The year is 1483. The age of European expansion is on the horizon and the Renaissance is in full swing across Europe; but in England, the War of the Roses is in its final throes. Change is coming, but in one little convent in the north of the kingdom, everyone seems blissfully unaware. Everyone except Sister Catherine, a beloved nun and firebrand thinker who has just been murdered. In an isolated monastery with an already ghostly reputation, any one of the Sisters could be the killer—and Mother Superior is as stumped as anyone else.
As an Anchoress, Sister Hedwig took an oath to never leave her cell; to devote herself entirely to God and provide spiritual support to all who came to her door. But as the only Sister who couldn't possibly have committed the crime, she have a new mission: solve the case, before the bishop shutters the convent and the real killer goes unpunished. The Superior hasn't told everyone why Hedwig has suddenly joined the regular congregation, but something tells her most of these women know exactly what's going on. Who can she trust? Who is being honest, and who has their guard up—and why? Is the convent really haunted? Who killed Sister Catherine? And worst of all... is Hedwig next?
Misericorde is a Historical Detective Fiction Visual Novel developed by Xeecee of The Shrieking Shack. Lead by the anxious Sister Hedwig, the novel dabbles between different horror subgenres, drama, and even comedy, all focused on the struggles between isolation and identity that all of the nuns must face.
Volume One
was released on March 24, 2023.
Misericorde contains examples of:
- all lowercase letters: Darcy's lines are written entirely in lowercase, sometimes without punctuation. Since everyone else's lines are written normally, this serves to emphasize Darcy's odd nature.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different:
- The prologue is a discussion between two unnamed men who are conspiring to overthrow the King of England. The rest of the visual novel is narrated by Hedwig, who has nothing to do with this conspiracy.
- Finishing the game and checking the gallery unlocks a scene starring Alex, a new character from 1982 who meets a strange woman while boarding a plane to visit the UK.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Flora, the youngest of the nuns at 19, largely spends her days grousing and complaining to anyone who bothers her.
- Character Narrator: The bulk of the story takes place in 1482. Hedwig is narrating these events to an unnamed listener a year after the fact.
- Cliffhanger: Volume One ends with Hedwig and Flora narrowly escaping from a demonic figure. Flora is badly hurt from getting her leg crushed by a closing door, unresponsive, and possibly dead.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Darcy is... off, speaking in a flat tone, rambling a variety of thoughts, and sometimes experiencing incredible religious visions.
- Content Warning: The second thing that the player will see after they start a new game is a message warning them about the serious topics featured in the story.This story is set in a monastery in the 1400s. Characters will say, do, and believe unpleasant things.
Violence, xenophobia, racism, sexism, and other serious topics are part of this story. - Deliberately Monochrome: Apart from the title screen, which has a tiny bit of color, the entire game is rendered in black and white. The secret scene averts this, being in full color.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: As befitting the time period and their location, the cast occasionally spouses common uncomfortable opinions of the time. Katherine jokes that Catherine II despised most non-English countries, which no one blinks at. Mother Superior's furious, homophobia-riddled rant against the other sisters is noticeably far more overt than the subtle bigotry.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Discussed when Hedwig pauses her story to recount the Biblical tale of Elisha, in which God sent two bears to slaughter forty-two children for the heinous crime of calling an old man "bald."
- Driving Question: Who killed Catherine, and why did they do it?
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The nuns only refer to the Mother Superior by her title, and even the character biographies unlocked by beating the game don't mention her name. The bishop addresses her as Mabel near the end of Volume One.
- Faint in Shock: Hedwig faints upon learning that the reason Katherine can vouch for James not having murdered Catherine was because Katherine had been fucking him that night.
- Fish out of Water: Hedwig's new experiences outside of her hole leaves her perpetually unprepared for the reality of convent life.
- Foregone Conclusion: Hedwig is recounting the events of 1482 to someone else a year after they happened, so she, at least, is guaranteed to survive.
- Genius Ditz: Darcy is off-putting, socially limited, and generally a dreamy sort of person. She also easily manages the crops, the gardens, the animals, and other important convent tasks with ease.
