Paranormal Preparatory School
This boarding school for supernaturals isn’t hell, but it is on top of it! Can you make peace between the vampire and werewolf students, close the portal to hell, and save the world?
Paranormal Preparatory School is a 340,000-word interactive comedic dark fantasy novel by David Spain. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
You’re the only mortal human student at Cavalcade Academy, a school for supernatural beings. Zombies, werewolves, vampires, and more live and study within its ivy-clad walls. Centuries of hatred between vampires and werewolves have led to deep divides between the two species, and this school is the latest battleground. Your eldritch magic powers will be essential to earn the respect of your peers.
With the opening of the elite St. Mary’s Academy next door–a private school full of pampered, privileged mortal humans–your fellow supernatural students will face their first interaction with humanity. Your school’s reputation is at stake, to say nothing of what the wealthy upper-class St. Mary’s students will think of their paranormal neighbors!
And now, as a portal to hell opens beneath Cavalcade Academy, you’ll need to ally with vampires, werewolves, humans, a ghost, and a cyborg zombie to close it. Make the wrong decisions, and it could mean the end of you, your classmates, and perhaps even the entire world.
Oh, and don’t forget to study for your math exam!
- Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi, asexual, or poly
- Choose a side in a centuries–old feud: ally with the vampire clan or werewolf pack; or try to heal the rift between them.
- Save the world from the encroaching flames of hell that rise through the portal near your school.
- Help your classmates promote undead rights–or flee back to the mortal realm.
- Infiltrate the elite neighboring school to discover the origin of your frightening visions.
- Accept a vampire’s kiss, return a werewolf’s passion, or transcend the boundaries of death to love a zombie.
It’s the end of the world. Don’t be late for class!
Steam User 23
A fair warning before we start: I am tired and also got up on the wrong side of the bed today, so expect me to be more brutal than usual with my critique.
This small thing aside, I am ready to rumble. And are you ready for yet another lengthy review of a new text adventure by Choice of Games? Let us dive right into the daily life of a normal teen in a very unusual school with very…questionable students!
Plot and Writing
I enjoyed both the story and the way it was presented. The author was able to make reading easy and the choices very understandable while also keeping a mystery until the very end. There are also some nice references to popular media here and there - my inner nerd approves. Overall, the text is very well-written, the jokes are funny and the story flow is mostly smooth…except for some points that I will describe later. I did notice some typos and repeated words (as well as one coding error) on several occasions, but there were very few.
Another thing that I find really nice is attention to the lore. While we do not get a deep insight into the vampire-werewolf-others aspects, we still learn enough to get a clear picture of how everything works. There is also place for mad scientists, metal zombies, ghosts and demons, and each has their own stories. If you wonder, you own character also can do some magic if they have enough eldritch knowledge. Speak the word and some gates might open for you on the spot, as they say. Quite literally, sometimes.
Now, while I did like the story, there is also one con. We are once again the potential savior of the world…um, no, just the school this time, but still. Not only this, but we are thrown into the midst of all this right away – and literally out of nowhere, to be honest.
In Paranormal Preparatory School you are supposed to a) prevent the war between vampires and werewolves, b) facilitate relationships with humans, c) study, make friends, find love and help with illegal activities, and d) unravel some kind of mystery. There is also a human school brought into the mix a bit later. And all of this is thrown at you as soon our protagonist steps into the building. Overworking this mule much, no? Oh, and you also have to lead supernaturals all the time while technically almost all of them hate or look down on you. Go to the new school, they said. It would be fun, they said….
Characters & Relationships
There are lots of likeable and even unusual characters. You can befriend them, make enemies or find lovers – anything you heart desires. And I should say, many of these people have interesting personalities, even though some are just exactly what you would expect from a vampire or a werewolf. (My guess is that it was done on purpose judging by the general setting.)
A sophisticated and haughty vampire? Check. A strong and oftentimes brainless werewolf? Also check. A witty zombie running an illegal delivery business? Wait, that is actually something new. Now we are talking, baby! There is also a ghost boy with some interesting quirks that make him quite unique. He ain’t no local Casper for sure, but neither is he a dramatic and ever-depressed dead guy who haunts the library (even though he does visit this place quite often). No bathroom stalls either, thankfully.
The interactions between characters also felt natural for the most part. They behave according to their species, but can also talk like normal teenagers and young adults. This is a very pleasant synergy that makes such personalities believable. Oh, and you can also have witty banter with your fellow students.
At the same time, I cannot shake off the feeling that some characters were introduced too fast and with very little detail, even more so if we consider the romantic path in particular, – for example, take Sonia, Max and Renault. We barely see each other, but in the third chapter they are already portrayed as somebody we are quite familiar with, for some reason. Not only this, but we can also ask them out there – people who are almost strangers to us at that point. Is not it a bit too fast? Another issue is that we spend very little time with them in general – again, simply compare it to Michelle and how much we do together from the get-go and you will see the difference immediately. Out of the four, our zombie girl is the most fleshed out through the whole game, I would say.
