A game inspired by its creator’s real-life experiences living in a religious cult is set to be released next month.
Quantum Witch is set to be released on Steam on June 24, and is described by its creator NikkiJay as a ‘plot-former’, where “choose your own adventure meets point and click meets platformer”.
The game tells the story of Ren, a “twenty-something shepardess who gets thrown into a multiversal conflict while on a fetch quest to find her lost flock”.
Through the choices the players makes in the game, Ren will ultimately decide the fate of her homeland while dethroning a god in the process.
Although the game’s story – which was created with the help of BAFTA-nominated writer Paul ‘Mr Biffo’ Rose and journalist Stephanie Sterling – is fantastical, it draws inspiration from NikkiJay’s real past.
“I was raised in a religious cult that was obsessed with the end of the world, refused certain medical treatment, deferred all authority to their god (and mostly, the eight men who led the group and told them what god actually meant when he said certain things), and blamed many mental and developmental disabilities on ‘the demons’,” she explains. “I found computers and games were one of the few forms of escapism I was allowed to have.”
She added: “I saw friends die because they refused medical treatment, I saw lives wasted and families torn apart because of the rules the men in charge set. Any form of personal talent was put down as prideful, all glory should go to god. Women were denigrated and blamed for the world’s wrongs, painted as weak, and any form of ambition in a woman was considered as bad as – gasp – homosexuality, because a woman’s brain could not deal with being in authority.
“Babies were described as ‘little enemies of god’ because they were born sinful. And god could return at any time and destroy the world, killing anyone who did not follow the group in the most horrific ways possible. Every single day was served from a menu of fear, intimidation, physical abuse, and thanking god for it all.
“So I made silly little computer games. Text adventures mostly, It was all I wanted to do. It was my escape. Eventually I came out – I’m a massive lesbian – and lost my family, and at one point was homeless. I still only have one blood relative who speaks to me, because they’re all still mentally tied up, indoctrinated by the cult.
“But there are happy things too! I fought back and have a loving family, a daughter, a cat and a parrot, and video games. And I turned my trauma into comedic stories as a form of therapy! Of course, they ended up as a video game. That video game is Quantum Witch.”
Nikki’s story started off as a novel but eventually evolved into a game, with “multiple plotlines, multiple endings [and] different endings for side quests that tie into the main quest and affect the ultimate ending you get.”
Quantum Witch can currently be wishlisted on Steam ahead of its release on June 24.
