It's not violence if they're vermin.
"That took longer than expected. I need you to work faster. Return to the elevator, the next floors are... contanimated."
— The Reporter
Perfect Vermin is an indie horror game by Talia bob Mair and Angad Matharoo with sound design by Chris Dang and a music score composed by Daniel Shypilov. There is also an ( In-Universe) In Memoriam to Harold A. Shpitz.
The gameplay is simple: you have a sledgehammer to destroy any objects that look out of place in an office building on a Timed Mission. A news reporter pops up to tell you that there is no time to waste, and that there are more vermin hiding in the other floors. Something is not right about him...
The game was released on August 21, 2020 and is free on Steam
and available with naming your price on Itch.io. The soundtrack is available on Bandcamp and SoundCloud, but be wary of unmarked spoilers in the song titles.
Perfect Vermin contains examples of:
- Bizarrchitecture: One floor the reporter says that the geometry has "become uncooperative" and is upside down.
- Body Horror:
- The vermin are red and fleshy beings that explode into bloody viscera out of the object they are hiding as.
- The news reporter also goes through some body horror himself as the game progresses, starting with a Deadly Nosebleed and ending as a crumbling mess with bleeding sores and tumors, discolored skin, and gross eyes and mouth.
- British Teeth: While it is unknown whether or not the reporter is British, he has some nasty looking teeth. Later on, he starts losing them if one looks at his mouth closely.
- The Can Kicked Him: One of the most common spots for the vermin to hide is in a bathroom stall. Amusingly, you can tell if one is in there or not if the door says it is occupied.
- Deadly Nosebleed: The first sign that something is not right with the reporter is when his nose begins to bleed. It gets much worse from there.
- Die, Chair, Die!: The point of the game. The vermin you're hunting are concealed in various objects, but there's no way to tell before an object is destroyed whether there's vermin in it, so you simply smash everything in your path to find them.
- Downer Ending: Harold A. Shpitz is dying of lung cancer due to his smoking, and wants to desperately write a piece for people to remember him with, but there is no time left. Given that the game starts with an In-Universe In Memoriam to him, he passed away sometime after the game's events.
- Final Solution: The reporter eggs you on to kill all vermin you come across, insisting to you that they have no feelings and should be exterminated as quickly as possible. While it is seemingly setting up a What Measure Is a Non-Human? conclusion, they are actually a double metaphor for both cancer cells and the victims of "the massacre downtown."
- Foreshadowing: A few leading to the conclusion of what the story is actually about:
- Not only do the number of "no smoking" signs increase, but so does the number of cigarettes in the ashtray every time it cuts back to the news reporter.
- The plants which appear as props look suspiciously like parts of the diagrams in the doctor's office.
- The vermin often keep appearing in the same locations over and over again despite having been gotten rid of before. Much like cancer cells.
- Your attempts to destroy the "vermin" is mindlessly brutal, usually leaving the offices a wreck. Just like how cancer cures kill cancerous and healthy cells alike.
- Freudian Excuse: The newscaster apologizes for his behavior and explains that it stems from his mother, whom he hated and fears he is becoming like she was. Given the full context, it's implied his cancer is so malignant because of genetic risk factors he inherited from her.
- I Just Want to Be Special: The reporter is a Glory Seeker who wants to write a newsworthy piece, but he is slowly dying and fears that his inevitable death will be ignored.
- Interface Screw: One level has the screen split into two with the player controlling both characters at once and finding the right amount of vermin on both sides, with the reporter's diseased and bloated body in between.
- Jerkass: The reporter does not show any gratitude over the player's work no matter how fast they clear rooms of vermin, and rudely tells them to get back to work and stop wasting time. He eventually has a Jerkass Realization and apologizes to you for his mistreatment when he is dying, realizing that he is treating you unfairly. Not asking you to forgive him, but to accept his explanation.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The reporter states early on that the vermin are "poor at hiding". Objects that are extremely out of place - a toilet in the break room, for example - are almost always vermin.
- The Show Must Go On: Despite dying, the reporter insists on writing his hit news story about a massacre downtown, saying that it will be something that everyone will remember him by. The doctor instead tells him that he doesn't have the time for it and should worry about his affairs instead.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: The reporter is rather unflattering, being a Gonkish older man with discolored teeth and an ashtray next to him. He is also dying of lung cancer as a result of his addiction.
- Timed Mission: Starting with the second floor, you have to destroy all the vermin in each level before the clock runs out or you will have to restart the section over. The reporter will berate you for moving too slowly, and insists (and later on outright begs) you to do each level faster and more efficiently. In the final level, he tells you that the clock was never meant for you, but for him.
- The Topic of Cancer: What the game is ultimately about.
- Voice Grunting: The reporter and the doctor has this when they speak.
- Walking Spoiler: Most of the spoiler tags are because of the newscaster more specifically. Even the fact that he is Harold A. Shpitz. from the
In Memoriam is a spoiler. - Wham Line: In the "chaos level," after explaining his Freudian Excuse:The Reporter: I was cruel to you before. Your task was always impossible. My hope was never fair... Do not worry yourself with the timer. It is not for you. I am being unborn. And once again, I am amused by the simple beauty of colours. Such abstract and fleeting things, I will unknow them. It was good to live. It was good. If only I had more time...
- Womb Level: The flesh tunnel after the chaos level. One can easily interpret the entire game as this, as well.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The timer is symbolically this; the newscaster's life is running as his sickness is only worsening and spreading.
