Sally Face

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Sally Face is an indie adventure game created by Steve Gabry, aka Portable Moose. The game follows the titular main character Sal Fisher (otherwise known as Sally Face), a boy with a prosthetic face, who investigates local murders with his friends. The game consists of 5 episodes that were released between 2016–2019. Sally Face also released on Nintendo Switch in 2021.^[1]

Gameplay[]

Sally Face is a point-and-click adventure game that includes narrative, exploration and puzzle solving, combined with the direct control of the player via sidescrolling. Players are encouraged to talk to game characters and explore the environments to uncover hidden parts of the story, and can return to environments in later timelines to see how things have changed. Each episode of Sally Face contains optional puzzles that reveal more of the story. The game also includes various minigames that break up the regular gameplay.

Plot[]

Note: This summary is told in linear fashion, in-game the main plot of the first four episodes are told as flashbacks recounted by an older Sal.

Episode 1: Strange Neighbors

Sal Fisher, a 15 year old boy with a prosthetic face moves with his father to the Addison Apartments building in the town of Nockfell. The day before their arrival one of the other residents, Mrs Sanderson, was murdered. Sal explores and meets the other tenants, including Larry Johnson, who reveals he witnessed the murder. Sal helps Larry find evidence that the murderer was one of the other tenants, Charley Mansfield. They present the evidence to the police and he is arrested.

Episode 2: The Wretched

Several months later Larry tells Sal that he feels he has been cursed by a demon in the building. Sal promises to help him and goes to Todd Morrison, a tenant their age who creates gadgets. Todd modifies Sal's "Gear Boy" to be able to detect supernatural spots and the three of them explore the building. On the top floor, which is under renovation, Sal enters a secret room, where he encounters the demon. Larry steps in to save Sal and eliminates the demon with a gadget made by Todd.

Episode 3: The Bologna Incident

More than a year later Sal and his friends decide to investigate the strange tasting bologna at their school. After finding out that it is produced by the math teacher Mrs. Packerton, who lives in Addison Apartments, Sal and Larry decide to break in to her apartment. Here they find that the bologna is being made of human meat. Their friend Ashley Campbell discovers a hidden trash chute but falls down it. Sal, Larry and Todd find that the chute leads to a cultist temple underneath the building, where they save Ashley.

Episode 4: The Trial

Five years later a now adult Sal lives with Todd in a house down the road from Addison Apartments, where they have spent the last years investigating the cult. Ashley comes to visit and she and Sal go on a date. That night Sal receives strange messages from Larry, upon which he rushes to the apartments, only to find that he has killed himself. Sal and Larry's ghost together work their way through the apartment building, where it is shown in the otherworld that all the residents are overgrown with a strange growth. When Sal reaches Terrence Addison, the owner of the building who never leaves his room, he finds that he has been possessed by a fleshy green mass since he was a child. Sal defeats the mass but an apparition of Terrence tells him he must kill all the infected tenants to end the infestation for good. Reluctantly, Sal obliges and murders all the residents. In the Lobby he finds Todd, who has been possessed by the demon. The police arrive and Sal is arrested.

Two years later Sal is put on trial and, despite Ashley's best efforts, sentenced to death. Ashley later finds proof of Sal's argument, but finds her self too late, as Sal has already been executed.

Episode 5: Memories and Dreams

After Sal's death, Ashley continues Todd's investigations of the cult. She rigs explosives in the main cult temple, however she is unable to bring herself to detonate them. Believing Sal is destined to destroy the cult she begins a ritual to revive him, and sacrifices herself to become a physical host for his spirit, temporarily keeping her alive and giving her special abilities. They go to the temple, where Ashley, Sal's spirit and the ghost of Larry defeat "The Endless", the core entity of the cult, saving Todd from the cults possession. Larry's ghost vanishes, leaving the others to grieve him. Even after the groups best efforts to save the world from the cult, it is later revealed in the unlockable epilogue, that 33% of the planet's population had been consumed by darkness.

Development[]

Sally Face was developed by the indie game studio Portable Moose, composed of solo developer Steve Gabry. The game took five years to develop.^[2] It was developed using the Unity game engine. While Steve first invented the concept and world of Sally Face around 2006/2007, development on the game didn't officially start until 2015. Steve cites 90s cartoons and personal nightmares as his main inspiration.^[3] In 2016, an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, netting the game $13,697, allowed Steve Gabry to start working on Sally Face full-time. Sally Face, Episode One: Strange Neighbors was released August 16, 2016 on itch.io and December 14th on Steam. Episode Two: The Wretched was released July 7, 2017. Episode Three: The Bologna Incident was released on February 10, 2018. Episode Four: The Trial was released on November 30, 2018. Episode Five: Memories and Dreams was the final episode and was released on December 13, 2019.^[4]

Reception[]

Sally Face has been overall positively received critics. Gamers Decide website put Sally Face in their Top 10 Best Indie Narrative Games.^[5] Nerdvana called it "a psychological horror masterpiece" and praised the game for evoking strong emotions.^[6] Adventure Gamers critiques Sally Face for being convoluted and for hiding important story elements behind optional puzzles but ultimately said it's "is a worthwhile and wholly unique gaming experience that has to be played to be believed."^[7]

Awards[]

Winner, "Indie of the Year 2018" - IndieDB^[8]

Finalist, "Indie - Digital" - Let's Play PA 2017^[9]

Top 100, "Indie of the Year" - IndieDB^[10]

References[]