For as long as the girl called Rosa can remember, Mother has guided her. Mother has always kept Rosa safe in a world that seems hostile to her very existence. So when Mother tells Rosa that her employer, the mysterious and beautiful Marquis Guilleme Michel de Gul, is responsible for the death of her best friend Catherine, of course Rosa takes Mother’s words to heart. Mother says the Marquis is inhuman. Mother says the Marquis must be punished. Rosa just needs to find out where Guilleme is weakest, and strike without hesitance. But Mother’s voice sounds so cruel, and Guilleme's sounds so sweet. Who is the real monster, when seen in clear light?
Set in a romantic yet shadowy 18th century France, ''Cupid''
, by developer Fervent, is a fascinating visual novel of horror, mystery, and romance. Its most notable feature is the character of Mother, who serves as an interface between the player and Rosa. Mother can tell Rosa what to do, but that doesn’t mean Rosa will always follow her instructions to the letter. And given Mother’s caustic personality, it’s entirely possible than Rosa may start getting ideas of her own…
This Visual Novel provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Mother. She's also your player character.
- Also Guilleme, more in some endings than others.
- Accidental Murder: Tragedy struck when Catherine and her sister Emilie got into a fight. The latter ended up with a fractured skull against the sharp corner of the grand piano.
- A Chat with Satan: At the climax of the game, Rosa squares off with Mother concerning her dark inhuman nature and how she's no different from Guilleme.
- Affectionate Nickname: Catherine calls Guilleme "Gilly Monster" as a term of endearment. It becomes a lot less cute when we discover Guilleme is a monster.
- Ambiguously Brown: A couple of society ladies speculate that Guilleme might be of Persian or Indian extraction, but no-one's really sure.
- Archnemesis Dad: Guilleme in the some of the bad endings.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: From Rosa's perspective, she's caught between Guilleme, who might have murdered her best friend, and Mother, who protects her but is relentlessly abusive. The dynamic can change to outright Evil Versus Evil in the bad endings.
- Child Prodigy: Catherine, who was a piano virtuoso by the age of seven.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Mother can be this, depending on the player's choices.
- Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: It's implied that Guilleme turns into a half-demon half-angelic demigod monster half-way through sex with Catherine.
- Dirty Coward: This is ultimately Guilleme's greatest flaw; he's terrified of pain, and that keeps him from growing as a person and learning to control his appetite.
- Disappeared Dad: Rosa was raised by her mother alone, which is one of the reasons Mother is so unstable. Another reason is that this particular disappeared dad was Guilleme.
- Dream Weaver: Rosa casts a mind manipulation/dream weaving spell for Guilleme because the latter is vulnerable when asleep. Depending on your choices, Rosa could either give Guilleme a nice dream about Catherine or have him get raped by a monster.
- Emotion Eater: Guilleme and Rosa are inhuman beings who feed on love.
- Evil Tastes Good: In the story, there are actually many ways to consume love. Sexual love and attraction though, tastes the best, according to Guilleme. Nevermind that it destroys people's minds, makes them psychotic, and would probably end up in a number of tragic deaths.
- Eye Scream: Hits you right away in the first chapter when Rosa stabs her eye with a giant cross.
- Floral Theme Naming: Besides Rosa, the "gul" part of de Gul might refer to the Persian word for flower.
- Freudian Excuse: Guilleme has had a very long, very terrible life. That said, Rosa grew up with most of the same problems albeit not for thousands of years like Guilleme and has turned out a lot better, except in some of the bad endings.
- Gayngst: Catherine suffers from this. It's implied she wouldn't even be physically attracted to Guilleme if not for his supernatural allure.
- Golden Ending: Of the bittersweet variety. Rosa grows past needing Mother's memory to check herself, and while she can't stay with her father lest their curse twist the love they share, she sets him on track to becoming a better person.
- Horror Hunger: For love. That might not sound so terrible, but the method of feeding and the aftermath are... unpleasant.
- Ignored Epiphany: In some of the bad endings.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Guilleme, arguably. Or more specifically, "I just want to be loved without driving people violently insane and killing them."
