Agony is a 2018 First-Person Survival Horror game by Madmind Studio and published by PlayWay. Players begin their journey as a tormented soul within the depths of Hell without any memories about their past. Possessing the special ability to control people on their path, and even possess simple minded demons, the player must venture through the horrifying realm, meet with the Red Goddess and escape their torment.
In response to backlash over the game's graphic content being toned down, Madmind Studio announced that an uncut version of Agony would be released as a separate game, but this was quickly cancelled due "technical and legal reasons". On October 20th, however, Agony Unrated was shown to be ready for launch and was released on Halloween that year.
The game would later receive a follow-up titled Succubus in 2021. In contrast to Agony, the game is an Actionized Sequel with a heavy focus on fast-paced combat.
Not to be confused with the Shoot 'Em Up featuring the player in wings of a mystical owl also named Agony.
Tropes that apply to Agony:
- Ambiguous Ending: The Good ending requires you to rescue all the angels who end up taking you up into Heaven... too bad the Red Goddess has other plans in mind. The Succubus ending has her reveal she's pregnant with the protagonist's child.
- And I Must Scream: The Evil ending has the hero turn into a demon and rape the Succubus, but he ends up imprisoned... as the first large demon you encounter in the game.
- Bloody Bowels of Hell: While there are no gouts of fire, Hell is about as… well, hellish as it could get in that it's incredibly visceral. Rivers of fire and blood, doorways of giant jaws complete with teeth, savage demons that would beat, rend and eat you as soon as they see you, and droves of damned souls who have given up escape, the closest thing to hope being in that of a Red Goddess they are not even sure exists. No wonder you're trying to leave.
- Bowdlerise: The game was heavily toned down from its state in the demo to avoid getting an Adults Only rating, which would have violated Madmind Studio's agreement with the publishers and prevented them from publishing it on any major consoles.
- Crossover Cosmology: A shared universe of various pagan mythology (mainly Sumerian and Babylonian), biblical folklore, and Dante's Divine Comedy.
- Demonic Possession: The player's main ability is to possess tortured bodies or simple-minded demons to navigate Hell. this is taken even further when you eventually gain the power to take over SATAN HIMSELF.
- Downer Ending: The normal ending. The boundaries between Hell and Earth are broken, Satan and Inanna are now freed to cause mayhem and destruction, and in general, it seems like the world is ending.... but hey you got your life back! For all of one minute before Satan emerges from the ocean and flattens you underfoot as he marches to shore.
- Escaped from Hell: Your ultimate goal. Which you do in the normal ending... alongside the rest of it following you.
- Fan Disservice: The naked damned souls are not really pretty.
- Fanservice: The female demons mostly look like buxom nude women, and others are even conventional succubi.
- Fighting from the Inside: Demons can resist your control over them, forcing you to either placate their urges by killing damned souls or struggling to reassert control.
- Golden Ending: The Nimrod ending is accomplished through replaying the game after completing the Succubus and Evil endings. After that you are to collect the Garments of Adam and access the cathedral's basement, where you perform a ritual restoring your original body and powers, making you the new ruler of Hell.
- Love Goddess: The Red Goddess is a much darker and sinful version of this.
- Model Museum: The 3D Viewer allows you to admire a wide range of horrific and grotesque characters as you collect their corresponding statues throughout Hell.
- Multiple Endings: The game has 7 endings, two of which require replaying the game.
- Non-Standard Game Over: If you stay in the room with hallucinogenic mushrooms for too long, you become insane and start slaughtering children. Also, if you defeat Baphomet in Act I, he comes back to kill you and devour your soul in Act II.
- One-Word Title: As you're playing as a tormented soul, in Hell, where souls are tortured.
- Psychosexual Horror: Just about everything in this depiction of Hell revolves around sex, death, childbirth, and even more sex.
- Sex Goddess: The Red Goddess is overtly a sex goddess.
- Shout-Out: In the Red Goddess trailer, there is a giant demon in the background with large wings and three faces matching the description of Satan in The Divine Comedy.
- Talkative Loon: The various souls of the damned tend to chatter to themselves, and most of them are clearly quite insane. In particular, some of the female souls rant at a feverishly fast pace.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Implied to be the case in the Nimrod ending, as the Succubus ends up pregnant with the hero's child in the Evil ending and the ritual to restore his original body involves her giving birth, while it's implied every playthrough is the hero going to Hell for the first time.
- Vagina Dentata: The creatures aren't subtle.
◊ Neither is the logo.◊
