Adolescence is a weird, weird time in anyone’s life, when it’s easy to feel alienated from your peers, your family, even your own body. In Tentacles Growing Everywhere, an interactive novella by Squinky, you get to watch the experience of puberty play out for three actual aliens as they write entries in what is essentially Livejournal.
Described as an “an incredibly queer mashup of Judy Blume, Babysitters Club, and pulpy sci-fi,” you follow along as three childhood friends head off to new schools and blog about their problems with crushes, bullying, and of course, the awkwardness of their changing tentacled bodies.
Although most of the game involves simply watching the journal entries unfold, you occasionally get to make choices—and hear the anxious metacommentary of each character as they ponder whether they’re oversharing and occasionally delete their thoughts instead of sharing them with their friends (and the world). It’s an experience that should ring true for anyone who’s ever struggled with how much of themselves they want to show to the internet, or even to their friends.
Tentacles Growing Everywhere originally came out in May, but it’s now available at the convenient price of “pay whatever you want” for Windows, Mac and Linux.