Decarnation is an indie Survival Horror Puzzle Game developed by Atelier QDB and published by Shiro Unlimited. It was released worldwide on May 31, 2023 and is available on Steam
for PC and Steam Deck. In broad therms, the game can be described as what would happen if David Lynch and Junji Ito collaborated on making an game inspired by Yume Nikki.
The story is set in Paris, 1990. Cabaret dancer Gloria is struggling. Her boss wants to retire her due to her age, her relationship with much younger university student Joy is falling apart and her mother keeps nagging her about her life choices. Adding onto that are her dwindling self-esteem and the horrific nightmares she suffers every time she goes to sleep.
Things seem to be looking up for her, when she is contacted by the famous Mr. Saint-Louís, who offers her her own show. However, on the day Gloria goes to meet him in a park, she is knocked out. When she awakens, she finds herself trapped in an underground room as the captive of a Loony Fan of hers, who calls himself the Master and has his manservant Bob keep her company. Will Gloria manage to find a way to escape?
Decarnation contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: The Master and Bob claim to be big fans of Gloria, but their actions toward her are nothing short of repulsive. Bob is introduced molesting and feeling up a brass statue of Gloria in a museum and the Master kidnaps Gloria and imprisons her in the basement of his house. It's not too surprising that they turn out to be one and the same, with the whole manservant bit being Bob's attempt to win Gloria's trust.
- Action Survivor: Gloria is a dancer with severe mental problems who gets kidnapped by a Loony Fan, and while she does understandably suffer a Despair Event Horizon more than once during her months-long captivity, in the end she manages to stay true to herself and even set herself free by tricking and then incapacitating her kidnapper.
- Affectionate Nickname: The Kid calls Gloria "Glo-glo".
- Art Game: Decarnation revolves around the darker sides of the art world in general and especially its treatment of women, with the main character being a cabaret dancer dealing with the fact that she might be forced to quit being a dancer at the age of thirty and being abducted by a Loony Fan who puts her on a pedestal and has no respect for her bodily autonomy or freedom. The rather predatory attitude a lot of artists have toward women and especially women's suffering is also highlighted through a lot of side characters.
- Bad Boss: The Master seemingly keeps Bob imprisoned in the mansion not unlike Gloria, only permitting him to go outside to buy groceries and punishing him severely if he disobeys. Subverted when it's revealed that the Master and Bob are the same person and Bob was always free to do whatever he wanted.
- Bittersweet Ending: More sweet than bitter. The Black Swan is shutting down and due to her horrific experiences Gloria now feels detached from Paris and her old apartment. However, the experience has also strengthened Gloria's resolve and she makes the decision to go on a spontaneous road trip to the sea, so she can figure out what she truly wants in life. She also makes up with Joy and it's implied the two of them might get back together.To put the cherry on top, Petrus agreed to have Gloria's statue removed from the museum and is starting a healthy relationship with her mother Victoria, who also makes him rethink his stance on older women as models for his artwork.
- Central Theme: The art world's general exploitation of women, especially younger women, and dismissal of those women it deems 'too old'. Gloria is forced out of her job as a dancer, which she loves, in favor of much younger candidates and the fact that she'll be turning thirty soon is a frequent source of anxiety for her. In addition, most of the men in her life the majority of which are in some way involved with the arts, constantly objectify her and have no trouble exploiting her for her body, but then throw her aside once they have what they wanted from her.
- Controllable Helplessness: Pretty much all of the basement segments are this. There's not much Gloria can do in her cell, aside from interacting with whatever her kidnappers left her.
- Creepy Doll: The nightmare worlds are full of them, from scary mannequins to more traditional ragdolls.
- Dark World: Gloria's nightmare worlds formed out of her daily stress, fears and anxieties. They tend to mix Body Horror with extremely grotesque imagery and puzzles built around Gloria's real-life problems that she's unable or unwilling to address.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crossed multiple times as Gloria's mental state steadily deteriorates. Confronting the 'Princess' persona - a vision of what she'll become if she submits to the Master - shocks her back to her senses.
- Fan Disservice: Gloria is a beautiful woman and spends much of the game in a short nightgown or only half-dressed. However, since the context is her being kidnapped and/or traversing horrifying nightmare worlds it's less tantalizing and more extremely uncomfortable.
- Foreshadowing: There are a lot of hints to the Master's true identity. He only ever speaks to Gloria when Bob isn't around, when he appears in person he's always masked and wearing a robe and him and Bob share the same unhealthy obsession with Gloria. That's because there was never a Master. There was only Bob, pretending to be two different people in a twisted attempt to win Gloria's trust as the manservant while directing all her hatred and resentment to the Master-persona.
- Hairpin Lockpick: Subverted. The first thing Gloria tries to escape is to pick the lock to her cell-door with a modified hair-pin. She doesn't get anywhere and is then swiftly informed by Bob that the lock is too sturdy to be picked like that.
- Hope Spot: During Act II, Gloria suddenly wakes up in her apartment on the day of the museum exhibit with the whole kidnapping ordeal apparently having been All Just a Dream. But then Joy is suddenly replaced with Bob after she uses Gloria's bathroom, revealing that this is yet another of Gloria's nightmares.
- Malevolent Masked Man: The Master, Gloria's kidnapper and owner of the mansion where she's trapped in the basement, always wears a wide robe and a golden mask whenever he appears in person. And between him and Bob, he's the more hostile and controlling towards her. At the end of Act IV it's revealed that Bob is the Master, having created the persona to make Gloria more trusting of him when he plays the timid manservant.
- Rescue Romance: Joy and Gloria met when Gloria saved Joy from a man who was sexually harassing her on the train. Recalling this event is what gives Gloria the courage to try and stand up to her captors more.
- Shout-Out:
- The game is very upfront with acknowledging that much of its inspiration comes from the works of David Lynch. Most notably, one of Lynch's paintings, "Bob loves Sally until she is blue in the face", can be found on display at the museum.
- The pattern of the living room carpet in Gloria's apartment is based on an NPC from Yume Nikki.
- Sinister Surveillance: The Master watches Gloria in her cell via a surveillance camera. Gloria officially has enough of it in Act V and rips it off the wall.
- The Three Faces of Eve: Gloria meets two other versions of herself during her hallucinations and trips to the nightmare world: an innocent kid who is oblivious to the horror of the situation at large and helps Gloria reconnect with her innocence, desire for freedom and independence and Grey Braid, an old woman who helps Gloria deal with her stress and whose advice helps her work through her issues.
- Wham Episode: Act IV "The Princess" ends with Bob seemingly finally finding the courage to defy the Master and smuggling the key to Gloria's cell-door into her cell. However, when Gloria leaves the basement, she finds not a mansion but a small house, which is inhabited by no one except Bob. Bob confesses to her that there never was a Master and that he created the persona to give her someone to hate while winning her trust as the demure manservant Bob. He tries to convince Gloria that them bonding during her captivity is proof that they're meant for each other but Gloria defies him and, rather than being forced to live with him, throws herself down the basement's stairs in an attempt to kill herself.
