Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2024-11-19 07:16 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2024-11-19 07:16 pm
Entry tags:
For The Love Of God, This Had Better Not Be What It Looks Like.
I've just played The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, on the recommendation of two separate people who thought it seemed like my sort of thing.
It is, it turns out, exactly my sort of thing.
The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a game about the fucked-up and murderous adventures of a pair of codependent, traumatised, isolated siblings, a concept so calculated to appeal to me that it's a wonder I've ever bothered to play anything else. I love sibling relationships, I love characters being isolated in tense situations together, and the game kicked off with 'so, hey, these siblings have been trapped alone in their home for months'.
I was in love within twenty minutes. I'd barely played for an hour before I was sketching out fanfiction.
More detailed thoughts under the cut! Heads-up: I ended up shipping the murder siblings, and you will find discussion of (fictional) incest here.
I love the art! I thought about creating an icon before posting this entry, but there are too many great CGs to choose from; I'm going to have to set some time aside to comb through them properly.
(EDIT: Icon achieved! I came across this great collection of Andy and Leyley icons bytempura over at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kinksame.)
It's hilarious how quickly things escalate, but, if you're literally starving and the opportunity for cannibalism arises, I suppose you take it.
Love the visual storytelling in the motel room. Two beds, but one is clearly unused and missing a pillow; both pillows are at the head of the other bed, which has rumpled covers. When you check the slept-in bed, Ashley comments that Andrew insisted on getting a room with separate beds but then had panic attacks every other night.
(My Ashley summoned something on her first try!) Andrew's been very prickly with Ashley; it's cute to get a glimpse inside his head and find out how proud he is of her for being so good at demon summoning. He definitely loves her, but it's a love severely complicated by his need to blame her for the bad things he's done, because he can't handle the idea that he's also responsible.
(Now that you've got your answers, you miss Ashley.) Awww.
Although their situation is terrible and their interactions are frequently tense, Andrew and Ashley often make each other laugh. It's a nice little detail for their relationship.
This lemon muffin birthday flashback is delightful. I laughed aloud at 'Make a wish.' 'I wish my brother loses all his friends and never finds love!'
Andrew's genuine relief when Ashley wakes up! We've seen so little that's genuine from him! (Apart from him waking Ashley, the night after they eat the neighbour, to talk about how much decapitating him fucked him up and how he can't sleep. Which I also loved!)
Andrew playing with Ashley's hair while her head is on his lap!
He's so resentful of her - he's been involved in a lot more murders than he'd personally prefer on her account - and he wants to voice it, but he also feels really bad when he says something that hurts her. It's such an interesting dynamic.
Andrew: I'll push you up [to the window] after you've opened the latch.
Ashley: You're just looking for an excuse to touch my ass.
Andrew: Okay, I... ugh. First of all, no. Secondly, like I'd need an excuse?
Another interesting aspect of their dynamic: these two are very weird and flirtatious. I'm really enjoying it.
There are some incest ships I prefer to avoid and some I'm willing to look at fanworks for, and 'how fucked-up is the existing relationship between these characters?' tends to be a strong factor. For example, I prefer not to contemplate incest between Sokka and Katara, who have a fairly stable and loving sibling relationship, but I am willing to consider it between Zuko and Azula, who, uh, don't.
'We hate each other, we love each other, we flirt and talk about killing each other, we murder people together and then blame each other for the murders because we can't handle the responsibility' definitely qualifies as a sufficiently fucked-up sibling dynamic for me to ponder shipping. Andrew does come across as kind of in love with Ashley to me, too. (And possibly vice versa? Ashley is obsessed with Andrew, which might not be quite the same thing.)
(You're struck with an odd urge to pull this broody bitch into your arms, and force her to stay until she smiles. But you push such an idea to the back of your mind. Where it may fester with all the other thoughts you wish you never had.) These two are so weird about each other. I love it.
Love Andrew getting up close to Ashley while pissed off and then getting uncomfortable about it.
ANDREW, CASUALLY STANDING AROUND WITH YOUR FINGERS HOOKED THROUGH YOUR SISTER'S BELT LOOP IS NOT NORMAL. No wonder your mother thinks you should live separately.
Andrew asking his girlfriend to tie her hair up so she'll look more like his sister, what is wrong with this boy ♥
His main concern about being caught, when they're kids, being that there are different prisons for men and women, so he and his sister will be separated!
I revise 'these two are so weird about each other' to 'these two are absolutely insane about each other, and it is incredible'.
(Somehow it seems like a highly questionable idea to take this route...) I think the game is asking me whether I want it to turn Actually Incestuous, and, I'll be honest, from all I've seen so far, I think it would actually be weirder for the codependent murder siblings not to be attracted to each other.
YEP. PSYCHIC VISION OF US FUCKING IN THE FUTURE. GOOD STUFF. I love Ashley awkwardly wondering whether Andrew saw it as well after waking up.
Andrew flipping out about the vision is SO GOOD.
'We're not like that, are we?' I'll be honest, Andrew: we're a little like that.
Andrew: It's never going to come to that, right? You and me.
