Dead State Dev's Panic At Multiverse High! Gets Demo
Back to school
Panic at Multiverse High! [official site] has been out for over a month already, but now you can try before you buy in a new demo. It's Dead State developer DoubleBear's take on a dating sim set in a high school where things are a bit... off.
Things start out normally enough. Canned music straight out of a '90s job training video—check. A school bully named Chad—check. Said school bully is pink and has six arms—well, hold on.
It turns out Multiverse High is a place of learning filled to the brim with folks thinly hiding their super powers, robotic origins, and other oddball secrets. You don't know what you're doing at Multiverse High exactly, as you've conveniently forgotten your past. Your only goal is to come out on top of the vicious high school food chain.
Panic at Multiverse High!'s got all of the usual dating sim fixings. You'll want to build up a series of stats while schmoozing with potential best friends and crushes. The people (and creatures) you encounter depend largely on which clubs and classes you sign up for, but you always have the option to go back and wander down new paths.
The otome parody is actually designed to be a side-story to the larger Panic at the Multiverse, a tactics-based JRPG game. DoubleBear is gauging interest with this smaller visual novel to see which direction they should take the Multiverse franchise.
Having played the demo, I can say it's a definite departure from Dead State, with jokes and pop culture references a plenty. The goofs don't always hit home, but all around it's quite enjoyable. Panic at Multiverse High! is out for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Steam for £6.99/€9.99/$9.99. Steam is where you'll find the demo too.