- Happy 1 Year Anniversary of VLT!! - 14 July 2026
Happy 1 year anniversary of Veins Like Tapeworms' release! I cannot believe I even managed to get here on Steam, much less celebrate my game's anniversary by releasing the demo of my next one. It's been a super exciting ride this whole way, and I'm super excited to see what comes next.To celebrate, I'm putting VLT at its lowest discount yet - 30% off! If you missed your chance to snag it at the Steam summer sale, now's as good a time as ever. And if you want more of my stuff after finishing VLT, feel free to check out the demo of my next game, A Case of Missing Identity!Thank you all for your support! I look forward to making tons of games in the future for you all!
- A Case of Missing Identity's Demo is Coming Soon!! - 30 May 2026
Hey all! I know this is VLT's page, but I just want to get the news out to people who enjoyed the game and are looking for more stuff of mine to play!A Case of Missing Identity is getting a demo!!HAHAHAHAHA! We’re at the home stretch! Literally all that’s left for me at this point is a ton of bug-testing! I’ve gotten it all done - art, scripting, writing, the whole works! I just have to make sure ACoMI’s demo doesn’t implode the moment you boot it up! From this moment forward, I feel comfortable to say that the demo for A Case of Missing Identity has a release date:July 14th, 2026!If, for some insane reason, I have to push this back, you’ll all hear about it as soon as I realize it’s impossible. But! As of right now, I’m on track to perfectly line up the release with VLT’s 1-year anniversary!I’ve done so much this month, but let’s run through a little bit of what I’ve been up to, shall…
- Wishlist A Case of Missing Identity now! - 9 February 2026
Hey y'all!I'm absolutely overjoyed to announce my second game - A Case of Missing Identity! It'd mean so much to me if you all gave it a wishlist and tried out the demo when it comes out; I've been working really hard on it ever since I finished up on Veins Like Tapeworms, and I really think you would all like it if you enjoyed VLT.Don't forget to check out the trailer below!A Case of Missing Identity is a horror-tragedy point-and-click visual novel about how to be Human when your existence is everything but. I'm hoping to have a demo released at some point in the next few months, and the full game sometime next year or so. ACoMI is surprisingly long - even moreso than VLT, if you can believe that - so it's not going to be a hop and a skip away.🦋 Wishlist A Case of Missing Identity now!Visit the Steam page for ACoMI and add it to your wishlists! Every little bit counts!
- Officially Participating in the Choose Wisely Festival! - 8 December 2025
Make your choice. Or I'll make it for you.I'm super proud to announce that Veins Like Tapeworms is participating in the first ever Choose Wisely Steam festival - an event dedicated to all the games where your choices is what drives the story! Ever since I got the idea for VLT as a visual novel, I've always wanted the game to be about placing you in Demian's shoes, and deciding which of their thoughts to allow them to act on, turning them into a monster or something worse depending on what you pick.As such, when I heard about this festival, I knew I had to jump in. I hope you'll all see what horrid and terrible fates are in store for Demian and enjoy VLT! We're actually running the lowest discount I've ever done for the game so far, putting it at 20% off! And hey, if you don't want to spend that kind of money without knowing what you're getting into, there's a free demo that's basically…
- Demo Hotfix 1.0.3: The Patch That Actually Makes the Demo Work - 5 December 2025
EDIT 2: It's fine, apparently you just have to uninstall and reinstall the demo if you had a messed up build, it flushes everything out and only installs the good build, instead of nestling everything together. Whoops!I'm... tired, if you can't tell.EDIT: NOPE, THE MISSING EXECUTABLE IS STILL THERE. I'm so sorry. Until I get another update to fix that, please go in through the files and run Game.exe.I... genuinely have no clue how this happened. After absolute radio silence for 4 months straight on the state of the demo regarding players, I was under the assumption that the full game's 1.0.5 fix (and the demo's 1.0.2 fix) meant that the demo was perfectly functional.Unfortunately, that was... not the case. My bad, y'all! The cataclysmic state of the demo probably left a really bad taste in a new player's mouth, but hopefully everything should be working fine now.Version 1.0.3 of the dem…
- A Long & Sappy Retrospective on Veins Like Tapeworms’ Development - 7 September 2025
Hi everyone! It’s been a little over a month and a half since I finally released Veins Like Tapeworms, and I still can’t get the story out of my head, especially now that we’ve hit 10 reviews. I want to say straight up this is not an announcement I’m working on DLC, an expansion, etc. While I do have scrapped concept art and early routes that never made it into the game I’d like to revisit at some point, I’m still exhausted! I’ve been taking a break to recover and let the dust settle since release. I’m just one person, and making a game essentially by yourself (no matter how large or small) is an enormous feat.I started writing down some of my thoughts a little while ago to work out how I was feeling about the game in its final state, and I figured a few curious folk might want to read them too. This is mostly just me talking about myself, the development process, my real-life issues th…
- Hotfix 1.05 - 2 August 2025
Hey. Hey why didn't you all tell me the demo was nigh-unplayable. Hey. Hey guys. Hey guys why didn't you tell me the demo was borked.Sorry about that, y'all! You all SHOULD be able to get through the demo's full contents now, both on Steam and itchio. Additionally, for the full game's version 1.05:Fixed a few typos here and there through the game.Made one specific CG unlock in the gallery, regardless of which path you achieve it on.Actually re-added another CG to the gallery! No clue how that one got missed, but you all should max out at 257.Thanks a bunch for being patient with me! We actually blew through my lifetime sale goal a few days ago, and we're almost at 10 reviews! I cannot tell you all how much I appreciate it, haha.
