It’s very rare that I’m not thinking about the works of Satoshi Kon (pop on Tokyo Godfathers this Christmas, you won’t regret it), but the one that I always come back to is Opus. It’s a manga the director made in the mid ’90s that he ultimately never finished before his death, following a manga artist who gets sucked into his own creation and forced to deal with the consequences of his writing. Tulpa the Unseen Lover, a psychological visual novel made by former Spider-Verse animators, is sort of like that, only in this case it’s about a manga creator bringing an anime girl to life in his mind.
From pretty much the first frame, you can tell that this is made by folks who’ve worked on Spider-Verse. There’s the comic booky, half-tone effect, of course, but it’s the pronounced character animations and playful approach to framing that really sells that fact. It’s from a married couple too! Cute! And the deeper explanation of the concept is compelling too, assuming it pulls it off.
Tulpa the Unseen Lover – Announcement Trailer
Watch on YouTube
The game follows Nick, a 23 year old manga artist who lives alone, and he has a secret: a cute anime girl tulpa has formed in his head. For some context, a tulpa is a being made material through the power of your mind, apparently inspired by Tibetan Buddhism. You have the ability to name this girl and pick what she wears, and it’s also up to you to ensure she doesn’t “turn your life into a living hell.” I’m not sure why she would do that, she seems chirpy enough, though the trailer obviously points towards a more ominous undertone that I’m sure will come through picking certain narrative pathways.
I’m hoping that this’ll be a reflective sort of game in that it questions why Nick would manifest a character like this, especially considering you can put her in a maid outfit and the like. Again, the psychological quality it’s got going on suggests a certain self-awareness, it’s just always good to be optimistically cautious. In any case, I’ll be curious to check it out further down the road.
No release date attached to it just yet, but you can wishlist it on Steam if it takes your fancy. Also I’d just like to point out that the dev team is called Horse Position without comment.
