The prologue has been re-released on itch.io and you can play it now! The first two scenes have been heavily revised while the last scene is entirely rewritten. There have been some quality of life fixes (though I’ll also be adding a few more in the upcoming weeks) such as improved audio settings and a skip to final scene option.
If you run into any bugs or errors, let me know. The best way to do so is through an ask here on Tumblr or in the Zorlok Discord server (screenshots are always helpful if possible).
You can find the updated content warnings for the Prologue under the cut. If there’s anything you think should be added or reworded, just let me know.
I am so thrilled and happy to share this with you and even more excited to keep sharing this story with you. The next update will be part of episode 1 and I’m hoping to get that out within the next few months (though we’ll see since I’m a librarian and summer reading is coming up).
Anyways, I hope you have an absolutely lovely day and that you enjoy the update!
-Albie
Huge thank you to my wonderful playtesters: Arc, Aspen, Aster, Beckdeck, Cassie, Crash Sjordal, Crouton, Equus, Ghost, Jinx, Kazoowhiz, LeafGoldKing, Mansym, Monday, Oddington, Sneky, and Snooga
POV: It’s a rainy evening. You’re hanging out in a closed coffee shop with your new monster hunting teammates. EJ’s teaching you how to use a Polaroid camera while Dev provides sarcastic commentary.
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[ID: A piece of digital art by @enspey depicting EJ and Dev from the game Zorlok as though they were posing for a picture in the book café where EJ works. EJ has warm, dark brown skin and a short, black afro. They’re wearing gold glasses and an autumnal outfit with a blazer and a bowtie beneath a light brown apron. EJ is standing left of center and making a peace sign with their right hand. Dev is to the right of EJ and is lounging in a wrought-iron chair with a cup of black coffee on a wood table before xem. Dev has warm brown skin and long, dark hair pulled back into a loose, messy bun. Dev’s wearing an eyepatch over xyr left eye, several silver and gold piercings are visible in xyr nose and ears, and tattoos are visible on xyr hand and neck. Xe wears a dark outfit with a leather jacket and boots. /end ID]
System Processing is now available to play on itch.io. The current build is an abridged version of the game with two of four endings. The current content represents about 30% of the story which will be released in full soon (I'm just an impatient person lol).
Content Warning: This story contains mature themes including depression, death, grief, and suicide.
System Processing is a short solarpunk story about Ov, a digital caretaker rapidly approaching retirement. Experience their final day, get to know the curious alien, Kor-Laðə, aid Ov's companions, and explore the beautiful world they inhabit in an introspective tale about individuality and symbiosis, understanding and acceptance, and grief and love.
Thank you so much for reading this! Reblogs are greatly appreciated and if you feel like it, I encourage you to rate or comment on itch.io 😊
System Processing is now available to play on itch.io. The current build is an abridged version of the game with two of four endings. The current content represents about 30% of the story which will be released in full soon (I'm just an impatient person lol).
Content Warning: This story contains mature themes including depression, death, grief, and suicide.
System Processing is a short solarpunk story about Ov, a digital caretaker rapidly approaching retirement. Experience their final day, get to know the curious alien, Kor-Laðə, aid Ov's companions, and explore the beautiful world they inhabit in an introspective tale about individuality and symbiosis, understanding and acceptance, and grief and love.
I appreciate a degree of nebulous uncertainty when it comes to my past: I was born. I lived. My consciousness was digitized. A few millennia passed. Sirit found me in some ancient computer files. Decided to offer me a job. Now I'm here.
I don't want to know exactly how long it's been. How long I've been alive. How long I've been displaced.
An absence of definitives preserves my sense of estrangement. If I had hard facts and figures, this—my current state of existence—would feel less surreal. More details might make it harder to think, "Hey. Maybe I'm not a digital ghost working for one of the far-flung descendants of humanity. Maybe I don't split my time between a spaceship and an alien planet. Maybe I don't regularly converse with a being that's basically a giant psychic plant. Maybe it's still 2068 and I'm just a normal human and this has all been a really long, really weird, really convincing dream."
"Maybe."
System Processing is a short solarpunk story about Ov, a digital caretaker rapidly approaching retirement. Experience their final day, get to know the curious alien, Kor-Laðə, aid Ov's friends, and explore the beautiful world they inhabit in an introspective tale about individuality and symbiosis, understanding and acceptance, and grief and love.
Features
Aliens! (including a planet that's one giant, sentient plant)
A nonbinary and neurodivergent cast of characters
Thorough, interactive codex entries
Sleek, retro UI inspired by visuals from shows like the Matrix
Four unique endings—one of which is hidden
And much more...
Content Warning: This story contains mature themes including memory loss, depression, death, grief, and suicide. It dives into philosophical topics such as existentialism and skepticism and questions what it means to be human/alive. Please be aware of this and if you are made uncomfortable by any of this story's content, please stop reading.
Links
Full Story(August 2022) | UI Template(August 2022) | Author | Tag | Ask
Zorlok is an interactive fiction gamefollowing the bizarre misadventures of a demon with no memories and the nerdy high schooler they're bound to serve. Uncover mysteries and cause mayhem in this dark comedy about monsters, found family, personal identity, and the line between good and evil.
The setting and story are inspired by campy horror movies, classic murder mysteries, and an old Monster of the Week campaign.
The first part of the demo ("The Contract") will be released on May 13th, 2022 at 11:00 GMT.
