Yin Hakyō wakes up to find herself tied to a death-chair. An authoritative voice declares that she's been charged with murder. She protests her innocence, but her pleas go unheard. When she next opens her eyes, she finds herself inside a floating prison cell. All around her is pitch black even though the tall lamp in her cell is on. Another voice introduces himself as Keith McInnes. He tells Yin that the place they're in is called the Void, and that her presence here indicates she's not nearly as innocent as she claims.
Unwilling to accept her fate, Yin manages to convince the judge overseeing her case to let her collect evidence that proves she doesn't belong here. Unfortunately for Yin, the judge plays by their own rules, and Yin's quest isn't as straight forward as she'd like it to be...
Y;N
is a 2014 horror-mystery Visual Novel by Mirrowdothack, created using the Ren'Py Engine. The game is split into five chapters, with each of the first three ending in a trail. During these chapters, you have to search the environment to pick up evidence and solve puzzles in order to progress through the plot. The last two chapters are mostly story based with some dialogue options that will determine which ending you get.
This visual novel provides examples of:
- Big Bad: Charon, the Dimension Lord hell-bent on seeing Yin punished for whatever crimes she happens to be guilty of. It's revealed by the end however that she's working at the behest of an unseen villain.
- Clear Their Name: The main plot of the game is of Yin trying to prove that she didn't kill her sister.
- Eldritch Location: The Void is a Purgatory-esque location ruled by a sadistic, shapeshifting Hanging Judge, and home to a variety of Humanoid Abominations. The rooms within reflect the past and neurosis of the humans imprisoned, and traveled to and fro by interacting with objects that do not fit in with their surroundings.
- Hanging Judge: Charon. The trials are less an actual inquiry of guilt and responsibility, and more of a Sadist Show at Yin's expense, with the rules so blatantly biased against the defense that Keith has to exploit a Loophole Abuse to get yin anything resembling a fair chance.
- Humanoid Abomination: Charon is very clearly an Eldritch Abomination imitating a human being, with Keith noting that she appears different depending on who views her.
- Kangaroo Court: Yin is presumed guilty before proven innocent, and will be punished if unable to completely dismantle Charon's case. She can't even give her own explanation on what actually happened, she can only attempt to disprove whatever thesis Charon comes up with, who's free to come up with whatever ideas regarding Yin's guilt she pleases.
- Room Escape Game: The other half the game is navigating different environments and solving the puzzles within.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: The two sole Bad Endings in the game require choosing to kill Yin in the final decision.
- Villain Protagonist: In Keith's words, if you're in the Void, you've probably done something horrible enough to get there. Yin's challenge is trying to prove she isn't this.
