Lylian: Episode one - Paranoid Friendship

Paranoid Friendship is a dark, side-scrolling game set inside a mental hospital and the first game in the Lylian series. Lylian never got along well with her family. She has strange ideas in her head and they tend to leak out, altering things. From finding her "peculiar", her parents went on to deem her a complete mental mess. They packed her bags and sent her to the Hacklaster hospital, where she is locked up with her only friend Bob, a bear she constructed from various toy parts. An unknown entity sets her free and removes her restraints. The only thing Lylian can do is venture out, to escape. The hospital is however full of strange and explicable things, and Lylian has to decipher what is real and what is a figment of her imagination.

Players control Lylian through 2D environments. She can move around, jump and attack by swinging the long sleeves of her straight jacket. By combining running, jumping and standing still, while attacking, quick combos are possible. She often meets other characters to talk to, with written text and portraits shown during the conversation. She is also helped by her toy bear Bob. She can release him to climb through vents and open new passages. Health is restored by picking up doughnuts, the only thing Lylian eats. By defeating enemies, such as nurses and other patients, a second bar can be filled up with feel-Goody-ness. Once the bar is full (along with health), Lylian can activate a Brain Spew. In this episode two types are available. They transfer Lylian temporarily to an alternate reality. The first one is set in a lush field with butterflies, bees and balloons. Lylian often needs to destroy a hive in this alternate realm to progress in the real world. The second Brain Spew transforms Lylian in a plant-like creature that moves underwater. In this second mode she can jump very high, to get past obstacles. While exploring Lylian will also discover a power-up to summon a large version of Bob to execute a mass attack. There are two difficulty modes.