Alouette is an ordinary yet pious girl living in Medieval Europe. One day she wakes up in an eerie abandoned cathedral, tainted by black grime and rats. With a great desire to escape and be reunited with her boyfriend Lazare, Alouette is forced to venture through the cathedral. But little does she know about the awful truth of why she's there in the first place. Will Alouette muster enough courage to leave the cathedral? Or will she fall into despair and be consumed by the plague?
The game
is available in Japanese only.
This game contains examples of:
- Anachronism Stew: The game happens around 14th century, which makes several things out of place:
- In real life, plague doctors didn't start wearing those masks with a bird beak to hold herbs until the 17th century.
- The tapestries in the church look old and faded like they do in museums today, but back then they would have looked brand new.
- The Canadian folk song "Alouette" was written in 1879.
- Bait-and-Switch: The terrifying plague maze is actually a short level with no real danger (unless you trigger the bad ending).
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: When Lazare is infected by the plague, his body is completely rotten, one of his eyes is leaking blood and the other is now an empty socket. Alouette, on the other hand, being a textbook pretty girl, is hardly affected at all.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Doctor is introduced fighting hoards of rats on his own.
- The Black Death: Heavily implied to be the disease that killed Lazare and the villagers.
- Body Horror: Fitting for a game about The Black Death.
- In the endings where Alouette remains infected her body and dress are covered in rot.
- Lazare's body decays until he's covered in rot, one of his eyes is leaking blood and the other is now an empty socket.
- The villagers that attend Alouette and Lazare's wedding are not only black figures, due to succumbing to the plague but at one point rats burst out from their bodies.
- Christianity is Catholic: Justified in that this is 14th century France.
- Doomed New Clothes: Near the end, Alouette finds a wedding dress, which she needs to use in order to cross the plague maze. In the endings where she can't get over her Survivor's Guilt, it ends up rotten as she's infected by the plague.
- Evolving Title Screen: The title screen depicts Alouette and Lazare holding hands. If you obtain Ending 1, 2 or 3, Lazare disappears and Alouette is shown crying alone.
- Good All Along: The Doctor is a man of few words and looks very intimidating. In truth he was sent to help the villagers and genuinely wants to help Alouette.
- God Was My Copilot: Near the end it's revealed that the Doctor (the one in Alouette's dream, at least) was God, trying to test Alouette's faith and help her overcome her depression and suicidal thoughts.
- Gratuitous French: The game is filled with it. Justified, as it happens in Medieval France.
- The Final Temptation: At the end of the game, Alouette is given the option to be cured from the plague and go back to her desolate village, or be reunited with Lazare in death. The ending changes depending on her choice.
- The Fundamentalist: Alouette is a highly devoted Catholic. Her faith is what allows her to keep strong in the face of danger, but it also worsens her Survivor's Guilt, as she believes the plague is a punishment for her sins.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It isn't clear if Lazare is a manifestation of Alouette's Survivor's Guilt or a ghost. The ending clarifies he's the Devil, trying to tempt Alouette into comitting suicide and damn her soul to Hell. The true Lazare is long gone.
- Meaningful Name: Lazare is named after Lazarus, the man Jesus rose from the grave. He becomes a zombie in some of the endings.
- Multiple Endings:
- Ending 1 - La Danse Macabre: If Alouette decides to trust the Doctor and has the crown of thorns, she says goodbye to Lazare and wakes up in the real world, now cured. Alouette and the Doctor leave the village, but not before she prays for the souls of Lazare and the villagers, hoping they'll find peace.
- Ending 2 - The Plague Maiden: If Alouette decides to trust the Doctor and doesn't have the crown of thorns, she says goodbye to Lazare and wakes up in the real world, still infected. Alouette and the Doctor leave the village, not knowing that Alouette is planning to spread the disease on the believe she's "saving" people.
- Ending 3 - Memento Mori: If Alouette decides to trust Lazare and has the crown of thorns, she says goodbye to Lazare and wakes up in the real world, still infected. The Doctor leaves the village, while Alouette chooses to stay behind.
- Ending 4 - La Vie Eternelle: If Alouette decides to trust Lazare and doesn't have the crown of thorns, she resigns to her fate and marries Lazare, pressumably dying in the real world.
- Ending 5 - Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani: If Alouette's sanity meter depletes, she succumbs to the plague and dies.
- Named In The Adaptation: In the game the villagers appears as Faceless Masses, with only Lazare getting a proper appearance. The light novel introduces Clement and Mireille, two of Alouette's friends who die in the plague as well.
- Ominous Fog: The plague maze is completely shrouded in black fog.
- Only Friend: Alouette was this for the Doctor, being the only villager that wasn't scared of him.
- Patient Zero: Lazare was infected on his trip to the nearby town and accidentally infects the villagers when he returns home.
- Plague Doctor: The Doctor wears this attire, fitting for the medieval setting.
- Psychological Torment Zone: The entire game is this for Alouette, who's trapped in a nightmare as she's dying of the Black Plague and tormented by the guilt over the death of her boyfriend.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Ending 4, where Alouette is Together in Death with Lazare is set to the happy tone of a Canadian folk song...about plucking a lark apart.Alouette, gentille alouetteAlouette, je te plumerai.
- Survivor's Guilt: Alouette suffered this as she was the only survivor of the plague that infested her village. She thinks she should've died and her guilt gets worse when her boyfriend dies.
- Swarm of Rats: Alouette often encounters hordes of rats across the church. This is foreshadowing for the epidemic of bubonic plague that wiped her hometown.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: All Lazare wanted was to go to the nearby town to buy a wedding dress for his girlfriend. He ends up infected by the plague and inadvertently spreading it to the villagers.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Alouette and Lazare have known each other since childhood and they clearly love each other. Too bad he dies from the plague.
