Written by: Charlie M. Case
Worst Girls Games, in collaboration with Pillow Fight, has put out two games to date: a pair of beautifully idiosyncratic visual novels named We Know the Devil and Heaven Will Be Mine.
Image from WKTD Fandom
We Know the Devil was my introduction to the studio. I played it a little more than a year after it initially came out in February 2016, and was taken immediately by its unique visuals as well as the intriguing dynamics between its three protagonists: Venus, Neptune, and Jupiter.
This game is both a love letter and hate mail to summer camp, and to organized religion, and trio friendships that inevitably end up leaving one person out. It follows its three protagonists through a short time spent together (or rather—time spent together, two at a time) at their summer camp, which culminates in, as We Know the Devil’s itch.io page states, “the actual, literal devil com[ing] for you.”
It’s a short game, and one that really digs into its characters, their individual struggles, and their push-and-pull relationships with each other. It has multiple paths to travel down, four endings, and some gorgeous artwork.
If you enjoy weird, character-driven writing, this game is for you.
Image from Pillow Fight
Heaven Will Be Mine, Worst Girls Games’ most recent title, was released just two years after their first game, in July 2018. I picked it up in 2020, but didn’t actually get around to playing it until this year when I saw it among my games again and remembered my utter fondness for We Know the Devil.
Heaven Will Be Mine is a visual novel set at the tail end of an alternate 1980s space program, which had three distinct factions fracture off from it. Again, it features three protagonists: Saturn, Luna-Terra, and Pluto, a girl from each faction. Each of the three of them clash again and again during the week leading up to the war’s culmination.
This game, in contrast to the previous, is a denser beast. It is very character-driven—the girls’ personalities each shine brilliantly between their interactions with each other and with supporting characters—but it also features loads of worldbuilding, which is opaque, alien-feeling, and completely intriguing.
I would recommend Heaven Will Be Mine to people who love to dissect worlds and small details, as well as to those who itch for strong characterization and messy relationships. If you’re one of those things, this game is for you.