- Hotfix 1.04 - 18 July 2025
Hi y'all! This one's pretty small, but it should be nice for anyone who's run into some snags.Fixed a path in Chapter 6 that accidentally skipped a scene and triggered Chapter 7 early. (This one really hurt; the scene it skipped over is one of my personal favorites.)Added some visual static in Chapters 3 and 4 that wasn't working previously. Nothing major, and you can always get rid of it with the Screen Filter option if it hurts your eyes!Made the screen sway on the train in Chapter 3. Same as the filters, you can disable that with the Extra Animations option if needed, but it's still nice to have.GREATLY reduced the file-size of updates!! No more redownloading 400+ MB of music and art every time an update gets pushed out; your updates should be around the 20-50 KB range now. That's the update size I've consistently gotten, anyway; yours may vary a little, but it should never breach an…
- Hotfix 1.03 - 15 July 2025
Hi y'all! Another day, another hotfix. Just minor stuff this time, nothing that's gamebreaking like 1.0.2.Re-synced some sprite-expression movement in Chapter 6.Fixed some issues with full-screen.Unblurred the screen where it wasn't intended with Ending 4. (Some parts of the CG are meant to be blurred for effect, but not to the extent it previously was. Ending 3 is intentionally meant to blur, though!)Fixed some spacing issues with the full content warning system.Actually made a few chunks of achievements unlockable in the second half of the game. (No idea how that one happened, but it should generally be okay now!)Cleaned up some typos here and there.Thanks for being so patient with me! I think I've gotten everything that was pointed out, but if you noticed something else, don't be afraid to tell me on the Discussion Board! Every little bit helps!
- Hotfix 1.02 - 15 July 2025
Fixed a bug that prevented 3/6 endings from occurring. Sorry about that, guys! Hopefully, it should be back to normal (it's everything in the non-Obsession version of Chapter 8; if you can progress past the choices in Ch8 on a normal route, you SHOULD be okay!).I'm still collecting info on any minor glitches and visual errors that may have slipped by me, so please feel free to list them in the discussion board if/when you see them! Every little bit helps!
- Veins Like Tapeworms OUT NOW!!!! - 14 July 2025
I love you. You’re home. The wait is over. Veins Like Tapeworms is out NOW!! After a little over a year in development, some slight delays, tweaks, and reworks, I’m proud to share with you all a story of rot-bred love and desire to be accepted! In case you haven’t heard, the full game includes: 100,000+ words8 chaptersOver 250 illustrations!6 unique endings!5 Bonus Scenes that give a glimpse of where the story continues after that! (Completely optional, of course, but accessible on the title screen!) Over 40 Steam achievements! A fully functional Content Warning system accessible at any time in the Options menu! And the free demo includes: The first 2 chapters 13,000 words1 ending already achievable45 illustrations1 Bonus SceneThe Content Warning system You can play the game right now on Windows! The base price is $19.99, but there’s a 10% launch discount going on. Thank you for stickin…
- 3 More Days Until VLT's Release! - 11 July 2025
We're almost there!! Veins Like Tapeworms is releasing in three days!!In case you haven’t heard, the full game includes: 100,000+ words8 chaptersOver 250 illustrations!6 unique endings!5 Bonus Scenes that give a glimpse of where the story continues after that! (Completely optional, of course, but accessible on the title screen!) Over 40 Steam achievements! A fully functional Content Warning system accessible at any time in the Options menu! And the free demo includes: The first 2 chapters 13,000 words1 ending already achievable45 illustrations1 Bonus SceneThe Content Warning system Get excited!! I know I am!-Trinket
- Veins Like Tapeworms Releasing in 27 Days! - 17 June 2025
Hi everyone! It’s been a little while since I’ve gotten in touch with my Steam followers, but I’m here to say, once and for all, Veins Like Tapeworms is officially releasing on July the 14th, 2025! I’m dead serious this time — the game is 100% finished in its content as of writing this announcement, and all I’m working on right now is making sure stuff on the Steam backend plays nice with some of the weird and crazy things that happen on a technical level!Thank you so much for your patience, even with the delays (both announced and quietly rolled out) to the release twice. It really means a lot to see so many people believing in me enough to stay by my side. I did not expect the move to interfere with development so much. That said, after a semi-rough extra six months, VLT is finally in a state where I’m proud to show it off to the public. Please enjoy this extra release date trailer! F…
- Participating in the RPG Maker Festival... Again! - 3 February 2025
Come check out the RPGMaker Festival of 2025! Most people don't realize this, but Veins Like Tapeworms is built in RPGMaker MZ! I'm delighted to tell you all that, once again, Veins Like Tapeworms is being featured in the Coming Soon section of Gotcha Gotcha Games' RPGMaker Festival of 2025, to celebrate Maker Day! If this is your first introduction to Veins Like Tapeworms, you're in for a treat! Come check out VLT's two chapter demo - with 13,000 words, one ending, and one extra Bonus Scene, you're sure to have a great time! Download the two-chapter demo right here on Steam! And hey, if your little taste of the full game has you hooked, PLEASE feel free to wishlist the full game! It's quick, free, and you'll get a notification when the full game releases!
