SkiFreak

VHS cover

**SkiFreak** is a 2020 horror game developed by Jordan King and produced and published by Puppet Combo. The game is available for download on Puppet Combo's Patreon.

## Synopsis

This winter, Mt. Doubleton has a new resident and it's decided to dine in. Will these innocent skiers survive? Or will they become mincemeat?

## Gameplay

There are a total of 6 playable characters in the main game: Two prologue characters, Merriam and Jim, three regular character, Johnny, Greta and Klaus, as well as a special character, the Hunter. All can either die or survive. The Hunter is only unlocked after the three main characters' stories have been completed.

In order to avoid death at the hands of the monster, you must, of course, stay away from it, and assumably avoid collision whilst skiing. As the Hunter, however, you must kill the monster while also keeping your distance from its grasp in order to win.

All characters get three chances to live. If caught too many times they will die.

## Plot

### Prologue

While on holiday in Glacier Peaks, a mountain town on Mt. Doubleton, a skier named Merriam goes off-terrain one morning to get away from the overcrowded ski slopes, where she is shortly after attacked by a large yeti-like creature. The local sheriff goes looking for the missing woman some hours later in the evening, finding her backpack at the site of the attack, as well as a heavily-injured, frantic Merriam in a nearby clearing.

Being that she is in a state of shock and completely incoherent, the sheriff sends her to a hospital and contacts the mayor about his discovery. The conversation reveals that Merriam was only the latest in over 30 disappearances since the beginning of this winter and the only one to be recovered alive, but the mayor maintains his stance that the apparently connected nature between the cases must be kept secret from the public to avoid losing out on tourist season, much to the sheriff's chagrin, instead planning to get "a professional" over to covertly deal with the situation.

From here on, the player can choose which character to play as on a select screen, barring the Hunter, whose profile is locked.

### Johnny

Johnny, a self-described "rad dude", arrives at a hotel in Glacier Peaks in search for his younger sister Merriam. The hotel attendant provides little help and deflects any questions about knowing about disappearances, while a man in the lobby suggests that he take a look around Russell Trail, as most of the missing people were last seen heading off from there for the western side of the mountain. After hanging up some missing person flyers, Johnny talks to Hans and Gertrude, a self-absorbed pair of German professional skiers who show little interest in his sister's disappearance, and a mysterious bandanaed man (later revealed to be the Hunter), who advises him to leave while he can. On his trip down the trail, he comes across the cadavers of multiple slaughtered deer, before witnessing the mountain creature rip apart a fellow skier in front of him. If Johnny survives, he manages to escape over a hanging bridge, which collapses as he speeds over it.

In the "Alive" ending, Johnny reunited with Merriam, who reveals that she saw more than one mountain creature in the mountains. Together, the siblings travel the world to find out more about the creature and raise awareness of the species' existence to prevent anyone else from suffering their fate.

In the "Dead" ending, the local newspaper reports that Johnny's body was found by some of the residents. He is assumed to have got lost after going off path and frozen to death over the night, while the mangled state of his body is written off as having been a result of wildlife. Merriam is revealed to still be missing, in spite of her survival, indicating that the mayor is keeping as a permanent resident at the hospital as a Jane Doe.

### Greta

Greta, an olympic skier who once held the title of world alpine skiing champion, gathers up her gear for a training match between her, Hans, and Gertrude. While doing so, she discovers a faded letter by the the previous occupant of her lodge about fearing not being welcome by "it", as well as a recently abandoned campsite. She lags greatly when the mountain creature rushes from the sidelines and crushes her two competitors before setting its sights on her. If Greta survives, she briefly finds shelter in an ice cavern, soon revealed to be the creature's lair, with dozens of skinned bodies hanging from the ceiling. A maimed, still-living skier inside warns her to "be quiet" while travelling through the exit tunnel to avoid detection. She is able to reach the finish line, setting off celebratory fireworks, which scare away the monster.

In the "Alive" ending, Greta is only able to return to skiing in the mountains after much therapy for her PTSD and survivor's guilt. Though she was able to make peace with the event, she remains scarred and paranoid in the wake of this, deciding to leave professional field in favor of operating her own ski school.

In the "Dead" ending, the newpaper reports that Greta's, Hans' and Gertrude's bodies were found by ski resort workers. No official statements on the nature of their death have been made, but an employee suspects foul play, as he had previously seen what he described as a "large man" going towards their ski slope.

