Dark, creepy, and confused. Seated in a chair with a figure before me, the environment around me made me question if I was here by choice or consequence. Uncertainty stirred in my gut as the opening dialogue began. The Grand Toy Master was welcoming, but their word choice made my fight or flight response engage with caution. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. What happened? What am I doing here? This is only the beginning of the rollercoaster ride I would experience when playing Toy Box by DEADline Studios.

DEADline Studios is a person-of-color (POC) and Queer-owned indie gaming studio “seeking to shake up [the gaming] industry norms”.¹ On Dec 09th 2024, they released Toy Box, their second visual novel experience which absolutely embodies that very mission. It is available on Steam as Free to Play. Toy Box is a pull-apart puzzle visual novel with rich dialogue and artist detail taking the player deeper into the question, what is worth salvaging when time has run out? I came across this game through the Steam Curator, Non-binary Haven. Their recommended review of the game noted characters identifying as agender, which, combined with the cute but dark art style, was enough for me to give this experience a try! You can find them through this link. On further investigation, I also realized this game would be closer to a horror experience than I have tried in a while. 

What to Expect

Please note, this experience covers a wide variety of topics not suited for all players. Thankfully, DEADLine Studios listed all the details and information for content warnings on the Store Page. Some examples of the listed warnings include: Blood, Body Horror, Gore, Death, Flashing Lights, Child Abuse, Violence, and Swearing. Moreover, I was very pleased with their accuracy!

The player takes to the scene as the inquisitive Inspector. There are 5 toys to interact with, outside your interaction with the Grand Toy Master. The Grand Toy Master and Clementine, another prominent character of the game, are both agender. I love that this gives different representations for gamers is see and explore. This game put me through all kinds of emotions in the best way. Toy Box took me about 45 minutes to complete from start to finish with three different endings to explore! Being free to play makes it easy for any gamer to explore. Take on the challenge of judging the human experience! Here’s what I enjoyed as the Inspector!

The Characters

It was immediately apparent to me that the crafting of each character presented in Toy Box was unique and a key feature of this game. Using only speak bubbles, each character’s dialogue allowed me to uniquely imagine a individualized voice in my head for them. No one character had the same word choice or cadence to their narration. Those narrative choices made by DEADline Studios really made this game go from a point and click experience to the visual novel they drove to create. DEADline Studios’ ability to evoke so much empathy from the player only to slowly poison the words until their true nature is seen amazed me. 

The character designs not only matched the story being told, but also brought me back to a reminiscent place of the toys I had growing up. They were all unique and had a story to tell! I love how the developers were able to capture that in their art and narrative style altogether, while also making the Grand Toy Maker a fascinating person as well. The Grand Toy Maker was truly a puzzle to solve in and of themself. I was surprised such a short game crafted so much character development. The narrative build-up into the endings with the Grand Toy Maker was subtle yet profound. Even in their absence, the Grand Toy Maker lingers ever closer like a shadow. With each step of interrogation, the player can feel that chilling presence, as if each move they make is one step closer to their own Judgement Day. 

The Artistic Design

Being a visual novel, the design and artistic style of the game must be in line with the story trying to be conveyed. Toy Box balances the right amount with well crafted dialogue with visual memories to tell each character’s story with so much depth. Coupled with a simple yet poignant and eerie soundtrack, a simple puzzle game really draws the player into trenches of the darker narratives of life.

I love the idea of looking into these characters’ memories in different lights to see different sides to what happened. It was this slideshow style 2D imagery, like shadow puppets on a wall at night, that evoked the most emotion for me. After seeing a scene, I would always be wondering what came next or how it impacted the character. This was a perfect way to keep the player wanting more as they waded through the hard disassembly steps of interrogation. 

Artfully handling gore

The darker side of this game definitely comes out when working toward understanding further details through interrogation. I was grateful for how this game handled body gore. The artistic style in the design allowed for just enough detail to put a player on edge and squirm in their seat, without going over the top, depending on the player’s comfort level.

Dismemberment was portrayed and performed, however, players perform this through puzzles. Following the instructions, players click on different parts or pieces to produce a black scene and uncomfortable noises. Consequently, the damage done displays on the table before the inspector. This artist style allows for simplified gore or blood without tremendous detail. Just enough detail for the player to fill in the blanks to their comfort. I was also grateful that all the gore was directly correlated to the story being told. There was not any violence for the sake of creating a dark and gory scene. 

Breaking Down Social Norms

DEADline Studios focuses their games on putting the spotlight on the darker and harder sides of life. This game really portrays this without beating around the bush. For gamers interested in this game, please pay close attention to all the content warnings listed on the store page. As someone who has dealt with the darker themes of the world, personally and professionally, the depictions are quite accurate from multiple different angles.

With nuisance, both the victim and perpetrator are in the spotlight of these tales which really added to the depth of reaction they draw from the player. When the game wants the player on edge, your heart will begin to race. Hairs will stand up on the back of your neck. It was powerful and executed in a simple but exciting way. Not being afraid to showcase real life horrors like abuse, murder, and stalking, through such a personal medium of toys from a toy box, is a real talent. 

Forced to sit with reality

That being said, I was also really impressed by the light they bring to these subjects. DEADLine Studios challenges players to see why some societal handling of these subjects needs to be addressed unapologetically. I really began to understand this as I processed one of the weirdest characters who addressed the theme of stalking. This character embodied the main problem of this behavior. Stalking is not taken seriously until much too late. I realized that’s where the story was going only when the ugly truth was displayed plainly in front of me. The turmoil it created inside was so effective in flipping this kink positive artistic narrative (don’t yuck people’s yum, y’all) into something so much worse. 

Please note, the act of stalking has nothing to do with the kink community. This narrative does not draw correlations between the two subjects, nor should they ever be associated. A rotten apple doesn’t spoil that bunch. Bad people are in every community, large or small, and don’t represent a community as a whole. Thank you.

Would I recommend this game?

This is a hard question for me to answer. Toy Box definitely pushed on the barriers of my comfort zone. I’m really happy I got to explore this game. For me, it was a very unique experience that I haven’t had before. DEADline Studios is a very talented team that should absolutely be supported to create more narratives like this one. Personally, I am comfortable having this be a one-and-done kind of game for me. I got one ending and had a thrilling ride but I don’t foresee myself going back to play again for the rest of the endings. This isn’t because I didn’t enjoy the game. The content was a challenge for me as it was presented.

This game makes you feel and explore some intense situations that are not for the faint of heart. I have a deep respect and fascination with what this team has created. I’m curious to explore their other visual novel, Fool’s Paradise, but I think I’m going to have to work on my horror experiences more before I take on an experience quite like this one again. I absolutely recommend this game for anyone who enjoys diving into the harder subject materials of life, solving simple point and click puzzle games, exploring deep and rich narratives, playing shorter experiences, or supporting Queer and POC content creation!

Thank you!

Thank you DEADLine Studios for crafting this fascinating experience! Have you explored Toy Box? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

Citations:

• 1. DEADline Studios. (n.d.). itch.io. https://deadline-co.itch.io/

Links:

• Nonbinary Haven Steam Curator: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39486419-Nonbinary-Haven/
• DEADLine Studios: https://deadline-co.itch.io/
• Press Kit: https://deadline-co.itch.io/toy-box
• Toy Box Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3341830/TOY_BOX/