Morph Girl

Developer: Jaydeb | Publisher: Jaydeb | Release Date: 2017 | Genre: FMV / Adventure / Casual | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam / itch.io

Elana Pierce’s life is shattered by the tragic loss of her spouse, Rebecca. The devastating event leaves Elana as, a grieving widow, unable to move forward. She merely survives each day, spending her time immersed in Elana’s journals and the movies that held significance for her late wife. However, amidst Elana’s grief, her home is infiltrated by a supernatural entity, taking the form of a long-haired woman. The game places the responsibility on players to guide Elana through this unexpected turn of events and determine if there’s a chance for her to reclaim a semblance of a normal life.

The premise for Morph Girl is quite interesting and clearly inspired by Japanese horror movies, such as The Ring and The Grudge. The game mimics the FMV titles that flooded the market during the nineties, but the developer clearly had a much lower budget. The result is a game filmed with an iPhone and stars the developer’s girlfriend as both Elana and Rebecca. To make things look a little more atmospheric, the video quality has been manipulated to look like something from a home VHS tape, and the game also uses a monochrome palette instead of full color. While this means that Morph Girl doesn’t look as good as contemporary attempts at the genre, such as The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, it definitely fits the tone and style of the game. The game also opts to use text instead of speech, meaning a lot of reading is involved. Most of the reading involves flashback stories about how the relationship between Rebecca and Elana became strained when the former became ill.

Morph Girl isn’t just a passive experience either, as occasionally, you get to make a choice that influences how the story plays out. These choices eventually lead to one of six different endings, which is good as the game is relatively short and can easily be completed in a single sitting. While the different endings are rather interesting, the paths that lead to them are not always that compelling. Elana spends the first part of the story in a fog of grief, and even when the supernatural elements start to ramp up, her reactions are unusually calm. The result is a game that maintains an atmosphere that ranges from uneasy to creepy but never really crosses over into horror. While this approach is fine, the slow pace will probably disappoint players expecting something more in line with the Japanese horror genre. The story favors a more psychological horror approach instead of over-the-top blood and gore but could have benefited from more convincing acting.

One aspect of Morph Girl that is done very well is the music, as the game makes good use of audio to maintain the creepy atmosphere. Although there isn’t a whole lot of variety, the game makes the most of what it has when it comes to music. Some people might consider the lack of a voice acting a negative, but the silence works much better when it comes to maintaining the somber mood of the game. The interface is simple but straightforward since Morph Girl plays out like a visual novel with FMV.

Due to the length of the game, there’s not much that can be said about the story of Morph Girl without giving away too much. The writing is interesting but not mind-blowing, and while the acting is quite convincing for the most part, it falls a little flat during the supernatural portions. Nevertheless, Morph Girl is certainly interesting enough to warrant a playthrough or two, especially with its wallet-friendly price tag. If you are not a fan of FMV or the visual novel genre, there isn’t much here for you, but everyone else should give it a go.