### Klaus

Klaus, a former doctor who became a cryptozoologist researcher after being paralyzed by a "mountain creature", notices that his caretaker Steven is taking very long to return. Klaus crawls out to the supply shed, where he finds the dismembered remains of his assistant and his dog Rex. He quickly gets in his ski car to find help in town, just as the mountain creature emerges from the nearby trees. If Klaus survives, he is able to shake off the beast and get to a hospital for treatment.

In the "Alive" ending, Klaus, spurred by his second encounter, becomes even more obsessed with finding the creature. Finding that all activity has since ceased entirely, Klaus concludes that the creature(s) may have moved on and relocates to the Alps, where he hopes to find and capture one of them alive.

In the "Dead" ending, the newpaper reports that Klaus' body was located by authorities, who consider an unlikely coyote attack as the cause of death, but can't explain the circumstances under which he left the safety of his cabin for. The only potential witness, his live-in assistant Steven, could not be found and is presumed missing.

### Hunter

The Hunter immediately begins his descent down to slope with the mountain creature in pursuit. Unlike the previous characters, the Hunter's slope is endless, but he is armed with a revolver and able to shoot the creature with his back turned. The Hunter will only survive if he kills the creature.

The Hunter does not have a personal ending, but his fate has the greatest impact of all, as it is the most important factor in the ultimate fate of Glacier Peaks.

Should the Hunter be successful, depending on the survival of the previous characters, he will either be lightly injured and leave Glacier Peaks without another trace or take the mountain creature's body with him for unknown purposes.

## Endings

### Worst Ending

*Requirement: No regular characters survive; the Hunter fails to kill the mountain creature*

A week after multiple bodies are found on the mountain, the entire town of Glacier Peaks is annihilated overnight. No bodies are recovered, but signs of pillaging, such as broken windows, forced open doors and large fires, are left behind. The town's name becomes analogous to the Roanoke colony, in that the disappearance of the townsfolk is never solved and completely up to speculation for the rest of the world.

### Bad Ending

*Requirement: One or more regular characters survive; the Hunter fails to kill the mountain creature*

In the following two weeks, the disappearances become more and more frequent, culminating in a frightening mid-night visit of "The Beast" to Glacier Peaks. Taking this as a final warning, the remaining citizens pack their things and move out the very next day, leaving Mt. Doubleton for good.

### Good Ending

*Requirement: One or two regular characters survive; the Hunter succeeds in killing the mountain creature*

With the mountain creature gone, the disappearances grind to a halt and Glacier Peaks is safe for another winter. Police find no more reasons to investigate and file the missing persons away as cold cases. Unbeknownst to most and to the horror of some, at night, sounds can be heard coming from the more remote areas of Mt. Doubleton, indicating that the mountain creature was not the only one of its kind.

### Best Ending

*Requirement: All regular characters survive; the Hunter succeeds in killing the mountain creature*

The threat posed by the mountain creature being vanquished, relief is felt by the residents of Glacier Peaks, but also a new sense of sensibility. Heeding their losses, new slopes are named after the deceased, with the locals knowing to respect the boundaries of the mountain, as to not incur its wrath by disturbing what lurks deep within its hollow.

## Characters

* Johnny Steele
* Greta Johannson
* Klaus Reingers
* Merriam Steele
* Sheriff Jim
* The Hunter
* The Beast
* Hans
* Gertrude
* Steven
* Rex
* Mayor Gerald
* Nervous Man
* Injured skier
* Attendant

## Trivia

* The game was heavily inspired by the 1991 PC game SkiFree, specifically the now iconic Abominable Snowman chase after one passes 2,000 meter mark, SkiFreak being essentially a more horror-oriented take on the feature.
* The VHS cover was made by Mateo Jakičević, who also illustrated the covers for *Day 7*, *The Booty Creek Cheek Freak II: The De-Cheekening,* Nun Massacre YA Novel and bunch of other Puppet Combo and Torture Star video game covers.
* The first two time a character loses a life, they are mutilated by losing an arm or, in Klaus' case, an eye. Despite this, if the character progresses to the next screen, their lives and body parts will be restored. Similarly, the "Alive" endings will always show the characters will all their limbs intact, regardless of their actual state upon completion.
* Gertrude speaks two untranslated lines of German in her dialogue: "Holen sie sich ein Leben, dummer Mann" and "Diese blöde Schlampe ist definitiv tot", which are literal translations of "Get a life, dumb man" and "This stupid bitch is definitely dead".

## Videos

1. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/join/puppetcombo/checkout?rid=989221&redirect\_uri=%2Fposts%2Fskifreak-34446043