- He Knows Too Much: Eustace believes—or claims to believe—that Catherine was murdered for asking too many questions about whatever's going on at the abbey. She believes that Hedwig will meet the same fate if the latter keeps sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, hence why Eustace pulled that prank on Hedwig: it was an attempt to make Hedwig give up on the investigation.
- Hypothetical Fight Debate: Hedwig's first luncheon with the other nuns devolves into a hypothetical debate about how many ducks it would take to overwhelm Eustace in a fight, with Eustace claiming that she could hold her own against infinite ducks indefinitely.
- In-Series Nickname: Margaret calls the Mother Superior "Soup" for short.
- Junkie Prophet: Darcy is a self-proclaimed "alchevisionist" who whips up various experimental concoctions to induce visions from God.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Darcy labels Catherine a deconstruction of this. Catherine II enjoyed numerous hobbies and interests and dragged people into discovering new passions... and then just as suddenly abandon them to fixate on someone else.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Played with. Most of the cast has nothing but nice things to say about Catherine II, but it becomes clear that she wasn't often an easy person to get along with and some resentment still remains. Nonetheless, they miss her terribly.
- Nun Too Holy: Discussed and deconstructed. Almost the entire Linbarrow Monastery is filled with less than devout sisters, much to Hedwig's displeasure. Much of the nuns are implied to have been forced to the convent or chose the position out of a lack of better options.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Katherine and Catherine were two different members of the convent and were forced to fight a chess match over who got labelled "Catherine II."
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: At the end of the first day, Mother Superior loses patience with Hedwig and snaps at her to "Stop! Giving me! This insolence!" Each sentence is given its own page in the textbox to further emphasize her anger.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Mother Superior is fairly easy-going and allows the nuns to enjoy far more pleasures than they would experience in a stricter convent. Hedwig's introduction to the plot kicks off largely because she recognizes something's fishy about Catherine's death and wants to investigate properly. However, it becomes clear that she hides immense resentment that her hands-off attitude isn't appreciated and she has little-to-no personal friendship with any of the women. Furthermore, Angela theorizes that Superior's recruitment of Hedwig has less to do with genuine concern and more with the hopes of impressing the bishop with a salacious investigation, granting herself a fancy promotion.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Eustace's stint as the demonic knight. Part cruel prank, part scare tactic, all to make Hedwig stop asking questions and keep herself safe.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: During Hedwig's first luncheon with the other sisters, Eustace mentions how she helped Darcy prepare the meal by killing the duck, which she does regularly. After explaining that she does this so Darcy—who raises, names, and loves the ducks—won't be saddened by its death, the conversation shifts to a hypothetical discussion about how many ducks it would take to beat Eustace in a fight, with Eustace eventually claiming that she could defeat an infinite number of ducks.
- Serious Business: Adela is very passionate about chess and has strong opinions about how it ought to be played. When Moira beats her using a strategy that Adela views as an affront to the game, Adela angrily flips the table over and goes on a heated rant about why that strategy is bad before challenging Moira to a rematch using "the rules of real chess".
- Socially Awkward Hero: Hedwig has spent most of her life in a tiny cell where her social interactions were limited to one-on-one conversations with the occasional anonymous visitor. As such, she doesn't take it well when Mother Superior forces her to come out of that cell and reintegrate with the congregation. She's timid, anxious, prone to stuttering, and suffers the occasional mood swing as the stress of her unfamiliar situation gets to her. despite all this, she's doing her utmost to solve the mystery of Catherine's murder and prevent a potentially innocent man from facing execution.
- Stress Vomit: Hedwig pukes twice in the demo due to the stress and anxiety of being forced out of her comfortable solitude to investigate a murder.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Possibly. Katherine is rumored to have murdered her husband before she became a nun. Katherine denies killing him when she relates the story to Hedwig, but Hedwig can't tell if the other woman is telling the truth.
- The Voice: The only time that Catherine appears while still alive is when she's talking to Hedwig through the squint. Because of this, neither Hedwig nor the player ever get to see what she looks like. Even the character biographies unlocked by beating the game just represent Catherine with the image of a question mark.
- We Gotta Stop Meeting Like This: Margaret uses this line multiple times when Hedwig runs into her causing mischief around the convent.
