Graphic novel about a group of LGBT people in an ultra-conservative Christian community who must spend the night in a strange cabin and ``try not to let the Devil kill them'' whatever that means.

The first thing that sticks with me when I play it is the bad vibe that pervades the entire work. The synopsis alone would be enough, but we must add that artistically the characters are anime drawings superimposed with real background images of forests or roads in the dark, resulting in something quite uncomfortable. I add the sinister sounds, echoes of distant crackles supposedly from a radio system over the forest. And also the ambiguity of that world, since among other things they talk about trying to keep the Demon from killing them almost routinely.

And above all, the awkwardness of the relationship of the protagonist trio, because although at the beginning it seems like the typical bunch of friends with their sardonic jokes a few minutes later and as a result of any inconsequential chat begin to criticize each other harshly with the only apparent reason to hurt each other, leaving a few uncomfortable silences. In the first few bars I thought it was nothing more than a crude attempt to create conflict and drama (Playing Life is Strange 2 has left me trauma), but then I realize that it makes sense: being a LGBT group in a conservative Christian system makes them have to repress their identities and desires, growing a rage and resentment inside them that come to the surface even with their intimate group that is in the same situation, remaining in an eternal conflict with everything around them and especially with themselves.

The scene where this is most demonstrated is when 2 of the protagonists are alone in the middle of the darkness far from any gaze and their two images come close, glued to each other. What happens between them is left ambiguous and it doesn't take long for sarcastic comments to appear to play down the importance of the matter while a range of emotions occurs in both of them, from the brightest smile to the most bitter sadness. Until one of them says that there is nothing to talk about, for words can corrupt it. It has simply happened and that reality cannot be taken away from them. It just is. Just as they simply are.

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Novela gráfica sobre un grupo LGTB en una comunidad cristiana ultraconservadora que deben pasar la noche en una extraña cabaña e ``intentar que el Demonio no las mate´´ signifique lo que signifique eso.

Lo primero que se me queda al jugarlo es ese mal rollo que impera en toda la obra. Ya solo con la sinopsis sería suficiente, pero hay que añadirle que artísticamente los personajes son dibujos animescos superpuestos con imágenes de fondo reales de bosques o carreteras en la oscuridad, resultando algo bastante incómodo. Le añado los sonidos siniestros, ecos de crepitaciones lejanas supuestamente de un sistema de radios que hay sobre el bosque. Y también la ambigüedad de ese mundo, pues entre otras cosas hablan de intentar que el Demonio no las mate de forma casi rutinaria.

Y sobre todo, la incomodidad de la relación del trio protagonista, pues aunque al principio parece la típica panda de amiguetes con sus bromas socarronas a los pocos minutos y a raíz de cualquier tema intrascendental empiezan a criticarse duramente con el único motivo aparente de hacerse daño, dejando unos cuantos silencios incomodos. En los primeros compases pensé que no era más que un burdo intento de crear conflicto y drama (Jugar a Life is Strange 2 me ha dejado trauma), pero luego me doy cuenta de que tiene sentido: al ser un grupo LGTB en un sistema cristiano conservador hace que tengan que reprimir sus identidades y deseos, haciendo crecer una rabia y rencor en su interior que salen a la superficie hasta con su grupo intimo que está en la misma situación, permaneciendo en un eterno conflicto con todo lo que las rodea y sobre todo con ellas mismas.

La escena donde más se demuestra esto es cuando 2 de las protagonistas están solas en medio de la oscuridad lejos de cualquier mirada y sus dos imágenes se acercan, pegadas la una a la otra. Lo que ocurre entre ellas se deja en la ambigüedad y no tardan en aparecer comentarios sarcásticos para quitar importancia al asunto mientras acontece un conjunto de emociones en ambas, desde la sonrisa más reluciente hasta la tristeza más amarga. Hasta que una de ellas dice que no hay nada de que hablar, pues las palabras lo pueden corromper. Simplemente ha ocurrido y esa realidad no se la pueden arrebatar. Simplemente y llanamente es. Al igual que ellas simple y llanamente son.

I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost
If I'm asking for help, it's only because
Being with you has opened my eyes
Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise?
I keep asking myself, wondering how
I keep closing my eyes, but I can't block you out
Wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me
Nobody else, so we can be free
(Nobody else, so we can be free)

komaeda in the special thanks 💀

Best part about being the second child in a middle class family in America is capitalism will sometimes just price out your family from engaging in Christianity. Shit is way too time consuming and costly. By the time I was of a memory forming age my parents had long ago given up going to church or really any engagement in religion at all. Pretty sweet!

Not that I don't feel the weird religious guilt that is just kind of engrained into our culture but a lot of the major trauma I think I've expertly avoided.

We Know the Devil captures the subtle and not so subtle baggage of Christianity through some very clever and well written prose. Each of the gals are suffering from similar but distinctly different internal struggles and mental anguish and their interactions by themselves, as a group, and paired off are all subtly different and well explored.

I loved Venus's confused frustration with the rigged system. Neptune's anger at her friends self deprecation. Jupiter's internal disgust with herself. The dialogue can get very intimate for how short the runtime is but it never comes off as corny. The casual bits are fun and the emotional highs really hit. It is such a tight package clocking in at barely 2 hours.

Combine that with a spooky aesthetic, neat art style, some sick tracks, and a fun choice system with multiple endings and this is probably as good as visual novels are gonna get for me.

