Sydney-based developer duo Fuzzy Ghost want to hear all about your rental horror stories for their upcoming 2023 game Janet DeMornay is a Slumlord (and a witch). In an inspired bit of marketing (and shared trauma dumping), Fuzzy Ghost is offering renters the chance to win a copy of the game and have their rental stories enshrined as collectible Case Files for players to find. The competition is running until the 25th of March 2023 and you can drop your unique tale of housing despair right here.
JDMiaSaaW (or JDM as the press release insists) sees players filling the shoes of Andrew whose hunt for a place to call home lands him in a magically charming but somewhat dilapidated Sydney terrace house. As if the idea of navigating the housing market as a queer person wasn’t scary enough, your new digs are transported to another dimension and your landlord, the titular Janet DeMornay, doesn’t seem all too concerned with your concerns about that. You must survive the former TV shopping channel star’s treachery through unique puzzles and exploration, likely stumbling upon a few of the above-mentioned horror stories in the process.
“We wanted to make a horror game, so we asked ourselves: In Australia in the 2020s, what’s something that’s truly terrifying? To be honest the answer came pretty quickly—being a renter,” said Scott Ford, co-founder of Fuzzy Ghost and experienced renter in Sydney’s inner west via press release. “JDM is a horror comedy about renting, and it feels like everyone we know has had a rental experience that’s horrible, or hilarious or both. We wanted to share their stories, as well as our own. Just have a great big bitch session, really. But in a game. And with witches.”
The eclectic campaign comes hot on the heels of Fuzzy Ghost’s inclusion in Screen Australia’s Expansion Pack funding initiative. The push sees 11 Aussie developers receiving financial support from the agency to the tune of over 1.5 million AUD, and given the creativity already seen from this duo on their previous work Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg, it’s not hard to see why Fuzzy Ghost has the Australian development scene jumping.
Janet DeMornay is a Slumlord (and a witch) launches in late 2023 on Steam but in the meantime you can keep up with Fuzzy Ghost via Twitter, Instagram and TikTok .
Are you keen to share your rental horror stories? Be sure to let us know in the comments below or on social media.
One part pretentious academic and one part goofy dickhead, James is often found defending strange games and frowning at the popular ones, but he's happy to play just about everything in between. An unbridled love for FromSoftware's pantheon, a keen eye for vibes first experiences, and an insistence on the Oxford comma have marked his time in the industry.
