Psycholonials
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Video game fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name | Psycholonials |
| Abbreviation(s) | psyc |
| Developer(s) | Andrew Hussie |
| Publisher(s) | The Silence Mill |
| Release date | February 2021–April 2021 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows macOS Linux iOS Android |
| External link(s) | official site |
| See also | Hiveswap |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Psycholonials is a visual novel written by Andrew Hussie and published by The Silence Mill. It takes place mainly on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts in 2020, as COVID-19 ravages the world. It follows the rise to power of 20-somethings Zhen (or Z) and Abby, while the former who use clown imagery and an incident with police to boost their social media brand and eventually rise to global domination of the world via incitement of masses frustrated with their government's inability to stop the world-altering pandemic.
It covers themes of anarchist-communism, revolution, and self-care. Because of this, it has gained a small following by said communities. Due to its association with Hussie, there is a lot of crossover between the Psycholonials and Homestuck fandom, though it is primarily one-way; most Psycholonials fans tend to be Homestuck fans, but the reverse isn't as true.
Psycholonials released episodically; though the entire work was completed, Hussie released it in 9 chapters, each spaced at least a week apart from the previous one. This culminated in the final two episodes releasing on April 13th, 2021, and April 20th, 2021, both of which are considered significant dates by much of the community.
D-Clussie
In the lead-up to the release of the first episode of Psycholonials, the author, Andrew Hussie, went through a series of branding changes in his social media accounts. In summer of 2019, Hussie started posting pictures to his Instagram account with an "e-boy" aesthetic. Much of his social media branding was updated to accommodate this change. He continued to post more pictures throughout the following year and a half, until late 2020 when he switched his aesthetic to clowns, began using his "Clown Name", D-Clussie, and began posting several pictures of himself in clown make-up and various gender-non-conforming outfits.
On December 20, 2020, Hussie released a teaser trailer for Psycholonials, then simply called "Trailer 1". This was the first confirmed promotional material for the game, and although it didn't feature plot details, it did show character designs and hint at the plot revolving around social media influencers, and additionally, it featured the character design for the author-insert character, also named D-Clussie. Many other details matched his own recent rebranding, such as the use of the 4-of-Diamonds card, which featured prominently in several of his photographs.
The parallels between Hussie's social media activities and the story as revealed in the trailer and then in the first chapter of the game made it unclear to some fans whether Hussie was writing a story about himself, if he was 'playing with the meta' as he is known to do, or if it was all an elaborate promotional scheme.
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