Content Warning: The game and this blog are rated 17+. Specific CWs will be updated as development progresses, but Zorlok will contain swearing, alcohol and drug use, sexually suggestive content, violence, religious themes, self-harm, and death.
Following the tags: #zorlok #zorlok if
ALT
You were a terrifying demon who wielded hellfire, fought angels, and corrupted souls (or something like that). Unfortunately, that version of you vanished the night you made your deal with Tommy, a nerdy high schooler who was willing to sell you his soul if you'd help him become "cool."
That should have been easy. You could've sat the kid in front of a box fan for a few minutes, let him cool down, collected his soul, and been on your merry way. But, no! Before you even got a chance to introduce yourself, Tommy told you to forget your past and start going by the name Zorlok.
So, now you're "Zorlok" and you have no idea whoor what the Hell you really are. You know you're a demon, but that's it. You don't know why or how you became a demon, how to control your powers, you aren't even sure how these deals are supposed to work. (Like you tried the fan thing and nothing happened, so either that loophole doesn't work or there's some other trick to stealing souls you haven't quite figured out yet.)
But what does it mean to be a demon? With your memories and identity stripped away, where does that leave you? You are a demon, but are you still demonic?
And just in case things weren't complicated enough, you've gotten yourself involved with a group of monster hunters working for the local Fay Council. To make a long story short, you saved someone being attacked by a monster, that person was a hunter, now you're on a team with this hunter and another random human, and the three of you are supposed to protect the city of Casper from vicious predators, investigate strange deaths, and fight off evil. Whatever. You're just happy to get a break from doing Tommy's math homework.
ALT
- Decide who you're going to be now or attempt to discover who you were
Fully customize your gender and pronouns
Choose an alias (or use several of them)
Design your human disguise and gradually unlock your more demonic appearance
Name your loyal hellhound and select what animal they're disguised as
Watch your own alignment shift and Tommy's personality change as a result of your actions
Continue to rail against your situation or decide that maybe this isn't so bad
- Learn to control your infernal powers and choose the three domains at your command: Fire or Ice, Sight or Spirit, Corrupting or Shifting
- Tell elaborate lies or risk revealing dangerous truths
- Help Tommy survive high school (or sabotage him at every turn)
- Explore Casper, WA, a strange little city either surrounded by or inhabited by monsters (depending on who you ask)
- Set everything on fire... accidentally...
Thanks for reading, all reblogs are greatly appreciated!
Zorlok is an interactive fiction gamefollowing the bizarre misadventures of a demon with no memories and the nerdy high schooler they’re bound to serve. Uncover mysteries and cause mayhem in this dark comedy about monsters, found family, personal identity, and the line between good and evil.
The setting and story are inspired by campy horror movies, classic murder mysteries, and an old Monster of the Week campaign. The prologue (“The Contract”) was originally released on May 13th, 2022.
The most recent update was a prologue re-release on March 2nd, 2025.
Content Warning: The game and this blog are rated 17+. Specific CWs will be updated as development progresses, but Zorlok will contain swearing, alcohol and drug use, sexually suggestive content, violence, religious themes, self-harm, and death.
[ID: a black banner with “The Story” in red text /end ID]
You were a terrifying demon who wielded hellfire, fought angels, and corrupted souls… At least, you think you were. You can no longer be sure, not since you made a deal with Tommy—a nerdy high schooler willing to sell you his soul to become cool.
That should have been easy, right? If anyone can bend and manipulate the minds of pathetic humans, it’s a lord of Hell. But, no! Before you could even begin, Tommy accidentally made you forget your past (and all because he wanted to call you “Zorlok”).
So, now you’re Zorlok. A demon, sure, but a demon with no sense of self and no clue what the hell being a demon means—you don’t know why or how you became like this, how to control your infernal powers, you aren’t even sure how these pacts are supposed to work.
But who are you now? Truly? With your memories and identity stripped away, where does that leave you? You are a demon, but are you still demonic?
And just in case your amnesia and subsequent identity crisis weren’t enough, you’ve gotten involved with a group of monster hunters working for a local fey council. Now you and two random humans are supposed to protect the city of Casper from vicious predators, investigate strange deaths, and fight off “evil”… Whatever.
You’re just glad to get a break from doing Tommy’s math homework.
ALT
[ID: a black banner with “Features” in red text /end ID]
- Embrace the chance to redefine yourself or attempt to regain your former identity
Uncover the secrets of your past
Customize your gender, pronouns, and identity
Design your human vessel and gradually unlock a more demonic appearance
Choose your alias and pass yourself off as a “regular human person”
Name your hellhound and select what animal they’re disguised as
Continue to rail against your situation or decide that maybe this isn’t so bad
- Learn to control your infernal powers and choose the three domains at your command: either Fire or Ice, either Sight or Spirit, and either Corrupting or Shifting
- Tell elaborate lies or risk unveiling dangerous truths
- Watch Tommy’s personality change as a direct result of your influence
- Help Tommy survive high school (or sabotage him at every turn)
- Explore Casper, WA—a strange little city either surrounded by or inhabited by monsters (depending on who you ask)
- Set everything on fire… accidentally
Thanks for reading, all reblogs are greatly appreciated!
Descriptions of the main cast members can be found under the cut.
Special thanks to the Zorlok playtesters: Arc, Aspen, Aster, Beckdeck, Cassie, Crash Sjordal, Crouton, Equus, Ghost, Jinx, Kazoowhiz, LeafGoldKing, Mansym, Monday, Oddington, Sneky, and Snooga
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[ID: a black banner with “The Cast” in red text /end ID]
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