Mercury Elopement Syndrome

Mercury Elopement Syndrome is a short visual novel about a romantic escape.

—Is that too short for a game description? But honestly, that’s pretty much what it is.

So let me try to squeeze out a few more words to pitch it to you.

That said… is it really a good idea to recommend it so proudly? As you may have noticed from the screenshots and trailers, it contains some rather “extreme” elements. It’s definitely not pure or innocent. You could call it a cocktail of vices.

But toxic as it may be, I didn’t lay the darkest parts out in full. In short, it’s not something I can confidently recommend to everyone. At the very least, it carries a certain kind of “toxicity.”

But is being "toxic" always a bad thing? A calculated dose of poison can sometimes be beneficial. Take caffeine or capsaicin, for example—biologically, they’re toxins too.

That said, I don’t really want to compare this game to caffeine or capsaicin. The reason is simple: caffeine does nothing for me—I can chug it and fall straight asleep. As for capsaicin, I love spicy food, but my stomach refuses to cooperate. It’s tragic, really.

Instead, I’d rather compare it to—late-night McDonald’s fries. The reason is just as simple: it’s the middle of the night. I’m sitting in a McDonald’s typing this. There’s a half-eaten bag of fries to my left.

If you think about it—pure carbs, deep-fried in sizzling oil—that’s pretty “extreme” from a health perspective, isn’t it? But they taste so damn good.

But living, at its core, is consumption. Even when we’re just breathing quietly, our bodies are oxidizing, aging, inching toward death.

Knowing that, I’d rather choose ways of burning myself out that make me happy—ways that feel meaningful, that give me something back. Even if it’s a little extreme.…