A Cruel Diagnosis
A downloadable game for Windows
Synposis
A Cruel Diagnosis is a horror game where you go to the GP to get an Autism referral, but face an ignorant and incompetent man.
Features
- 5 endings.
- Estimated game length: 5 minutes
- Just over 1000 words.
- Ability to quickly restart
- Credits that link to websites [Hopefully]
Warnings
- Flashing imagery
- Sexism
- Ableism
- Nonconsensual Drugging
- Harmful Ideology
Versions
Windows only.
Endings Guide
Creator Notes
This is my entry for the NaNoRenO 2025 gamejam, and is my first succesfully completed gamejam! Come find me on Bluesky!
This game is loosely based on the time I went to to get a referral for autism, and was met with some seriously outdated terminology.
Note to GP's: Don't call autistic people monkeys.
Download
Install instructions
Development log
- Update!20 days ago
Comments
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"No need to thank me, I'm only doing my job :)" b r u h. Clearly not
Ending nr 2 kept eluding me however many times I tried to fight him for it and I kept getting ignored. But miraculously on the last play I somehow managed to get it....
I'm convinced this GP is an evil eldricth being, but noticing that you and others experienced it and were more or less treated this way is.... sickening to hear :[
A bit of an eye-opener, good game, fitting style and visuals. Got all endings. Eventually
Thanks for playing! :D
Heehee, ending 2 has the least possible points, so its the hardest to get!
And yeah, the UK a lot of medical professionals have outdated views on mental health, so dealing with them's such a paaaain. The guy in this game is basically a giant metaphor of this ignorance. I would've liked to put the monkey comment I recieved in there somewhere but couldn't figure out where to put it.
Since you got all the endings, out of curiosity, how long did it take you to beat it?
CGI put 5 minutes but since I knew how to get all the endings, I feel like it might be an inaccurate measurement ^^;
Oh, and did you ever try to run away during ending 3? That particular option has an interesting outcome. ;3
YESS that's what I thought tbh xD
Oh gosh..... that's so dumb. I don't know how the system works anywhere else than here but here we just go to our regular doctor and they usually have a lot more understanding for these kinds of things thankfully...
Ooo took like 30 minutes I think! It felt like a while at least because I kept getting ignored xDD eventually I just chose quickly and randomly and that's how I got to the 2nd and 3rd ending haha! (Almost gave up ngl) Wait.... did I ever get the first ending?????? time to go back in I suppose LOL
OHHH so there WAS something more to the leaving part! >:3c You know what, I only got ending 3 once and forgot how I got there so when I tried to get it again I spent a lil time trying before I gave up. xD Yall made it tricky!! Hehe
Edit 2.0: Nvm I remembered how to get the 3rd ending, running was the first thing I tried to do x'D I think the wrongly medicated one was the one I couldn't find
back to so I'm guessing that's ending 1?
30 minutes is a lot longer than I thought!
Either way, I've got an ending guide linked now, so you'll be able to know for sure what endings you got now :D
Reposting this comment to help bump up activity:
Oh my goodness , I love this entry! You've hit the nail on the head as someone based in the UK who has actually been trying to get a diagnosis. I love how your visual novel highlights a very important topic and the haunting imagery stresses the despair that one can feel when trying to speak with their GP.
The text... ‘If anything, it would only make things worse for you’ highlighted quite the horror and the accompanying image made me shiver.
I tried to change my answers, but the GP constantly ignored my request, was that intentional? If so, it makes sense to me!
I am very impressed you made this with RPG Maker and I felt the sound effects and ambience was very suitable.
On small details, I couldn't delete the name which began as 'second name', which may require a bug fix.
I will definitely be sharing this entry around... I feel it can highlight quite an important issue. Again, great entry!
Each answer adds a point to one of three endings, and you need to get 3 points total to achieve on of those endings, else you get the Ignored ending. The Ignored ending therefore is the easiest to get- I'll likely post a guide once the jam is over!
I thought about using this opportunity to try and learn a bit of Renpy, but got rather intimidated, so I decided to stick with RPG Maker!
You've reminded me that I forgot to put a guide for the controls into the game-For some reason the program doesn't include a visual backspace key when entering names, so you need to use the ESC key to delete letters.
Thank you for the feedback! :D
Any time, Jester!
I'd like to share your work with folks who don't usually read visual novels or use Itch. It might be an idea to set up installation instructions to help guide them on how to install and load your game, too.
(I was intimidated by Ren'py in the past, but I promise you its not as tricky as it feels like at the beginning! Still, making a VN on RPG Maker is quite impressive, I think!)
Ah of course, install instructions would be good! I'll see about adding that sometime this week, as I think I'd like to include images to help out :D
Renpy scares me since its a big wall of coloured code from what I've seen, while with RPG Maker I'm able to seperate things through events on a grid, which is a lot easier for me to keep track of