Diane and Jackie.
Diane Carter never expected her folklore degree to get her a job offer from the local police department, but when a rash of occult-themed fires sets the city on edge, she is called in as a special consultant on esoteric religion to help find the culprit.There's just one problem: the woman she's assigned to work with. She's cocky, beautiful, and far too familiar.
Can Diane and Jackie overcome the obstacles of their past and find the truth?
A Yuri Visual Novel with some minor Point-and-Click Game elements, released by Hanako Games in early 2022. The game is set in the 1980s (though a slightly spookier version) and features two adult protagonists.
Night Cascades contains examples of:
- '80s Hair: Most notably Alex's mullet.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The protagonist viewpoint switches back and forth between Diane and Jackie every time the day changes. There's no indication of this the first time it happens, so it may take the player a minute to catch on.
- Book Burning: Happened to Ann and Mary, because the books they read were considered "sinful".
- Break Her Heart To Save Her: Jackie's reasoning for breaking up with Diane the first time around.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The mysterious amulet keeps finding its way into the hands of people who swear they don't even remember picking it up.
- Closet Gay: Both Jackie and Diane, to different extents.
- Da Chief: Jackie's boss, who appears to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and a good dad. However, because of the time period, Jackie is still in the closet at work and doesn't trust him with the truth.
- Deep South: A downplayed version. The story is clearly set in the Southnote , and there are references to the Bible Belt's religious and moral standards and the problems they cause for the protagonists, but there are no stereotyped yokels to be seen.
- Experimented in College: What Jackie thinks their relationship was to Diane.
- Insecure Love Interest: Both of them, but especially Jackie in the past, who didn't believe she was good enough for a relationship with a Nice Girl like Diane.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Actually, she was just blackout drunk, but allowed her partner to believe that she'd cheated in order to cause a breakup.
- New Age: Not in the sense of representing an ideal New Age society, but the prominence of New Age beliefs (even more so than in the real 80s) is an important part of the setting. Police departments hire psychics to help them solve crimes, mystical crystals are on sale everywhere, and having good vibes affects your insurance. However, with society generally believing that mystical powers are real, they also believe in the bad kind of mystical powers...
- Pen Name: Diane publishes novels under a different name, both to sound more British and to avoid damaging her squeaky-clean schoolteacher reputation.
- Pyromaniac: The authorities fear that this sort of character is behind the fires as problems escalate.
- Satanic Panic: The dark side of the New Age. Once word gets out that there are mysterious fires being set with occult symbols, people quickly begin imagining Satanic cults sacrificing children and start looking for witches to blame.
- Sequel Hook: Just what was going on with that amulet?
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Jackie protests this when the music store employee accuses her of trying to impress Diane.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: From the moment they lay eyes on each other.
- Working with the Ex: Jackie and Diane are assigned to investigate a crime together.
- Wunza Plot: One's a substitute teacher who writes fantasy novels! One's a cop from the wrong side of the tracks! Together, they fight crime!
