The Hole of Love

itch.io cover

The Hole of Love is a visual novel released for 2023's April Fools. While free to download by itself, it will soon be part of the paid April Fools' collection.

### Synopsis

*Uh oh! Your rascally patient Manson is up to his usual wiles! He seems to have fallen head over heels for a new lady in town: A literal pencil sharpener. Can YOU, the renowned psychiatrist Dr. Acevedo, successfully talk him out of mutilating his genital region? Play this moral based quiz game and find out!*

### Gameplay

Players must balance Acevedo's stress and Manson's rationality by carefully choosing options or by remaining silent. Depending on the option or letting the timer run out will cause the stress/rationality to increase, decrease, or remain the same. Allowing Stress to reach 100% or Rationality to reach 0% will "break" their respective icon and trigger a bad end.

### Story

The story begins with Acevedo tidying his therapy room in preparation for his patient Manson. The man suddenly barges announces his marriage with a woman, Sharpay the pencil sharpener. Unbeknownst to Manson, Acevedo realizes this is a hallucination and attempts to rationalize with Manson, to no avail. Enraged, Manson rebukes Acevedo's logic and threatens to consummate with Sharpay, whether the psychiatrist likes it or not. This begins the actual game where Acevedo must carefully convince Manson of Sharpay's inanimate nature without driving Acevedo insane or upsetting Manson. The Furniture Women appear halfway through the game when Acevedo internally begs for help. As it turns out, the Furniture were invited to Manson and Sharpay's wedding with Lamp officiating as the priest. Depending on the choices made, the trio can be cast aside by Acevedo, increase his stress by frightening him, or become bored and leave peacefully.

As the story progresses, Acevedo and Sharpay grow more agitated. To turn Manson against Acevedo, Sharpay accuses Acevedo of being an alien. Eventually Sharpay snaps and bites Acevedo in an effort to kill him. The assault snaps Manson back to reality and he attempts to shove Sharpay off Acevedo. While she was distracted, Acevedo finds the pens that were knocked over in the beginning of the story and stabs her, mortally wounding the hallucination. Sharpay laughs, saying these hallucinations will "always come back" and fades away. Depending on the choices made, the story will lead to Ending 3 or Ending 5.

### Endings

1. **Raspbloody Beret** - Manson's Rationality drops to 0%, causing him to lethally "consummate" with Sharpay.
2. **All Good Cretins Go to Heaven** - Acevedo's Stress reaches 100%, causing him to go insane. He strangles Manson before lethally "consummating" with Sharpay himself.
3. **She's a Maniac, a Maniac!** - Acevedo reconciles with a distraught Manson. As they hug, Acevedo rejects Manson's romantic advances.
4. **Like a Virgin** - Acevedo offers himself as a romantic option, cuckholding Sharpay.
5. **Master of Puppets** - If Acevedo's Stress remains at 0% and Manson's Rationality at 100%, Kent will appear, stealing Manson away from Acevedo. The two wed and plan to consummate afterwards, to Acevedo's horror.

### Characters

* Antonio Acevedo (Protagonist)
* Manson Moss (Love interest)
* Sharpay Rauser (Love interest)
* Furniture Women
* Bella Yu (Cameo)
* Dorothy Smith (Cameo)
* Kent Goldstein (Cameo)
* Priscilla Harbinger (Cameo)
* Randal Anderson (Cameo)

## Trivia

* This is the first April Fools' game to have multiple endings.
* If both Stress and Rationality are "broken" at the same time, there is unique dialogue about how both doctor and patient were driven insane, but the game will default to Ending 1 as the bad end.
* Each ending name is a parody of an 80s song.
	+ "Raspbloody Beret" is a parody of "Raspberry Beret" by Prince.
	+ "All Good Cretins Go to Heaven" is a parody of "Cretin Hop" by Ramones.
	+ "She's a Maniac, a Maniac!" is a parody of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello.
	+ "Like a Virgin" is a parody of Madonna's eponymous song.
	+ "Master of Puppets" is a parody of Metallica's eponymous song.
* In the main menu, Manson has several voiced lines. Some reference the events of previous April Fools' games, such as *Object Wank*'s Dildo and *Lesbian Ward*'s Madeline.

## Gallery

"Only a fool underestimates the power of an attention-starved twink."