Ashley: Never say never, Andrew my dear.
Andrew: Oh my fucking god!
And with that I've played all of the game currently available!
Wow. It's been a while since I came across a story that felt so laser-targeted at me. 'Dark content, an irreverent tone, genuine and intense emotion' is such a good combination; it's why I fell so hard for Danganronpa as well.
I don't know when the remaining chapters will be released, but I love the hell out of the ones we have so far. Awful stuff in the best way.
It is, it turns out, exactly my sort of thing.
The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a game about the fucked-up and murderous adventures of a pair of codependent, traumatised, isolated siblings, a concept so calculated to appeal to me that it's a wonder I've ever bothered to play anything else. I love sibling relationships, I love characters being isolated in tense situations together, and the game kicked off with 'so, hey, these siblings have been trapped alone in their home for months'.
I was in love within twenty minutes. I'd barely played for an hour before I was sketching out fanfiction.
More detailed thoughts under the cut! Heads-up: I ended up shipping the murder siblings, and you will find discussion of (fictional) incest here.
I love the art! I thought about creating an icon before posting this entry, but there are too many great CGs to choose from; I'm going to have to set some time aside to comb through them properly.
(EDIT: Icon achieved! I came across this great collection of Andy and Leyley icons by
tempura over at kinksame.)It's hilarious how quickly things escalate, but, if you're literally starving and the opportunity for cannibalism arises, I suppose you take it.
Love the visual storytelling in the motel room. Two beds, but one is clearly unused and missing a pillow; both pillows are at the head of the other bed, which has rumpled covers. When you check the slept-in bed, Ashley comments that Andrew insisted on getting a room with separate beds but then had panic attacks every other night.
(My Ashley summoned something on her first try!) Andrew's been very prickly with Ashley; it's cute to get a glimpse inside his head and find out how proud he is of her for being so good at demon summoning. He definitely loves her, but it's a love severely complicated by his need to blame her for the bad things he's done, because he can't handle the idea that he's also responsible.
(Now that you've got your answers, you miss Ashley.) Awww.
Although their situation is terrible and their interactions are frequently tense, Andrew and Ashley often make each other laugh. It's a nice little detail for their relationship.
This lemon muffin birthday flashback is delightful. I laughed aloud at 'Make a wish.' 'I wish my brother loses all his friends and never finds love!'
Andrew's genuine relief when Ashley wakes up! We've seen so little that's genuine from him! (Apart from him waking Ashley, the night after they eat the neighbour, to talk about how much decapitating him fucked him up and how he can't sleep. Which I also loved!)
Andrew playing with Ashley's hair while her head is on his lap!
He's so resentful of her - he's been involved in a lot more murders than he'd personally prefer on her account - and he wants to voice it, but he also feels really bad when he says something that hurts her. It's such an interesting dynamic.
Andrew: I'll push you up [to the window] after you've opened the latch.
Ashley: You're just looking for an excuse to touch my ass.
Andrew: Okay, I... ugh. First of all, no. Secondly, like I'd need an excuse?
Another interesting aspect of their dynamic: these two are very weird and flirtatious. I'm really enjoying it.
There are some incest ships I prefer to avoid and some I'm willing to look at fanworks for, and 'how fucked-up is the existing relationship between these characters?' tends to be a strong factor. For example, I prefer not to contemplate incest between Sokka and Katara, who have a fairly stable and loving sibling relationship, but I am willing to consider it between Zuko and Azula, who, uh, don't.
'We hate each other, we love each other, we flirt and talk about killing each other, we murder people together and then blame each other for the murders because we can't handle the responsibility' definitely qualifies as a sufficiently fucked-up sibling dynamic for me to ponder shipping. Andrew does come across as kind of in love with Ashley to me, too. (And possibly vice versa? Ashley is obsessed with Andrew, which might not be quite the same thing.)
(You're struck with an odd urge to pull this broody bitch into your arms, and force her to stay until she smiles. But you push such an idea to the back of your mind. Where it may fester with all the other thoughts you wish you never had.) These two are so weird about each other. I love it.
Love Andrew getting up close to Ashley while pissed off and then getting uncomfortable about it.
ANDREW, CASUALLY STANDING AROUND WITH YOUR FINGERS HOOKED THROUGH YOUR SISTER'S BELT LOOP IS NOT NORMAL. No wonder your mother thinks you should live separately.
Andrew asking his girlfriend to tie her hair up so she'll look more like his sister, what is wrong with this boy ♥
His main concern about being caught, when they're kids, being that there are different prisons for men and women, so he and his sister will be separated!
I revise 'these two are so weird about each other' to 'these two are absolutely insane about each other, and it is incredible'.
(Somehow it seems like a highly questionable idea to take this route...) I think the game is asking me whether I want it to turn Actually Incestuous, and, I'll be honest, from all I've seen so far, I think it would actually be weirder for the codependent murder siblings not to be attracted to each other.
YEP. PSYCHIC VISION OF US FUCKING IN THE FUTURE. GOOD STUFF. I love Ashley awkwardly wondering whether Andrew saw it as well after waking up.
