Max Massacre [Free] [Fantasy/Romance]

[Zetsubou]

Max Massacre

Download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android from Itch.io.



In a world filled with monsters, demons, and other inhuman creatures, mankind is no longer the dominant race. Humans are nothing more than cattle, fed on by more powerful entities and hunted down for sport. Humans in general are weak, not even a match for the children of those who hunt them, and they know it. The human race is steadily declining, and before long, mankind will exist no longer.

As a child born into such a world, Max aspires to become a hero. A mighty warrior who will save the human race from the cusp of extinction, wielding strength unheard of for a boy on the brink of adulthood. He is already the strongest fighter in his village in hand to hand combat, and he has killed his fair share of low-level monsters. At seventeen years of age, he is well on his way to becoming the hero he aspires to be, and no matter how much his fellow villagers hate and scorn him for his demonic aura, Max wishes to save every one of them.

Forever by Max's side is his childhood friend and love interest, Celeste. Like Max, she possesses incredible strength, and is by far the strongest sorceress in the village. She is knowledgeable, intelligent, well-liked, and quite attractive; a truly fortunate young woman in almost every way imaginable. However, beneath this amiable exterior is a mind far more cynical and unforgiving. She does not share Max's outlook on life, nor does she condone his desire to become a hero, or to protect those who harm him. To her, humans are no better than the demons oppressing them, and she would happily leave their village in flames, if only Max would go with her.

As Max and Celeste go about their routine lives in the small village they call home, their differing views on the world clash every day, with each one trying to convince the other to see the light. But with the other villagers all living in fear and contempt of Max, and not hesitating for a moment to show how they feel, Celeste has a clear advantage. She believes it's only a matter of time before Max realizes what a fool he has been, and with the level of malice being directed towards Max increasing day by day, she might be right.

Will Max manage to convince Celeste that the human race is worth protecting? Or will Celeste prove to Max once and for all that his enemy is not demonkind, but the familiar faces of those who deny his humanity?







Download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android from Itch.io.

[Amiralo]

This looks both beautiful and interesting. Will give it a go and contribute fanart if I liked it! Thanks for releasing it. =v=

[Taranee]

I was really excited when I noticed this visual novel, but there turned out to be one problem. I didn't like Celeste at all. She goes to classes just to boast about how smart she is. She openly threatens to burn the village, letting anyone hear her threats. She insults the people who risk their lives protecting the village. She thinks that the fantasy equivalent of a school shooting is the correct response to being bullied. People like her, but she doesn't try to influence the villagers and get them to stop bullying Max. Yet she's the popular one and Max is hated by everyone. How could they think the aura comes from Max and not Celeste, when Max is so nice and is seen as weak, and Celeste is a jerk who is known to be powerful enough to really burn the village? She's also horrible for letting Max take the blame for the aura and not even showing any guilt for it. Max's attraction to Celeste made it difficult to relate to him. I was really happy when I saw there was an option to let the villagers kill Celeste.

A super powerful, super intelligent, super attractive character isn't very relatable. If she had more stakes in the game, for example if she was also getting bullied or had a tragic backstory, I would most likely have related to her and liked her. Maybe she's powerful and well-liked now, but humans did something horrible to her in the past. Instead of casually eating other monsters, maybe she strongly identifies with the succubi, but is torn by her taboo love for a human, and tries to corrupt Max so that they wouldn't have to hunt monsters anymore. And she should also have some reason to love Max. She obviously doesn't like his heroism and innocence, so why does she love him? Was Max intended to be an unreliable narrator?

[Zetsubou]

@Taranee

That's an interesting perspective. I thought Max would be the hated one, since he's such a wishy-washy doormat.

One thing to keep in mind about Celeste is that, as you pondered with Max being the narrator, we only see and hear her from Max's point of view. We don't see first-hand how she deals with other people, or what she says to them when he's not present.

Going by Max's note that other people adore her, and the fact that she's both a succubus and quite intelligent, it stands to reason that she doesn't go around threatening other people, or talking about burning the village when other people can hear her. She needs to keep her identity secret, and she's smart enough to know that putting suspicion on herself isn't going to do her any favors.

Max is a good scapegoat in this way. The others all blame the scary-looking tough guy instead of the cute girl. Even if they think he's a monster, they can't prove it; holy water certainly didn't do the trick, and he's not actually a bad person, so they have nothing definitive.
So does Celeste really care about Max? Or is she using him as a source of nutrition and protection? Either way, she's clearly prideful and devious, so I wouldn't fault anyone for disliking her.

[procutemeister]

OMG. I just downloaded this and finished it. Honestly I was expecting there to be an option to

run away with Celeste after you choose to save her

. I can't say that what happens in that choice was completely unexpected though, given the mention of

Max's impure mana and the allusions to his strength that he keeps hidden.

Well generally I like how you've foreshadowed Max and Celeste's identities, it really felt natural within the pace of the story.

Although, I somewhat agree with Taranee on a few points. While playing through the game I did go "Wow Celeste's a b****". I don't hate her, but it's simply because of her nature (being so pessimistic about the villagers, etc). I don't blame her though... those villagers really do treat Max like crap. However, even though you explained that Celeste probably acts different around other people, like not being so openly homicidal of them, it didn't show so much in the game itself... it would probably have been more effective if you had Max mention it, like "She often said things like this, but only around me", or something like that. I suppose it could be deduced from the fact that she's well-liked, but then as she mentions wanting to leave/kill everyone very often, it becomes hard to imagine without it being stated outright.

I liked this VN a lot though! I tried out both endings and I went for

save Celeste

first because I thought it would lead to a happy ending like i mentioned earlier (

them just leaving the village together

) but no. Both of the endings were sad like whyyy ((

(Don't worry though. They were both quite well-written, I just wish there were some way for

Max and Celeste to be safe and happy together without murdering the entire village even though everyone there was a complete a-hole.

[Zetsubou]

@procutemeister Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked it, despite the mentioned shortcomings.
I think I'll add a new scene over the weekend to show Celeste interacting with others a bit more and try to clear that side of things up.

Sorry, no purely happy ending for this game
Though given the scenario, that was never going to happen. Running away together would have been the best outcome, but once the villagers outed Celeste, they weren't going to escape without at least one side being injured.
It didn't need to end in a massacre, of course... but hey, look at the title

fwiw, my next two games will each have at least one happy ending. Not necessarily a super bright and happy good end with no conflict, but certainly much lighter than this.

[Zetsubou]

Small update. I extended one scene (by approx 300 words) to make a certain aspect of the story discussed above a bit clearer.

Through both narration and dialogue, there's mention of how Celeste acts nice around others and conceals her contempt for them in order to better the lives of herself and Max, and to avoid extra conflict.

[procutemeister]

Yay, nice! I'll swing by and get the update sometime. Happy holidays!

[Treladon]

Just played it through! Nice game! Pretty art. Cool story with good pacing. Enjoyed the music, too.