The Wretched

Final report, the commercial star-ship Nostromo. Third officer reporting. The other members of the crew—Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas—are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier within six weeks. With a little luck the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.  - Ellen Ripley

The Wretched is a solo journaling RPG played with a deck of cards, a tumbling block tower, and a microphone.

You are the last surviving crew member of the intergalactic salvage ship The Wretched. Adrift between stars after an engine failure, your ship was attacked by a hostile alien lifeform. The crew are dead. 

You thought you had won. You launched the creature out of an airlock, and that should have meant safety.

It didn’t. 

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The Wretched is a game about human resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and almost certain death. It is a game about isolation, fear, and perseverance. 

You play a lone survivor of an horrific attack. You have seen and done terrible things, you have seen your friends - your found family - brutally butchered by something you can’t even begin to comprehend, something that you were sure didn’t exist until it manifested itself aboard your ship.

You are existing on the edges of your endurance, high on adrenaline and fear and desperation. You are sure you won’t survive this, but all you know to do is to keep fighting.

The Wretched is inspired by the music of John Carpenter and Nine Inch Nails, as well as Monolock by Ben Chong, and You Are Not Alone In This Lifeand you will die alone out here in the black by Auden Roswell.

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The Wretched comes as a 20 page A5 zine ready for printing, or as a single-page, vertical-scroll hyperlinked PDF. It also includes a unique soundtrack written and recorded for the game.