For yet another unknown reason, we are also forced to participate in each and every petty squabble. I swear, I spent more time trying to prevent bloody murders instead of speaking to people normally, geez!
A Bit on Stats and Choices
My only gripe in this part is that stat-based and romantic choices are mutually exclusive. When you get a chance to have a chat with your boo, be sure to go for flirting – otherwise, you will miss on the significant amount of relationship points. Why I don’t really like it? Because it looks like you cannot be yourself with your potential partner and have to switch to the horny mode to actually get some progress. I prefer more natural romance, to be honest.
By the way, there is one important point you should keep in mind while playing. As soon as you complete the trials (to get to school), your main two-three stats are set in stone, which means that you should (and actually have to) use them and them only for the rest of the book. The good thing is that all choices are very obvious – the wording will give you clear understanding of what you are going for in each case. As a veteran in text games of all sorts, I say this is a huge plus. When you cannot save your progress at all, even the smallest mistake can ruin the whole playthrough and force you to restart from the very beginning.
Put Down Your Pitchforks and Torches, Folks
I would call Paranormal Preparatory School a mixed bag of sorts. It has a lot of good points, and if you are keen on the genre – a normal human in modern paranormal setting, - you will like this story a lot. It is very enjoyable and offers quite a variety of characters. You will definitely find somebody you would want to interact with. And who knows where your shenanigans will bring you.
On the other hand, be also prepared for some hasty relationships. And a lot of responsibilities thrown at you in the very first chapters. And very, very little time to try everything and speak to everyone. It feels like a rat race at times, to be honest.
In the end, is this story rushed, at least in the beginning and at one point in the end? Yes. Is it still entertaining? Also yes. There is a really good basis for a solid game that just needs more space and words to grow into something more developed. So Paranormal Preparatory School gets a pass from me – I would even give it 7 out of 10. I hope that David Spain continues writing and improving their style to present us even more interesting and elaborate stories in the future.
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Steam User 2
If you're looking for a good story, then this has it in spades. You will be hooked, pulled into the world, and thoroughly enjoy your time spent on this.
I really enjoyed the world the author has built, I love the idea of a paranormal/supernatural boarding school, and was really impressed by the way the author managed to squeeze in world building between sarcastic commentary, stupid school antics, and threats to you and your classmates lives. I really enjoyed the subtle politics that would be behind the undead and humans trying to coexist and it never pushed the story or the characters out of the way.
I really enjoyed the plot; the whole portal to hell is a good read, and this had a unique twist on it that really made it worth using what could be considered a cliche. The writing is excellent, and it keeps you hooked, you're pulled into the story, the world, as you read and make choices. Speaking of choices, there were plenty to keep you involved, and though you need to keep an eye on your stats, the game doesn't penalise you too badly if you mess up. You do look like a bit of a prat though, which, frankly, you would in real life if you messed up.
The characters are all well done, and in a refreshing way. Despite there being typical tension between vampires and werewolves, there were enough nuances and new ideas to keep the idea from being stale. There were no caricatures, or stereotypical vampires, werewolves, or zombies in sight. In fact, the most terrifying character was the gym teacher. And he's supposedly human. And he was still absolutely hysterical. There was never a moment that fell flat, because the characters would have a witty or sarcastic remark, and I really liked the ability to help your friends and still stay in the middle and not be forced to pick a side. That being said, you can pick a side if you want to.
Overall, I really enjoyed this game and will definitely play it again, trying different ways to get the good ending, and maybe even seeing what happens in the bad one. My only criticism is that the romances could have been better. They were good, but they took a back seat to the story and the world, and that's fine if it's your thing, but I'd rather all three were there.
But yes, absolutely worth buying!
Steam User 4
I kissed a zombie...and I liked it.
Steam User 0
(play time is longer than shown, did like 4 more hours through the demo version after I bought it)
I think for $3 (or $5) this is a pretty fun narrative game. Demo-ing 3 chapters gave a pretty good feel, and with the total amount being 10 chapters it seems a fair price.
As for the game itself, I think the story was pretty interesting! I enjoyed the choice options, though I do wish that some of them were less in-your-face about which stat you needed to use/would be influenced by it. And in terms of stats, they were cool, but could have used some descriptions, or perhaps just more clearly updated? My saving the world bar was at like, 39% I think? Which was odd, since, well I did save the world LOL I feel like it should have been higher...?
Despite it being a narrative game, I think that it would benefit a LOT from at least some background music. I ended up putting on some vibey/magic/spooky instrumental stuff on that really helped with the gameplay. And obviously this is more of a stretch, but art would be really awesome too, maybe of just some backgrounds or something. Granted that could just be me bc I'm an artist so that sort of thing stands out to me.
All in all it was pretty fun, and I'll probably give it a replay for some different stat options. Cool stuff!
Steam User 0
Its my 1st experience with this type of game but to be honest its actually really good on the 1st playthrough and then you can really fuck around and do whatever in the first time i was actually taken aback by how immersive a text based game is
Steam User 1
Interesting story. Stat matter but it is not hard to figure out. Characters are interesting and well developed.
Steam User 1
Good