Creator of already-disturbing elf-hatching sim now plots to make another virtual pet game inside it

rockpapershotgun.com:

Did you have a tamagotchi as a kid? I did, and yes, I too let it die. I am thankful that the handheld LCD graphics of the era did not allow me to witness my companion blob's amiable decline into shit-caked starvation. I am also thankful that my tamagotchi did not itself have a tamagotchi, because the only life principle I ever taught my tamagotchi was neglect. This is also the reason I may never play the reportedly pretty decent virtual pet game Yoke Heroes: A Long Tamago, whose developers 14 Hours Productions are defying God and Man by developing another virtual pet sim inside it.

Before I peel back the metafictional layers I guess I should tell you briefly about Yolk Heroes itself, which featured in one of Alice0's (RPS in peace) screenshot round-ups, many moons ago. The gist: some Dark Lord is causing a nuisance. The Fairy Queen has tasked you with hatching out and nurturing an Elf hero to take the villain down. I'm not as familiar with elf reproduction as I should be but I've played Baldur's Gate 3 and I'm 75% sure elves don't come from eggs. Still, I like the looks of the game's "idle RPG" malarkey. It sounds like I'll have plenty of time to get the laundry done while my chickelf is busy grinding level-1 rats.

"Part digital pet game, part RPG adventure, and part casual idle game, Yolk Heroes is a charming blend of many different elements," the Steam page explains. "Quest and grind to protect the citizens of the realm, or simply enjoy your digital friend!" Here be tray-tray to wash that down. Game Boy Color-flavoured art direction = good.

Hearty, innocent fun, you might think. The user reviews certainly paint a rosy picture. But now for the horrifying twist: the devs are making another virtual pet game called Poke Place, rendered in simpler monochrome pixelart. It fits snugly inside Yolk Heroes, "so your Virtual Pet can have Virtual Pets".

"You know you've always wanted this!" explains a new Steam post, with an air of jovial malice so concentrated I can