While watching TV you come across an odd commercial that really speaks to you.
Literally.
Cultivating Happiness is a very short horror game, made by Professor Oneira for the O2A2VN Jam 2022. It is available for free on it's itch.io
page.
Due to the game being extremely short, it would be difficult to talk about it without any spoilers. Therefor all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Human: The woman in the commercial who is somehow capable of hearing and speaking to you from inside the TV. Apart from that, she also says she knows all about you, implying that she deliberately targeted you with the recruitment ad.
- Anti-Escapism Aesop: The Sustainable Utopia Settlement offers complete isolation from the outside world to escape "doomers" and scary everyday facts like climate change. They're very obviously a cult in all but name and the recruiter makes it very clear that once you've joined you're expected to stay for good and will be "encouraged" to perform tasks to pay the settlement back for all they've given you. In one of the endings, obviously meant to be the good ending, the protagonist tells the recruiter that total escapism in exchange for utter conformity is neither worth it nor healthy and that they want to try and fix their life instead of running away from it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In one ending the protagonist falls for the recruitment ad hook, line and sinker and gets ready to call so they can begin their new life at SUS.
- Cult: The Sustainable Utopia Settlement is a secluded community in the middle of nowhere, without signal or internet access. Members are encouraged to completely abandon their old life, down to "donating" their old belongings so the settlement can sustain itself. It also "encourages" its members to perform certain tasks and trips to the outside world have to be permitted by the higher-ups. In the negative ending, the protagonist flat-out calls the settlement a cult.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The concept the entire game is built around. The woman in the advertisement can not only hear you, she responds to everything you're saying and claims to know everything about you and your life. What's more she tries to use that knowledge to convince you to join the Sustainable Utopia Settlement.
- Fun with Acronyms: The Sustainable Utopia Settlement -S.U.S. As in suspicious.
- Stepford Smiler: The woman in the commercial has a wide smile on her face the whole time she's talking to you. It never drops or falters, making her look even more creepy and inhuman.
- Loser Protagonist: The recruiter heavily implies the protagonist is this, claiming that they're sad, lonely and overall unsatisfied with their current life. Downplayed, as this is clearly a manipulation tactic to get them to sign up for the settlement.
- Manipulative Bitch: The woman in the commercial continuously tries to lower the protagonist's self esteem by doing things like claiming none of their friends and family would miss them anyway if they left for the settlement. In one of the endings the protagonist calls her out on this.
- Minimalist Cast: The cast consists of you and the creepy lady in the commercial you're watching. That's it.
- Multiple Endings: Depending on the protagonist's attitude, the game either ends with them accepting the invitation to join SUS, completely reject it for its creepiness in favor of being miserable or calmly deconstruct the recruiter's manipulative tactics and reject the offer on the basis of not just wanting to run away from life.
- No Name Given: The recruiter never gives you her name.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Who are the Sustainable Utopia Settlement really? How are they capable of making commercials that can hear you and answer you? What actually happens to you in the ending where you accept the offer? You never find out.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Two variants within two of the three endings. In one ending the protagonist's overwhelming negativity makes them call the settlement a "creepy" cult and even break their television to make the recruiter go away. Another ending has them basically do the same thing, but in a more dignified manner, calling the recruiter out for her manipulative tactics and offering incredibly unhealthy escapism in exchange for freedom.
