Enola (Video Game)

"There was a young sweet girl... One day she met three monsters."

***Enola*** is a 2014's psychological horror adventure video game created by The Domaginarium, an independent developer from El Salvador.

The game is notable for its handling of mature topics, such as sexual abuse and trauma. *Enola* received mixed reviews upon release but developed a cult following over the years for its complex narrative and LGBT characters.

## Synopsis

> Enola is a psychological adventure game that delves into the inherent darkness of love, death and hate. Survive a macabre world conjured up by the tortured memories of Angelica.
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> Immersed in this emotionally-charged and gripping story and decipher challenging death-traps, as an evil presence lurks in the shadows, watching your every move. Heavy on atmosphere, Enola is an experience that will crawl under your skin and stay there long after you’ve uncovered the disturbing mystery of this twisted, psychological nightmare.
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## Characters

Main article: Characters

* Enola - a young woman looking for her girlfriend
* Angelica - Enola's disabled girlfriend with a tragic past
* Astrid - mysterious red-cloaked woman wearing a metal mask
* Ashley - a serial killer who targets prostitutes
* Edmund - Angelica's father
* Freya - Angelica's mother
* Caleb - Angelica's ex-boyfriend

## Plot

Enola is a young woman who lives with her girlfriend Angelica. One afternoon she returns home from Sunday Mass and discovers that Angelica had gone, leaving behind a note and a key to the basement. After Enola reads the note telling her of a certain "Him" that haunts Angelica, the house starts to collapse around her, so she escapes through the basement door. She finds herself in an underground cave with three shadowy figures watching her in the distance. Enola follows the light and leaves the cave, waking up on the shore of a mysterious island surrounded by the remains of a wrecked ship. She is warned of the three "monsters" she is going to meet.

Enola enters a cabin in the middle of a golden tree forest, which turns out to be bigger on the inside, taking shape of the house Angelica had grown up. Enola learns of Angelica's troubled relationship with her parents. Angelica, who was born one-armed, was raised by a loving father who died when Angelica was a little girl, leaving her with an emotionally distant mother. When Angelica turned 14, she started dating a boy named Caleb, whom her mother didn't approve of, since he was five years older than Angelica. This led to an argument where Angelica accidentally pushed her mother down the stairs. After her mother's death, Angelica was left alone with Caleb who introduced her to his two older friends, whom she didn't like. One day they showed up at Angelica's house and brutally raped her, which traumatized her emotionally and physically and caused her to limp.

Enola is devastated by this revelation but is determined to find Angelica. She is asked to judge one of Angelica's rapists who is trapped inside a steam machine and receives a key to a church gate. Inside the church she meets a woman wearing a metal mask and a red cloak, named Astrid, who claims to be Angelica's guardian. She is initially hostile to Enola and wants to test the girl as she doesn't believe her love for Angelica is strong enough. Enola remembers how her faith always provoked a conflict between her and Angelica, who doesn't believe in God.

After leaving the church, Enola finds herself in a nightclub called Midnight Heaven where she learns of Angelica's previous relationship with a woman named Mari, a dancer at the club. Enola is stalked by a violent serial killer named Ashley, who wears a bondage suit and a mask and bears a deep hatred for prostitutes. Before Enola manages to escape him, Ashley reveals he had Angelica captured and dares Enola to find her. Enola makes it to the shipbuilding factory that Angelica had inherited from her father, now turned into a nightmarish world full of deadly traps and torture devices. She encounters Astrid, who again asks her to judge several people she views as "monsters", one of whom is Christian, another one of Angelica's rapists. Enola is given a choice whether to kill or spare them.

Enola returns to the island and enters an old building of the orphanage where she grew up after her family had died in a fire. She remembers how she and Angelica met and fell in love. Enola overhears Angelica's therapy sessions with a doctor, where she reveals that, after she had recovered, Angelica made it to the city to find her assailants. Seeing a prostitute on the street made her angry at women like her, who willingly sell their bodies, while innocent girls like Angelica were getting their lives ruined. It's implied Angelica had killed the prostitute but was never caught. It is revealed Angelica suffers from dissociative identity disorder and Astrid and Ashley are her alternate personalities – the former represents the desire for protection and motherly love she never got and latter is her desire for vengeance.

Enola realises Angelica is waiting for her at the top of a clock tower, where she confronts either Ashley (*Normal* *mode*) or Astrid (*Nightmare* *mode*). Enola comes to understand she can't do anything to change the past and take Angelica's pain away - she can only accept her for who she is and be there for her. In the good endings, Angelica overcomes her dark side with Enola's help and the two may start a family together. In the bad endings, Enola falls victim to one of Angelica's violent personalities.

## Trivia

* The game originated from a short prototype the developer made for Ludum Dare in 2011. The story was originally inspired by Red Dragon and featured a male serial similar to Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill.

## External links

* Official website
* Steam page
* IndieDB
* Tread Some Sensitive, Terrifying and Heart-rending Ground in Enola
* Postmortem: Enola

## References

1. ↑ Making violent games in a violent country (archive) - gamasutra.com
2. ↑ Courting Controversy With 'Enola' - Sexual Abuse In Video Games (archive)- forbes.com
3. ↑ https://www.moddb.com/features/first-ludum-dare-postmortem-enola
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/TheDomaginarium/status/1170034193272905728(archive)