
The factory chip began to malfunction. Your horrible headaches don’t bother anyone in this dystopian world. “Black Whale”, the attractive white powder, is the only thing that can stop the pain. And show you the life without the horrors of harsh reality.
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About
You are a worker at the “White Whale” factory. The dystopian world of the future reminds you of the most horrible times from the past. The poverty that reigns in the country and is practically all-consuming does not allow anyone like you to climb the social ladder.
You have a small chip implanted in your brain, automating your work. Annoying and uncomfortable vibrations always causedaversion. However, once you come to the job, it seems to you that your head is about to split. It hurts right in the middle of the brain, where the board is. After barely making it to the medical unit, you realize there's no help coming. No one is gonna help you.
You were agonizing for several days when you suddenly found out about “The Black Whale,” the only drug that can relieve the pain. At the same time, it sends you on an amazing journey on the back of flying whales.
Although there is a problem, “The Black Whale” is very expensive. You have to find money. No matter where, no matter how.
The Black Whale is a first-person psychological linear horror that combines the elements of exploration and story progression.
The main character, suffering from horrible pains, can do nothing but try to get enough money to buy another dose of “The Black Whale”.
Plot progression. Observe the moral and physical fall of the main character. Follow the story, at the same time, trying to find anything that you can sell. Notes, NPCs, and other interactable things that will tell you the story of this dystopian world.
After using “The Black Whale”, you come to another world, far away from all the cruelty and suffering of the harsh reality. The most beautiful creatures in the world—black whales—allow you to ride them and taste life once again.
Returning to reality. You understand that you need more. Sell your property, gradually descending nearer and nearer to the social bottom.
The core gameplay loop consists of exploring locations, reading notes, interacting with NPCs, finding required items, and completing simple objectives.
A short psychological horror game (approximately 20 minutes long). It includes the full story experience, several in-game days, and multiple locations to explore.
Dive into the deepest social bottom. Being a junkie, you have nothing that can stop you on the way to get the new dose.
Sell your property and steal others’. You have to find everything you can to get money from. When you have nothing left, there will be no choice but to turn to theft.
Genres
Stats
Languages: English, Russian
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
Got jump scared by a steam achievement. 10/10 game
This game addresses a lot of issues faced in Russia and the US right now. It feels very opening to see a game like this and to feel how parallel the two worlds are.
Nah. Just not good. Sooooo heavy handed and makes some very bad points about some very real issues. A few of the topics addressed felt like they got so close to the meat and then veered so far off course. This feels like it was made by someone who had observed people in decline, and second hand experience with addiction but has a very shallow understanding of any of it. Some of the more peripheral points made about sociopolitical issues felt like they really missed as well. Its rare that I feel like a free game was not very worth it, but this one is not really a worthwhile experience or message. Again, just so heavy handed and misses the points its trying to make.
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Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
[spoiler]The Black Whale is a story you hear a thousand times, but for such a short game, there's a lot to unpack here if you really look too deep into it. Talking about how the capitalist system can alienate and neglect people, leading individuals to seek other matters to escape reality from losing hope for the future, so they take drugs to hallucinate or go into a blank state. Some drugs can be all well and good, but relying on them too much could cause them to be self-destructive to their body, mind and life with the possibility of losing everything. That's how I see the game, but I could be wrong on this.[/spoiler]
This felt like it was made for a school project where the task was to "depict what addiction does to life", a quick but well made journey that explores the reality of hitting rock bottom.
Очень сомнительная игра. Изобилие неуместного подросткового мата, главный герой это какой-то омежка, да и в целом всё слишком edgy. Я ожидал чего-то более масштабного и философского.
I mean it wasn't like it was a bad game but I still don't think you really need to play it. It's a big air ball, its got nothin to it. You just go around in a bad part of town and get addicted to drugs and then you die. Still wasn't like hella buggy or anything so I guess it was alright but still just a big air ball.
Raw, bleak, rough around the edges, but also potent, engaging, and in your face. Not for everyone but I think this definitely has an audience and they will appreciate what the dev is doing. Did i mention sad? it's also heartbreaking. in a good way.
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Despite having relevant topics with todays political climate, it doesn't really do much with them. Its writing is very basic and everything is more tell than show despite the medium for storytelling. There's nothing really unique about the point of view character or his story that makes the player really want to engage with it. Personally I'm an self proclaimed achievement hunter, yet I am not compelled in the slightest to replay the game to get the last two achievements I missed. Its a short but rather boring game that can barley classify as existential horror, let alone psychological. The only compelling aspect is the name and picture of a whale skeleton. With all that said, I would still hope that Marrit keep writing stories. Maybe try thinking deeper and learning more about the subjects you write about, rather than such surface level ideas. The story is what carries the most weight in making games. The second is game mechanics, which I don't consider myself qualified enough to give critique about.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.