Strange house - DGM doujin fangame scenario A
I finished scenario / route 1, titled “Dolly”. in visual novels, when it has multiple endings or ways the story can play out, those are typically called routes. in Strange house it has 4 main routes with multiple endings for each route, though every route is still about Lavi x Kanda.
this is the route in the guidebook, where they give you a brief glimpse at some of the CGs (cutscene artworks) for the route and which choices you need to pick in order to get the true ending.
basically, the route starts by you (playing as Lavi) out on a mission with Kanda and Toma.
after you wrap up, Lavi says that it’s too far to travel back to headquarters that night (this game set sometime right after Allen sets up the Ark doors for travel as the 14th but before Lavi is captured by the Noah) and insists you find shelter in the nearby town (because he wants more time outside the Order with Kanda).
in town, Toma hears there’s a mansion nearby that will provide shelter to them, so they head there and are greeted by its owner, Ralph (ラルフ).
one of the main choices for this route is.... whether you introduce Kanda to Ralpha as Kanda or Yu??? I went with Yu for my first playthrough (I didn’t consult the guidebook, I just wanted to play it naturally) and that apparently locked me out of the true ending. there’s several endings if you called him Yu, but you can only get the true ending by calling him Kanda.
Ralph shows them to their rooms with some small chat - Ralph lives alone in this mansion after the passing of his parents and then his sister. Lavi and Kanda stay in adjoining bedrooms and try to get some sleep.
however.... a ghost has other plans.
the vision of a ghostly woman wakes Lavi up. he goes to Kanda’s room to tell him about it only to find that Kanda isn’t there anymore. his bags are there, and the bed looked slept in, but Kanda was missing.
at this point you return to Lavi’s room and can either investigate on your own some or immediately call Ralph in. regardless, you have to call Ralph to investigate.
when Lavi investigates on his own, he finds a bloodied and town fabric, which definitely doesn’t sit well with him. he informs Toma that Kanda is missing and tells him to sit tight, that he’ll solve this.
after Lavi calls Ralph to inform him that Kanda is missing, Ralph is initially skeptical (maybe he went to the bathroom? out for a walk?) but agrees to help Lavi.
the two search the mansion but come up empty. the only location inside the manor they haven’t searched is the attic which has been locked up since Ralph’s sister died.
Lavi is surprised it’s in such a nice shape despite Ralph claiming he hasn’t been in there for at least months and the mansion doesn’t have any maids/butlers. there’s also a portrait on the wall that Lavi notices looks similar to the ghostly woman he saw earlier that night.
you have 2 options, either inspect the portrait on your own while Ralph opens up the attic window or ask Ralph directly about the portrait. if you inspect it before asking about it, the game continues. if you ask Ralph about it, he immediately shoots Lavi in the face.
I believe this is the first bad end in the route. Lavi later wakes up at the Order with only partial memories of what happened. apparently, Kanda found him bleeding out and managed to get him back there before it was too late, though he was heavily injured. however, Ralph had escaped by that point and Kanda refuses to talk about the night at all.
if we inspect the portrait, Lavi thinks how similar it looks to the ghost he saw but before he can remark out loud, Ralph calls him over to the window.
(yeah, they just took the front of the manor and skewed the image to simulate Lavi looking downwards from the attic. I love it)
Ralph says there’s something outside, to which Lavi looks out but sees nothing. Ralph then pushes Lavi out the window but he’s saved by extending his hammer. once he hits the ground unscathed, Ralph opens fire on him. at this point Lavi is very confused and runs off to the forest. Ralph follows him there but Lavi knocks him out. there’s the sounds of something rustling nearby, to which Lavi can either inspect it or take the unconscious Ralph back to the manor to search for Kanda.
if he searches for the sound, he finds it’s a group of akuma waiting for an ambush. Lavi easily destroys them.
when Lavi comes back from fighting, Ralph is gone. Lavi goes to the basement and finds a dying Kanda sitting with a doll that looks just like the ghost he saw. however, this is another bad end - Kanda slowly wakes up but the two go home without fully understanding events.
what you’re supposed to do is ignore the sounds and immediately take Ralph back inside. Lavi heads to the basement with him where they both find a bloody Kanda sitting with a "doll".
because Ralph is here, he freaks out and runs away at seeing the doll. Lavi stays by Kanda’s side until he’s able to move. once he regains consciousness, the two leave to chase after Ralph one more time.
Kanda is still injured, but they both know he should be fine thanks to his recovery speed. Kanda thinks Ralph thought he was dead and couldn’t believe he was still alive. Lavi knows Kanda was dead from those injuries but his recovery abilities saved him. Kanda goes on to explain that Ralph is a broker for the Earl (a human that works with the Earl to help with leads and akuma creation) and that the woman who saved him was Ralph’s sister, Lyra (ライラ). he had heard a knocking on his window and saw the woman. she told him her name and that her brother was a broker. he had wanted to sell his soul and his sister’s soul to revive their parents when they died, but she was so against the plan she locked herself in the attic.
depending on if you introduced Kanda as Yu or Kanda (yep remember that choice at the beginning?) determines if you get the final bad end or the true end.
if you called him Yu, then the two run around the mansion but find Ralph dead. akuma have already found him and killed him. Lavi and Kanda destroy the remaining akuma but still go home unsatisfied as they don’t fully understand what happened to Lyra.
if you called him Kanda, then the two immediately run to Ralph’s study where they find him about to make a phone call. they pull him out and force him to confess.
Ralph admits to being a broker, but there’s one problem - his sister is dead. he swears he wasn’t lying about that, saying that she killed herself when he was adamant that they revive their parents. so who saved Kanda...? at this point, even Lavi is confused.
they go back to the basement to see a lifeless doll there, covered in Kanda’s blood. Ralph confesses the rest, how his sister never agreed with being a broker after their parents died and ultimately died herself.
this is the true end for Dolly.
Lavi and Kanda take turns staying up to make sure no more akuma attack (and that Ralph doesn’t escape) and Kanda brings out the—grape juice.
cue makeout session.
the next day, they hand off the manor to a group of finders to secure it and head off back to the Order. Lavi says he’s sad he didn’t get to see Kanda’s sleeping face (Kanda woke up before he did that morning) and hopes he gets to see it at the Order.
still, Kanda brings him in for one more kiss before they go home.
and that’s only one scenario / route out of the entire game! each route was written by a different person with different CG artists. here's the ending credits as well.
closing thoughts
this was pretty nice! it felt like one of the side story episodes from the original anime - they venture into a creepy but ultimately inconspicuous manor at night only to find it’s connected to akuma, with its own broker and ghost story. this route was probably only around 2~ hours of playtime but took me much longer as it’s in JP.
also, most of the character sprites are slightly animated and it’s really cute, like Lavi’s blushing happy sprite when he realizes Kanda wants to drink with him.