- Delaying the Game's Launch Date - 25 January 2025
Well this is kind of embarrassing. This is not the post I wanted to make. I wanted to be counting down the days until the game drops, not explaining why the Valentine's Day release might not be possible. I've been in the middle of moving houses since early November. I've mentioned this once or twice on my BlueSky, but it's taken a lot more out of me than I expected. Long story short, I've been going back and forth between the two houses for 1-2 weeks at a time, and my current setup in the new place isn't optimal. Add that in with everything that comes with moving house on top of game dev, and it's kind of been a recipe for disaster regarding my release date. When I first put VLT up on Steam back in June, I set the release date for what I thought was more than enough time to finish the writing, programming, CGs, and polish everything to my own standards. I've always been kind of picky ab…
- Joining the Season of Pride Queer Indie Showcase! - 21 November 2024
Hey you! Do you support nonbinary rights and nonbinary wrongs? If the answer to that is yes, come try the 2-chapter demo of Veins Like Tapeworms during the Season of Pride Showcase! Demian Zhao is nonbinary and asexual, after all! And, of course, as is the tradition at this point, here's a few screenshots of stuff that's coming in the game's full release! Hope you're all excited!
- Officially Joining the October Next Fest! - 14 October 2024
Would you believe it? Veins Like Tapeworms is officially participating in Steam's October Next Fest of 2024! (I would've aimed for 2025's February Fest, but it happens a week or so after VLT's full game drop.) If this is your first introduction to Veins Like Tapeworms, you're in for a treat! Come check out VLT's two chapter demo - with 13,000 words, one ending, and one extra Bonus Scene, you're sure to have a great time! Download the two-chapter demo right here on Steam! And hey, if your little taste of the full game has you hooked, PLEASE feel free to wishlist the full game! It's quick, free, and you'll get a notification when the full game releases!
- Participating in the RPG Maker Horror Festival! - 26 September 2024
Come check me out at the RPG Maker Horror festival! Did you know Veins Like Tapeworms is built in RPGMaker MZ? It's not something that most people can pick out from a glance! I love RPGMaker; I wouldn't be here on Steam, presenting VLT to you all, without it. That's why I'm overjoyed to tell you all that Veins Like Tapeworms is officially part of Gotcha Gotcha Games' first ever RPG Maker Horror Festival! This is a great time to try out VLT if you've been eyeballing it for a while! A two-chapter demo is already available, so you can get a nice taste of what's to come in the story. You can even leave a review on the demo's page! As of this writing, VLT's demo has 10 reviews already! It's one of the best ways to support the game right now. And hey, if nothing else, just clicking that Wishlist button is free, takes 5 seconds, and really helps support a one-woman band! Anyway, I know I've be…
- Demo now available! - 22 July 2024
Hey all! After a few days of getting tied up in Steam appeals, I'm happy to announce that you can now play the first two chapters of Veins Like Tapeworms for free! Players will be able to experience: 2 chapters 1 ending 1 Bonus Scene 13,000~ words 45+ images to unlock I'm working on getting a Mac version up and running as we speak! It's just giving me a tiny bit of a headache, since I'm a Windows user, but with any luck Mac players should be able to read it in the next week or so! For any Windows users who enjoyed the demo, please be sure to wishlist the full game on Steam - every one of you count, and are super appreciated! But that's all for now. Won't you take a moment to enjoy the beginning of a monstrous descent?
