SUBSCRIBE TO CAMPAIGN ON iTUNES The bride has found certainty about the nature of her husband, and the fates of the other women who once called themselves brides. Now she most discover the secrets of this house before she joins its other occupants.
138. Bluebeard’s Bride Part 3
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I knew no one would believe her. Even if she had a mountain of evidence, there’d be someone saying that they should give Blue Beard the benefit of the doubt because of some tiny inconsistency in her story.
She should have run away. Sometimes just surviving is all the victory you can hope for.
This was an absolutely brilliant game. Chilling, dark, and terribly tragic on so many levels. I was wondering if you would consider releasing an uncut version of the game as Patreon extra. I was so engrossed into the first episode with everything setting the tone, the sudden ending was jarring.
I would love to sit in a dark room on a rainy night, listening to the entire story, being completely terrified.
Wow, this is the closest I’ve ever seen to the bride “winning” the game. I found it very interesting because I’ve wondered what happens when players objectively make the right choices, and it seems unfair to have them punished just to drive home the lesson that “you’re a woman so you will fail, no matter what”.
And yes I know this is the theme, but (even in more traditional RPGs) I always felt that good role playing needs to be rewarded, otherwise why should people even bother trying? (and I guess I mean both the chacters and the players.)
Also I loved the maturity of both the Grounkeeper and the player who at a point said “Look, I understand there’s this rule and I see why it’s there, only it feels forced and fake to me and I don’t like it.”
It could easily have escalated into the Gk accusing the player of “not getting it” and “not going with the flow”, and the player either leaving the game altogether or acting like (what he felt was) a caricature to make her happy. I really appreciated how there was no drama of the “You’re playing it wrong! Maybe you don’t really want to take part in this kind of game!” sort… I guess that addressed my biggest concern about running this game, as even to me the ubiquitous “expose a weakness” rule seems a bit too heavy-handed.
So thanks a lot to all the people involved!
I really loved the ending. I can see how it feels like a “punishment” for the player especially coming from a traditional RPG perspective. When we flipped our sheets to do our ending moves I smiled when I realized everything about “winning” was still brutal and sad. I think this game really drives home its theme. I did not see it as diminishing the play that we did in order to make it to that final room.
Bluebeard’s Bride is perhaps the purest horror gaming experience I have ever played. The point of play in not to live, it is to shape situations that cause fear or revulsion. It is to take away your feeling of power and safety. That is a different experience from what you might find in a game like Call of Cthulhu or Dread which are ostensibly in the same genre. The fact that Bluebeard ends this way makes me admire the design in a way I don’t think I can articulate fully.
I completely understand your reaction. I’d invite you to think of this a “tragic horror” a genre where the ending is somewhat predetermined. 10 Candles ins another great example of this. You can play intelligently, be lucky, and you still die. That doesn’t diminish the play experience. The Journey is still haunting and beautiful.
Thanks for listening!
-James