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Psycholonials is an episodic video game created by Andrew Hussie. It is a visual novel with a presentation style reminiscent of Homestuck.
Presentation
As a visual novel, Psycholonials currently features no interactive elements outside of moving forwards and backwards in the story. It retains MS Paint Adventures' save system and second-person narration, as well as Homestuck's color-coded conversations between characters. It features a soundtrack by Clark Powell, which plays in the background during reading and cutscenes.
Overview
Psycholonials' steam page summarises the premise as follows: "While in communication with supernatural forces, two influencers launch a daring new social media brand. Set on April 20th, 2020, Psycholonials is a multipart visual novel with an engaging story and compelling characters."
The plot centres on Zhen, depressed 23 year old and maligned internet personality living without work during the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, and her friend Abby, a highly regarded online celebrity. Experiencing strange cryptic dreams of an immense shadowy figure, Zhen's average day of binge drinking begins to turn into much more. The plot centres heavily on themes surrounding media consumption, mental health, depression, and internet culture, taking a more serious turn on topics touched on frequently by Hiveswap and Hiveswap Friendsim.
In keeping with tradition, content warnings include crude language, violence, and use of drugs & alcohol.
Development
Hussie began posting cryptic images on his Instagram account during November 2020, leading to speculation that was quickly confirmed when a trailer[1] for the game was released in December 2020. Formerly known as Eboyhussie, the account changed to dclussie, named after his "clownsona" D-Clussie. Whether this is a Psycholonials in-character reference or merely insanity remains to be seen.
The game was released in 9 chapters over the course of 12 weeks, as dictated by a schedule featured on the Psycholonials website. A majority of the development was completed over the course of four months.
Chapters
| Number | Title | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | Summer That Never Was | February 3, 2021 |
| Chapter 2 | Pranxis | February 17, 2021 |
| Chapter 3 | Wildcard | February 24, 2021 |
| Chapter 4 | A Symbol of Strength | March 3, 2021 |
| Chapter 5 | Stuck Pig | March 10, 2021 |
| Chapter 6 | The Practice of Delegation | March 24, 2021 |
| Chapter 7 | It Never Even Stood A Chance | March 31, 2021 |
| Chapter 8 | Grinch Heart | April 13, 2021 |
| Chapter 9 | A Sword and A Crown | April 20, 2021 |
Credits
- Writing & Illustration
- Music
- Lead Engineer
- Additional Engineering
- Editing
- Translation
- Publisher
- The Silence Mill, Inc.
- Language Proofreaders
- Yitong Zhu
- Raissa Castro
- SK
- James Roach
- MGS Fanart
Gallery
Trivia
- The game will be released in 7 different languages besides its native English, making it Andrew Hussie's most translated work to date. Hiveswap was intended to be released with 4,[2] but this has not yet come to fruition.
- The game is set in a universe more close to reality than that of Homestuck, with the webcomic itself existing and having once been a big part of Zhen's life. This is reminiscent of Problem Sleuth's appearance as a fictional work in Homestuck.
- Playing cards, specifically the 4 of Diamonds (as well as groups of four diamonds in general), are featured heavily in the trailer, a motif common in Homestuck, particularly the Midnight Crew.
- Zhen and Abby's names are both four letters long, following the pattern of the human kids in Homestuck. However, Zhen usually goes by just "Z".
- Since the real world messaging functions of Instagram and Discord lack color-coded messaging like Pesterchum and Trollian, it can be assumed that the text colors of characters in Psycholonials are entirely stylistic.
- Psycholonials features very heavy clown imagery, including direct references to the Insane Clown Posse. This is a continuing trend in most if not all of Hussie's work, and should worry all of us.
- At roughly 70,000 words, Psycholonials' word count is comparable in length to Homestuck Acts 1 through 3 combined, and is nearly 1.5x longer than the entirety of Problem Sleuth.[3]
References
External Links
| Psycholonials | |
|---|---|
| Characters | Abby • Joculine • Percy • Zhen • Mizzlebip |
| Creators | Andrew Hussie • Clark Powell • Kohi • Aysha U. Farah • Adelaide Killigan |
| Related Concepts | Clown • Prankster's Gambit • Chat client |
| Works by Andrew Hussie | |
|---|---|
| Homestuck Universe | Homestuck (Hivebent) • Hiveswap/Hauntswitch • The Homestuck Epilogues • Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon • Hiveswap Friendship Simulator • Pesterquest • Paradox Space • Skaianet Systems Incorporated • Snapchat |
| MS Paint Adventures | Jailbreak • Bard Quest • Problem Sleuth (Midnight Crew) • Homestuck • Ryanquest |
| Team Special Olympics | Blurb • Scriblettes • Whistles • And It Don't Stop • Neon Ice Cream Headache |
| Other | Barty Anderson • Jandrew Edits • Wizardology • Namco High • Psycholonials |