Devil's Terminal

Being a teenager feels like being possessed

Devil’s Terminal is a coming-of-age mystery about a teen plagued by an evil voice. The story takes place at Guidance, a place that promises to exorcise the problem out of “problem children.” You arrive, you hand over your phone, you meet four other troubled kids, the camp's shady owner, a lively counselor, and a quirky staff medium. It’s all typical camp stuff—until...

You find an old computer in the attic. Somehow, it silences the voice that has been controlling you. It calls you the Chosen One, gives prophecies that come true, and sets you on a quest to uncover the dark past of Guidance... What’s really happening here? You were chosen. You'll figure it out. You’re not a loser anymore, you’re the main character.

Cool stuff:

• Gag reel of life: Remember how it sucked to be 16? We'll remind you.
• Inner conflict: There’s you, there’s the voice in your head, and then there’s a Narrator who makes comments about you both like it’s above you all or something. Crazy stuff.
• Know what’s coming: Wanna find out what to say and do to get to the best ending? Just ask the computer. The more you know about your future, the more options you will have.
• That's just, like, your opinion, man: Uncover real clues and jump to insane conclusions.
• Be delusional: See the world through logic, faith, or indifference, and find exactly what you’re looking for. If you think it’s all a conspiracy, then it's totally a conspiracy.
• A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal: Or, more accurately—a soulless musician, a lying goth, a hillbilly genius, and a violently unstable sweetheart.
• Find friends and lovers: Ruin the lives of everyone around you. Especially if you try to date them.

What to talk about in your video essay about this game:

• Free will: How do you decide what to do? Do you feel freer when you play games? Who tells you what to do? Is it you? Or is it some voice in your head?
• Truth: Look at the world through a crystal ball—see the tree of life. Look at it through a microscope—see atoms and molecules. Is one more real than the other?
• Growing up: What does it mean to "grow out of it"? What's a "phase"? Are there any adults, or is the world full of different-sized kids?
• Why is “troubled teen” still a phrase?: This is not a philosophical question; it's just something that we don't like.

Art:

Full disclosure: We’re otakus. This "game" was just an elaborate excuse to hire a Japanese artist to draw all of our OCs in a hundred poses so we could RP on our closed server and never touch grass again. The plan worked.