Produce is a 1987 strategy horror game published by db-SOFT for the PC-88. It can be argued to be similar to Koei Tecmo's later Deception series, right down to you playing as a Villain Protagonist.
It's summer vacation, and a quartet of young students: Toshio, Sayaka, Gilbert and Tina, are spending it together as friends. For Toshio in particular, it is the perfect chance to confess his feelings towards Sayaka, and hopefully she'll be interested in him back. One small problem: Sayaka doesn't reciprocate. In fact, she's more interested in Gilbert.
Needless to say, Toshio is not happy. And an opportunity to deal with his romantic problems comes from the most unlikely of sources: an Eldritch Abomination dwelling in an abandoned apartment complex on the outskirts of town. The Entity offers Toshio a chance to get back at Gilbert and have Sayaka all to himself - just as long as Toshio delivers them to it alive.
Toshio's plan is set into motion when both Gilbert and Sayaka - with Tina tagging along for the ride - enter the apartment in search for their missing friend. Now, in command of a menagerie of twisted monsters alike, it falls upon you to, against their psychic powers and the incoming break of dawn, lure the students to the top floor and fulfill your end of the bargain.
Produce contains examples of:
- And I Must Scream: The fate of poor Sayaka, condemned to a miserable existence within the Entity.
- The Beastmaster: The Entity lent 30 monsters to Toshio for him to summon as part of their mutual agreement. He can't just use them willy-nilly though: he'll run out of eldritch power, his friends may destroy them, they may get scared to death, et cetera.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: How Sayaka's psychic powers function in-game: she only begins using them when her heart's about to give out, but when she actually does, say goodbye to a good chunk of your minions.
- Deal with the Devil: Guy likes girl. Girl likes other guy. Guy hatches a plot to get the girl to like him by luring the other guy to be sacrificed to an Eldritch Abomination.
- Downer Ending: The Entity gets all of the blood sacrifices it craves, absorbing Sayaka just to twist the knife about how much Toshio screwed up.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The game ends with the Entity killing Gilbert and Tina and absorbing Sayaka. Toshio's fate is unknown.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Toshio attempts to strike a deal with an Eldritch Abomination to resolve his troubled love life. The Entity responds by killing practically everyone.
- Fan Disservice: The ending depicts Sayaka nude. As she's being grotesquely absorbed into the Entity.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Don't scare your friends too much or else their hearts will explode and they'll die on the spot. Which is a major problem considering that the Entity does not accept corpses.
- Karmic Twist Ending: Toshio makes contact with the Entity in a bid to become Sayaka's boyfriend. The Entity promptly absorbs her right in front of him, rendering his entire plan pointless.
- Love Makes You Evil: If only Toshio learned that some people just would be interested in somebody else...
- Murder the Hypotenuse: For the "crime" of being Sayaka's boyfriend, Gilbert is the main target of Toshio's jealousy and wrath. A pity the Entity won't accept just him...
- Permadeath: If one of the students annihilates a monster, then no more summoning that specific type for the rest of the game.
- Psychic Powers: Toshio, Sayaka, Gilbert and Tina are all students at an international ESP research institute. That allows the former to see through the Entity, and the latter three to potentially destroy the monsters that Toshio summons.
- Timed Mission: You have up until 5:00AM to successfully lure your friends over to the Entity. Fail and you'll get a Nonstandard Game Over.
- Villain Protagonist: You are Toshio, lending the eyes of the Entity to manipulate the students into going where you want them to go.