We Know the Devil é um jogo bem legal, e isso chega a ser estranho vindo de um cara que não é chegado em Visual Novels ou Dating Sims. Visual Novels são um tipo de gênero/mídia do qual não me engajo tanto pelos seus métodos de storytelling não serem muito da minha praia, mas aqui é um pouco diferente. Ao contrário de muitas VNs, a história aqui é contada em 3° pessoa ao invés de 1°, o que permitiu me apegar mais aos personagens e acontecimentos, já que não me dá a sensação que era pra eu estar inserido alí. O motivo desse meu probleminha é por causa dos Dating Sims, que por serem histórias de amor interativas, não me apetecem, pois eu sou arromântico. Mesmo essa VN sendo categorizada como um Dating Sim, não parece tanto com um, pois mesmo tendo um romance entre o trio principal, não é bem o foco principal da história, sendo esse as situações complicadas do dito trio. A história é sobre um trio de pessoas LGBT em uma comunidade cristã conservadora, sendo obrigadas a confrontar "o diabo". As personagens tem uma química boa entre si e os seus problemas são palpáveis e realistas, e os seus momentos de insensibilidade que parecem um melodrama tacado de qualquer jeito, são justificáveis por serem pessoas LGBT numa comunidade conservadora, forçando-as a reprimir suas emoções e deixando o rancor do seu grupo escapar, estando num ciclo de ódio próprio. Outra qualidade do roteiro, é o seu texto. O texto é sútil e metafórico, não te dá tudo de mãos beijadas e mesmo no final, deixa coisas em aberto para interpretação, mas não diria que é super complexo, e é entendível aonde quer chegar. O que me desagradou no jogo, foram os seus aspectos técnicos. A direção de arte me incomodou, não pelo desenho das personagens, mas pelos cenários realistas destoantes, e mesmo sendo intencional pro clima, sinto que podiam ter ido mais além na intenção. As músicas não foram muito do meu feitio, mas servem bem pro seu clima, apesar de eu me incomodar com elas serem altas. We Know The Devil não chegou a me marcar, mas curti a experiência.

Prós: Protagonistas bem desenvolvidas; texto com um bom nível de sutileza; problemas retratados com sensatez; aberto para interpretações na medida certa; conciso.
Contras: Os cenários não encaixam com os desenhos dos sprites; a trilha sonora me incomodou um pouco.

It’s very important as a human being to engage with things that are not about you and you cannot relate with. I know this, and try to do this. However, I have always struggled with stories about religious trauma, as someone who hasn’t had religion in either a positive or negative sense play much of a role in their life. I can understand what it’s saying, but there’s a barrier that prevents me from being hit as hard as some people.

We Know the Devil is one of those games. It hits for the right person, but that person is unfortunately not me and I don’t think the rest of the game is good enough to compensate. Not bad by any stretch, but not the best. The writing ranges from poignant to stilted and ham-fisted. I played through all the endings, and the writing was by far the strongest in Venus’. The ostracization of a closeted trans woman who struggles to connect with male peers and can’t relate to the “real girls” as well as they can with each other is painfully believable. The other routes aren’t as strong.

The visual design is good, and contributes to the atmosphere. The audio is also mostly good, but sometimes poorly mixed, with certain tracks being much louder than others. The tracks themselves are good though.

I think this is just a game that isn’t for me, but I can see the merit in it. I do quite like the three girls and wish they all had a bit more depth and organic writing.

Si el diablo es todo lo que atenta contra la estabilidad de la sociedad ¿Por qué rayos no le estamos haciendo caso ahora mismo?

Dios solo tiene espacio para uno o dos.

El diablo nos acepta a todes por igual.

A killer soundtrack and art direction means that vibes are off the charts here, and the themes are super great too, but I couldn't really get much into the minutiae of the writing sadly. The dialogue's not terribly compelling to me and these characters just aren't really given enough time to shine, even going through all the endings. I don't know how exactly to describe it but this feels less focused on telling a story and more about communicating a message? It's hard to explain.

Still definitely liked overall, just not as much as I had hoped.

i really really don't like this style of writing? i don't know how to describe it other than exceedingly zoomer-ish. it's just the vibe it has going on - it feels really stilted, unnatural, is a headache to keep track of, and often just fills like taking up space until you get to what the game is actually about, which is also very obvious unfortunately. it goes on and on and on, with very flowery and winding narration/description, but it's never really in service of anything or communicating anything to the player. the dialogue can be even worse sometimes, characters just going on and on about nothing. it's just exceedingly overwrought, it feels like a first draft that needed many more lookovers, many more eyes on it, people asking the writer what exactly she meant by some of the lines in here, and changing those so that they can be better understood. idk, maybe it's a skill issue, but i've read more than a few visual novels (though admittedly not a lot) and this one has the worst prose by a good margin i'd say.

as an aside that isn't directly connected to the game, but i'm really tired of religion (christianity) being just. Evil. in every queer story it's in. like i understand why, it's very obvious why, but as someone who has christian queer/trans friends, i would really like to experience more stories that weren't so black and white with this kind of thing

(i didn't know how to put this into the review but the sound mixing is also really bad, the music at the end of the normal routes is so much louder than the rest of the soundtrack it made me jump in my chair lol)

Interesting queer visual novel that reflects around themes of acceptance, freedom of personal expression, and social conventions that turn into judgmental actions and exclusion of those who appear to be different. The game structure requires you to make choices that subsequently result in the various endings and correspond to the exclusion of a scapegoat among the three main characters. However, it's only by managing not to exclude anyone that the true ending can be reached in which the true uniqueness of the game lies: only by refusing to play by the rules of the game and choosing, rejecting those who seem worse than we are we can all accept ourselves for who we really are, and be truly free from our own judgment and that of others.