Andrew flipping out about the vision is SO GOOD.
'We're not like that, are we?' I'll be honest, Andrew: we're a little like that.
Andrew: It's never going to come to that, right? You and me.
Ashley: Never say never, Andrew my dear.
Andrew: Oh my fucking god!
And with that I've played all of the game currently available!
Wow. It's been a while since I came across a story that felt so laser-targeted at me. 'Dark content, an irreverent tone, genuine and intense emotion' is such a good combination; it's why I fell so hard for Danganronpa as well.
I don't know when the remaining chapters will be released, but I love the hell out of the ones we have so far. Awful stuff in the best way.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Unfortunately I'm really not kidding about collecting these kind of dynamics. I don't mean to turn this into a list of recs except that I'm absolutely going to, because I actively pursue weird dynamics in my media consumption & don't know how to shut up about it. I don't know if you're a big reader, but there's a particularly delightful trend of "family members isolated by Suffering Reasons develop codependent and/or incestuous relationships" in books, ranging in tone:
Flowers in the Attic and the rest of the Dollanganger series by V.C. Andrews is the most genre/pulpy/very silly, as well as the most infamous.
Some of my favorites are The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles), Jean Cocteau (very French literature: literary, dreamlike, absurdist; isolated children grow too close) and The Dreamers aka The Holy Innocents, Gilbert Adair which has a 2003 film adaptation, also The Dreamers (much sexier and sleeker, traveling student stays with/falls in love with isolated, insular, incesty beautiful siblings); The Cement Garden, Ian McEwan, is in the same vein but even more Literature read: depressing and dry, all about isolated children suffering isolation together & the beauty/disaster therein.
Twins: Dead Ringers, Bari Wood, is out of print but got a 1988 Cronenberg adaptation, Dead Ringers; also there's a 2023 miniseries, also called Dead Ringers, that I haven't yet seen: identical twins are gynecologists sharing lovers and drug problems; the book is more realistic and explicitly incesty, the film is more Cronenberg.
Of course We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson, needs no introduction but if it does it's whimsical and dark and claustrophobic, codependent agoraphobia; The Deranged Cousins, or, Whatever, Edward Gorey is 35 gothic pages of ridiculous insular self-destructive cousin shenanigans (here's your irreverent!).
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma is YA tearjerker drama about a consensual but, you know, troubled incestuous sibling relationship.
The manga Happy Sugar Life, Kagisora Tomiyaki, might also interest you! Teenage girl befriends cute abandoned little girl; will overturn the world to protect her. It has sibling-adjacent vibes & the combo of very cute/moe and very dark seems like it might hit irreverent-ish vibes without being exactly humorous.
And those are unfortunately just the highlights. I tag my weird relationship consumption as Unusually Intimate Relationship and use it to cover any interpersonal dynamic which is unusual/expresses itself unusual ways, where 'unusual' is a know-it-when-I-see-it quality that varies from violence-as-intimacy to taboo relationships to codependency in its many forms. And if you're ever like, wow, I wish someone had a masterlist of this kind of stuff or was willing to go on at length about specific examples/categories, that would be me.
no subject
I hope you enjoy The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, if you do end up checking it out! I don't know how you'll get along with the tone, but I can promise that it delivers hard on the 'unusually intimate relationship' front.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I think I kind of agree with you in that I am much more okay with incest ships for siblings who already have a fucked-up relationship in canon than ones with a wholesome relationship, though I don't think I could really say that I'm a fan of that sort of thing in either case (although I think it can be dramatically interesting sometimes).
no subject
There are some incest ships I prefer to avoid and some I'm willing to look at fanworks for, and 'how fucked-up is the existing relationship between these characters?' tends to be a strong factor. For example, I prefer not to contemplate incest between Sokka and Katara, who have a fairly stable and loving sibling relationship, but I am willing to consider it between Zuko and Azula, who, uh, don't.
Mmm. Same, I think! Sokka and Katara seem like... real siblings, I guess. Or maybe just functional siblings. For me I think it's also that I often love rivalry in a ship, and parallel characters - the same but different, equal but opposite, and that's often siblings in fiction. And friends-to-enemies-to-lovers. I ship Thor/Loki and Nebula/Gamora for basically the same reasons I ship Buffy/Faith and Xavier/Magneto. 'We hate each other but we also know each other so well and on some level we'll always love each other.'
ANDREW, CASUALLY STANDING AROUND WITH YOUR FINGERS HOOKED THROUGH YOUR SISTER'S BELT LOOP IS NOT NORMAL. No wonder your mother thinks you should live separately.
:giggles:
no subject
no subject
no subject
Same! I can definitely recommend this game if isolated, weird, incestuous, intense sibling dynamics work for you.
parallel characters - the same but different, equal but opposite, and that's often siblings in fiction
Oh, this is a good observation!
:giggles:
They're so weird and handsy! This is a piece of official art from the developer. The most normal sibling relationship.
(I've seen people in the fandom trying to argue with shippers that it's immoral to draw Andrew/Ashley fanart. Are you... are you guys lost? Did you play this whole game with your eyes closed?)