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Downplayed except in certain endings, but Guilleme is very intrigued once he realizes that Rosa doesn't automatically swoon over him (a little crushing early on notwithstanding) like everyone else.
- It's All About Me: Hoo boy, Guilleme. Although he's aware that it's a personality defect.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Lampshaded, Gender-Inverted, with hints of Inverted and Deconstructed in some endings. Simply put, it's a mess. Is Guilleme Rosa's father, or not?
- Although, Word of God says he isn't.
- The blonde-haired, blue-eyed Rosa is pretty much an inverted ChocolateBaby to Guilleme's darker physical features.
- Manipulative Bitch: Mother can be played like this, only using Rosa for her own ends.
- Masochism Tango: Catherine and Guilleme show shades of this when they argue.
- Multiple Endings
- My Beloved Smother: And how.
- My Nayme Is: Guilleme's name is an oddity compared to the more mainstream spelling Guillaume, especially for 18th century France. A couple of characters comment on this.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Besides the above Floral Theme Naming possibility, "de Gul" also sounds worryingly like "the ghoul".
- Never Be Hurt Again: Guilleme tries to do this, but he can never quite manage to be fully indifferent.
- No Name Given: Mother and her daughter:
- Mother's name is never revealed.
- To a certain extent, Rosa. We don't know what Rosa's real name actually is, as it was Catherine who gave it to her when they met.
- One-Word Title
- Parental Incest: Rosa had sexual contact with her (possibly adoptive) mother, and may also end up sexually involved with Guilleme. It's ambiguous as to whether Mother really wanted to do this or just needed to keep Rosa from feeding on anyone else.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Mother is inclined to this. In the bad endings, she can bring Rosa around to this philosophy too.
- Peaceful in Death: Guilleme in one of the good endings.
- Pet the Dog: Mother can show a little genuine kindness depending on the player's choices. It's also shown in flashbacks that Mother really did care for Rosa, even though she was abusive and emotionally unstable.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Catherine's sudden death arouses Mother's suspicion that Guilleme is more dangerous than he seems. This sets Rosa on a quest to find out who Guilleme really is and what his motive for murder could be, if indeed he has one. As Mother grows increasingly vehement in their quest, Catherine's death also indirectly causes Rosa to start questioning Mother's judgement.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Guilleme, but the emphasis is more on "manchild" than "psychopathic".
- Redemption Rejection: Rosa offers Guilleme an imprinted memory of Catherine, similar to Mother but much kinder. He refuses it. In all but the Golden Ending, that puts an end to any further personal growth Guilleme might have had.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Catherine, who basically shows Rosa more kindness than the older girl had ever experienced in her entire life til then.
- Slut-Shaming: Mother to Rosa all the damn time. It's a genuine attempt to keep her from accidentally driving people insane with her curse but it's also left poor Rosa a wreck.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: It's established early on that Rosa attracts a lot of unwanted attention. She actually puts her own eye out in what is partly an attempt to be less physically attractive. Guilleme is revealed to have suffered similarly. Both she and Guilleme are cursed to supernaturally incite desire in those around them, so it's not exactly beauty that's the problem.
- Spirit Advisor: Mother. More accurately, Mother is a memory imprinted onto Rosa's psyche who acts as Rosa's guide... and occasionally tormentor, depending on the player's choices.
- Spirited Young Lady: Catherine.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: If Rosa can't convince Guilleme to reform but retains her sanity and resolve, she mortally wounds him. As he dies, he tries to impart a little life advice to her, and then simply asks her to stay with him until he's gone.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Guilleme.
- The Four Loves: Rosa uses a magical interpretation of this idea to cast a spell on Guilleme. Each "love" is represented by a candle.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Rosa in some of the bad endings. Guilleme has also tried coping like this.
- Time Abyss: Guilleme's fragmented diary indicates he's been alive at least since Classical Antiquity.
- Tortured Monster: Guilleme. To a lesser extent Rosa, who has a better handle on her monstrosity thanks to Mother.
- Too Many Mouths: Guilleme's inner monster is described as having thus.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To the story of Cupid And Psyche. That said, the plot isn't a retelling of the story.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Guilleme is very tired of spending the centuries as a parasite, but at the same time is frightened of dying.
