The mermaids singing

This short psychological horror visual novel by Brazilian developer Tiago Rech follows Candelaria, a professional mourner. Leaving a funeral to go to her next job, she finds that the bus ticket in her pocket has been replaced by one that leads her to a different bus altogether—one where the passengers are surreal and distorted creatures who ask peculiar, probing questions, and the washroom mirror reflects a face she does not recognize.



I found this to be an absorbing, intelligently written game that expertly uses horror to craft a character study. Several character studies, really, since your choices largely determine the answers to questions about who Candelaria is, why she went into this unusual profession, and where she goes from here. Though it has some freaky imagery and spine-tingling moments, the most haunting aspect is how the game explores Candelaria's trauma, denial, and loss, and the many paths before her that could lead to new strength, or to self-destruction, or to otherworldly possibilities she never could have imagined before she boarded this bus.

I would say the primary theme of the game is sitting with discomfort. Many people dread going to a funeral, but for Candelaria it's become a soothing ritual. From that starting point, the game approaches the idea from different angles. You could keep looking away forever from the things that scare you, but what if you faced them instead? A creature that seems monstrous might actually have something to say that's worth hearing—did you try sitting down and talking to it? Candelaria keeps saying the seats on the bus are too hard, too uncomfortable, but maybe this is where she needs to learn to sit.

A playthrough takes about an hour, so it's short enough that you can easily go back and try for other endings. I played through several times and got invested enough to use an achievement guide to make sure I had seen all the endings and dialogue, and I never do that with VNs! I was impressed by how the game leverages decision points and different orders of events to play out a wide variety of outcomes, and invites the player to bring their own interpretations rather than spelling everything out with rigidly defined "good" and "bad" endings. There are outcomes that you could argue are good or bad depending on how you see things. Ultimately it's Candelaria's life, and it's up to her to decide what it means and what she wants it to be.

I Did Not Buy This Ticket is normally on Steam for $7.99 USD, but it's currently on sale for $3.99 USD. There's also a free demo.