Stiff Neck

Stiff Neck is a first-person psychological narrative game about Noele, a small-town police officer with chronic neck pain. Your choices shape the story, reveal her past and affect her relationships. After a toy factory strike begins in late fall, cursed dolls appear in an abandoned tower, while a reunion with Noele’s ex-girlfriend turns her life upside down. The story asks which of the people around her is The Flayer.

Noele and her circle

Noele is practical and analytical, but not good at reading people. Her police work ranges from mediating disputes between neighbors to handling murders and arson, as well as an AI dog stuck in a tree. That dog, her partner at the station, is a personalized AI canine with a knack for noticing strange things people say.

The people close to Noele include Nil, her gentle, easygoing boyfriend and a lecturer in experimental art; Will, a visually impaired massage therapist at AAA Massage Parlor who thinks in unpredictable ways; and Grace, her confident, smart and ambitious ex, who works in new media and is a mother. Grace says she used Noele’s birth chart to calculate her misfortune this year and seems interested in getting back together. Will appears to have only a straightforward client-therapist relationship with Noele. Flint, a freelance writer and Noele’s college friend, has an unavailable route.

Choices and routes

You interact with the map to trigger special story events and make choices that influence Noele’s attitude, shape the narrative and lead to different endings. The game has over 100,000 words of story, 2–5 hours of gameplay, three romanceable characters, four branching routes and seven endings. After your first playthrough, additional story content appears at the beginning of the game.

Visuals and soundtrack

The game uses a colorful paper-craft visual style that blends nostalgic retro textures with modern technology aesthetics. It includes over 100 expressive CG illustrations and more than 30 original character portraits. Its soundtrack was created by two artists, each bringing a distinct musical style.

Story themes

The story places flawed characters with emotional burdens and personal biases in an oppressive survival environment. Their choices can be irrational or depart from typical expectations, and the extreme scenarios are used to bring out psychological conflicts rather than represent normative social values. The narrative includes LGBTQ+ themes and varied expressions of gender identity, sexuality and relationships, as well as depictions of anxiety, depression, trauma and emotional distress, references to religious beliefs and practices, and relationships that are complex, ambiguous and difficult to define rather than ending in traditional happy endings. The setting is fictional and has no connection to any real person, group or organization.