The Squeakqual
Recently on Septhember 12th, Bloodmoney got a sequal, Human Expendature Program. In the game we play as Eun-Mi, taking care of Harvey Harvington in a sort of Tamogachi style simulation, while his physical body remains unknown and still unable to see his kid or his wife except through a screen. BEYOND THIS POINT IS SPOILERS!! STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED/SEEN THE SEQUAL
Anyways, HOOOLY FUCK WHAT A BITCH. We learn that Eun-mi is actually promoting the game as a sort of torture simulator and releasing it to the public as a way to pay off her own debt. Obviously, Harvey gets mad, he lashes out and depending on the ending you get, he dies in the game and the public turns on her, Or he dies IRL and his corpse is just... laying there? I guess.
Oh my god,,,, that scene where Toby asks where his dad is,,, and she just brushes his concerns off like its nothing OOOUUGHGHHHHH THIS WOMAN IS SO HOT BUT SHE MAKES ME SIIIIIICK.... I'm gonna eat my shirt.
Honestly, story-wise? I really enjoy the direction this new game took. They expanded the "Killing npcs is NOT funny actually" concept the first game had set up, and expanded it further, giving us a chain of exploitation that is more akin to "Well actually SOCIETY'S the bad guy here" which, idk I think is really unique, especially with all of the controvercies the game is currently under tight now. (cough cough, the fanmade game lovemoney cough cough). I also think it's intresting to expand the fourth wall to not only players, but also fandom as a whole. Not many fourthwally games tackle that.
Bloodmoney is an itch.io game that was developed by the user "SHROOMYCHRIST". The general premise is fairly simple. Desprate to pay off your medical bills, you drive around aimlessly until you happen upon a booth with this little guy, his name's Harvey Harvington! He tells you that everytime you click him, you get a dollar
From there, the rest is really up to you! You could just click on him and get the good ending, or you can but weapons from the shop to torture him with. And wheather or not you choose to leave him alive or not affects the ending entirely. There's an ending where he takes you to court and he looks so fucking hot there which should be more than enough incentive to play the game... imo.
The game tackles themes of money being the root of all evil (I mean, duh title) but it also talks a lot about free will vs. destiny. Considering Harvey is an NPC you literally torture, he'll often break the fourth wall to talk to you, the player about how you're really getting nothing out of this other than just... messing around with an npc.
Also, just like in the game, you can click Harvey! You can't torture him but you can poke him for a bit.
Why do I like this game?
I need Harvey so bad bro...
In all seriousness, I think the game is so appealing to me because of it's aesthetics and artstyle. Yeah yeah, cute thing actually evil is overdone especially in indie horror, but I really do enjoy looking at the art.
I'm personally mixed on the concept of 4th wall breaking. On one hand, I love games like DDLC that messes with your computer but at the same time, I think it's actually so corny when done poorly. But in terms of BLOODMONEY, I think it executes it alright. Idk I think the concept of an npc becoming sentient and degrading you is cool.