The history of Desolate Village’s development (and possible future).

Desolate village was first published on the 6th of November in 2016 for the 2016 Pixel Horror Jam. It was created by Tumblr user Choko and has since been stated to be getting a complete redesign by Choko herself. However, no dates or updates have been given, so it is likely assumed the game is in an indefinite hiatus. (And this obviously goes without saying but. For those of you in the Eddsworld fandom, DO NOT HARASS CHOKO ABOUT THIS GAME. Thank you.)

Full Story exploration & True Ending

In order to collect gameplay for this article, I had to watch people play the game on YouTube. Not because I am incapable of downloading a file and booting it up onto my computer, or figuring out how to move in video games. But because, unfortunately, Choko has taken down the original build of the game. And as I am not interested in risking getting a virus onto my computer just for authenticity by finding a possible bootleg so, I will be using any playthroughs I can find as reference points.

So the game opens with narration (as many games do), and the narrator tells someone about a popular urban myth that the unseen listener hasn’t heard of. In true Creepypasta fashion, all the awful things are conveniently blurred out, so it’s left up to the player’s imagination on what happens. This then leads to our protagonist Alex, waking up and monologuing to himself about where he is.

After Alex stops pretending his second name is Eggleston, he leaves the small house he found himself in and begins walking around outside. After a little walking, our protagonist runs into a human-sized cat. Once approaching the giant cat, it speaks to Alex in English. And act like they know each other. Naturally, Alex has no idea who the hell this cat is or how the hell it’s capable of communicating past meowing. Even after introducing herself as Kitty, Alex has no darn clue of how she knows him.

After our protag makes it very clear to Kitty he has no idea who she is, Kitty decides to take Alex to Rabbit’s shop, siting that “He can help”! So, the two of them visit Rabbit, Kitty explains her plight, and Rabbit hands Alex some pills that can “Help”. Now. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that pills do not fix amnesia. But hey, maybe I’m just thick.

Anyway, Rabbit then realises that he forgot to grab berries, siting that he needs them for something he’s making for “Mr Honey Bear.” and then cries. So, Alex and Kitty then agree to go locate the berries for this lazy piece of- …something that’s not in French.

So after that, Rabbit decides to make Alex his errand boy for the day and sends him and Kitty off to go deliver the pie to Mr Honey Bear. So after delivering the pie to him, watching him go on a mini-rant about all different types of pie like he was in a kids’ commercial, and then falling asleep. Alex, naturally, decided to return to Rabbit after witnessing that strange event. To which Rabbit sends them to see Ms Squeaks, who is a mouse. Nice one Choko.

Anyway, after speaking to her for two hours (Jump-cut obviously) and bullying Kitty along the way. The game finally starts becoming more interesting. The player is given two choices here, either they can have Alex take the pills or not. For the story to progress, Alex chooses not to take the pills. And things get weird. It all comes to ahead when Kitty is actually revealed to be a human wearing a cat mask. Dun dun dun! Knocking Alex out after realising he hasn’t taken the pills.

When Alex reawakens, he was tied to a chair, though luckily he was able to escape thanks to a poorly tied rope. Blast the rope! Going outside, things are a lot different. The sky is now a hyperrealistic red, and everything is generally run down and scruffy looking. Once Alex goes into Rabbit’s shop. Gasp! He’s been replaced by a human! Well, not actually. Rabbit is actually named Adam and Kitty is named Chloe (everyone will now be referred to by their real name for reference, but I will note who is who so you don’t get confused.)

Adam reveals that the reason why Alex was even able to escape in the first place was because he intentionally left the ropes untied, and not because he is incapable of tying a decent knot. Before telling Alex that if he wants to escape, he’ll need to go through the clinic, however, as Stella (Ms Squeaks) is guarding the exit, Alex will need to contact Elliot (Honey Bear) for help.

Through Adam’s guidance, Alex finds Elliot, panicking over his “Beloved’s” hand being missing. After Alex speaks to him, Elliot asks him to find her hand, warning Alex that they’ll be problems if he brings back the wrong hand. Well. That’s definitely not foreboding death. Anyway, Alex goes back to Adam, asking about the hand in which Adam goes “Hand? Here, have a key.” and hands over the key needed. Once the correct hand is found and given to Elliot. He will go distract Stella for you, why Adam couldn’t do some or all of this himself, who knows?

After Stella has been removed, Alex sneaks into the clinic heading down the left corridor, finding himself accidentally startling James (A character who we have not met the animal version of before.) Alex and James converse for a bit, with James warning Alex not to trust Adam too much (A line that I will pick apart in the follow-up article). However, as this whole game is built on Papa Adam holding our hand, Adam gives us both a key and a knife in order to help us escape the clinic’s locked doors…kind of.

The key that Adam handed you was actually for Chloe’s house and going inside, you find the key you need to this animal crossing nightmare escape…and a diary. However, for the sake of the length of this article, Alex picks up the key and ignores the diary. For now. As Alex goes back to James, promising to take him with him, the two descend down the staircase. Until. Gasp! Stella is blocking the path!

Stella tells them that both of them will be punished by Chloe, with Adam (because he’s also there for some reason), saying a punishment might not even happen. However, before anyone can even say anything more. Chloe reveals herself. She begins going through this monologue about how life is unfair and the only choices Alex gets are bad or death. So naturally, having witnessed the insanity of these people, having been tied up and drugged by them, and threatened on multiple occasions. Alex chooses to join them…sike.

Alex pretends to join them, however, instead of taking Chloe’s hand and riding off into the sunset. He brutally decapitates her. Holding her head for everyone to see, claiming that he is now in charge and if anyone disagrees, they can end up like Chloe. And the game ends. (We do also get the unfiltered version of the urban legend from the start of the game, basically just reiterating everything Alex through, so it’s not that important.)

Conclusion

Desolate Village’s story is weird. There’s no way around it. And this article was just the surface-level stuff, cutting out a lot of the fluff and filler (and an entire 2-minute conversation about pie as well as a pie rant from Elliot. Yeah, you can tell the game was made for a Game Jam). Don’t worry. I will have a lot more positive things to say about the game in the second half. But for now, thank you for reading this article and have a good day.