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Pumpkin Eater's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Score | #24 | 4.759 | 4.759 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Log Line
Pumpkin Eater is a psychological horror about a family taking care of their pumpkin headed son.
Content Warnings
This story is rated R for child endangerment and graphic depictions of violence and human decomposition. Visuals can be censored in settings.
Team Members
Awiola: Artist
Thugzilla: Programmer and Writer
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Comments
I'm super impressed with how much work you guys put into making this as accurate as possible! That's not something you see very often in video games, TV, and movies :3
SPOILERS
I should state that I don't even like children, but boy did I feel bad for the daughter in this story >.< I know that that the whole family is falling apart and I should feel sorry for everyone really, but holy hell the daughter had it bad >.< I couldn't help but keep putting myself in her shoes and feeling how horrifying a situation it must have been!
I loved how detailed this is. Nobody really talks about decomposition in detail.
Thanks! I wrote more about this in the bonus content. Decomposition is pretty gruesome for the average person, so media waters it down until it's palpable, showing either a fresh body or a mummified skeleton.
I'm pretty proud of my research and presentation of the decomposition. It's gross, but that's reality.
Gruesome, and I loved the the art direction that you decided to take . It did make me think about death, and how it would feel like to be in that situation.
Good work!
Truly horrifying! Well done!
I would never thought I could be so completely absorbed by lovingly detailed descriptions of human decomposition, but here we are.
I'm into the art style as well. The messy watercolor really fits the story, especially for the boy himself.
An interesting piece on the human decomposition. It was definitely unique in it's tone and the story presented
The sound fx and osts were perfect as well as the dreary artstyle. The characters also seemed to fit well for the theme as well.
That said, there were a few bumps in the road, as is to be expected in any game that is to be made within the span of a month. While I've given the creator my personal thoughts, I really think such an interesting premise should be revisited in the future. This idea has loads of potential and with more time then a mere month, I think this idea could be a phenomenal piece for the horror genre of visual novels
Just tried this yesterday and I must say that the way you describe the decomposition process is soo good. Disturbing, but good, and I really appreciate the glossary. Towards the end, I actually felt pity to the pumpkin head boy ;;_;; and the children illustration-style artwork actually makes the story even more disturbing, so good work to the devs! ^^
Thank you so much!!!
This was a really cool game. I feel like the premise and sound design of the game was fantastic, and just perfect for a small spooky story (~30 mins).
I feel like there were certain lines of dialogue in the writing, and one or two grammatical errors that could be fixed so total 4/5 stars :)!
Thank you, I appreciate the honest feedback :)
(Tim) This one really creeped me out. There was a recent period in my life where I'd have nightmares about body decomposition because of a death in the family, and this weirdly enough has helped me come to terms with death a bit better. Memento mori is weird.
I also really like how the pumpkin head is quite on brand for Thugzilla, of object head VN fame. Moreover, the music is excellent and added a lot to the atmosphere.
Definitely one of my favorite Spooktober VNs, and I predict that this one will have quite a lot of staying value in the OELVN literature.
O-Of object head fame?! You're too kind! :D I'm glad you enjoyed this. Pumpkin Eater actually came from a nightmare of mine about a year ago, where I was on some pretty rough SSRIs where one of the side effects was "abnormal dreams". It was so realistic, detailed, and bizarre that I wrote it down and finally became a VN! I haven't dealt with a close death in the family, God willing, but a while ago one of my professors passed away in a complete freak accident, and I would say morbidly inspired me with the theme of denial and grief. Memento mori is definitely weird.
Spooky and squicky! The routine normality of the 1950's setting contrast well with the steady decay of a corpse.
I would pair this Spooktober Jam piece with a Hot Spiked Mulled Apple Cider.
Thank you! Pumpkin Eater was based on a dream I had and for some reason the setting took place in the 50s. I decided to roll with it, but I'm glad people are enjoying it! :D
This was an amazing horror visual novel. The storyline was captivating and the visual art of the game was stunning as well. Even though it would be more to my liking if more of the gruesome and horrifying scenes were drawn out, the way the storyline was written and the amount of hardwork put in into making sure that the timeline and method of decomposition of the dead body was relatively accurate is worth praising. Moreover, the storyline could happen to any family where a single family member's death could lead to a whole chain of horrible events. I really loved the idea of the pumpkin head and the amount of time and effort used to shape each character in the game.
Captivating storyline, you are too kind! Thanks!
Thank you for creating the game :)