' faces, but you DO see the sister. As if the MC viewed the parents as monsters. I also love that the story can also have a lot of interpretations just like Kafka's Metamorphosis!