Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗I Write Games Not Tragedies
Studio Wife · Published by Yotsuba Interactive
Content notice: "I Write Games Not Tragedies," explores alcohol abuse and mental health struggles as key narrative themes. If you have a sensitivity to these topics, we recommend that you play with care. The game also contains references to tobacco, self-harm and casual sex.
Very Positive — 100% positive (62 reviews) · 27 achievements
Last updated 3 Oct 2026
An emo-inspired narrative rhythm game exploring growing pains, addiction, romance and music. Scream with Ash as he makes the transition from baby bat to elder emo, guide him through his crash outs and help him navigate his (teenage) dirtbag life through music.
£10.99
Lowest price we've ever recorded
View on SteamPrices can lag the live Steam store — always confirm before buying.
Price history
Adventure, Indie, Casual · 2025 · More £5 - £15 games
Navigate Ash’s journey from baby bat to elder emo in I Write Games Not Tragedies. Guide him through addiction and romance with the power of rhythm and melody, exploring themes of teenage life in this unique narrative adventure.
About this game
“Sometimes I wish all of my pain was fake”
I Write Games Not Tragedies is a narrative-driven rhythm game that pays homage to British emo and goth subcultures. Follow Ash’s journey of self-discovery from young goth in the early 2000s to elder emo in the 2020s, via a battle with addiction in the 2010s.
Welcome to the goth parade
Like most baby bats, Ash’s secondary school life is not so great. Trapped and feeling misunderstood by so-called friends and the awful popular kids, his only solace is the punk music playing through his Skullcandy headphones… and maybe a certain beautiful blonde normie - except why does he have to be so nice?!
From eyeliner to exhaustion and everything in between, Ash tells it all. Explore his past and present while glimpsing into his future all in characteristically cringe glory.
Give them hell
When life feels like it’s becoming all too much, just take to the stage inside your head and rock out! Hit the important lyrics to the beat and sing or scream your lungs out during the chorus. Try to get the emo thermometer to the max, the louder the better!
Key Features
A witty, sarcastic and self-depreciating narrative about growing up while struggling with romance, addiction and self-acceptance
Sketchy, messy art that represents our fractured soul.. we’re in the business of misery, folks
A vibes-based rhythm game, just feel the beat pulsing through your veins!
Original music by indie punk rock artists from the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong
Enough cringe to set you free
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core 17
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
- Storage: 5 GB available space
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
You can now scream with your hands!
Screaming is cathartic but it's not for everyone all the time. After popular demand (well, if you can call "complaints from our neighbours" that...), we have introduced an option in rhythm levels for players who can't or don't want to vocalise. Now, instead of singing or screaming into the microphone to get a higher score, you can mash your spacebar instead! To choose this button mashing option, go to 'Accessibility Options' from the 'Options' menu from the Start Screen, and then select 'Button mashing.' If there are any other accessibility options you would like to see, please let us know. Happy hand screaming!Read full article on Community Announcements (lonelyharpsclub)Patch NotesOfficial
Women Led Games and One Month Updates!
Happy one month birthday to I Write Games Not Tragedies! Today marks one month since we released the English version of our little emo game. It's our first game, so we really appreciate every person who has played it, especially everyone who has left a review, made fan art, posted a screenshot or commented on Steam or social media. It's kind of surreal to be honest, thank you so much. We have a released a small one month update, with some bug fixes (thank you to everyone who told us about bugs you found!) and polishing. We've also updated our demo as well!As well as our one month birthday, we are also celebrating our inclusion in the showcase Women Led Games: The Games Award Edition! Until 19 December, I Write Games Not Tragedies will appear in this showcase alongside other amazing games created by women-led and majority women game dev studios. Although some wonderful men and non-binary people also made amazing contributions to I Write Games Not Tragedies, this is very much a women-led project so we wanted to take a moment to introduce these gothic girlies.First, the devs! Vicky Wong and Julia Mascetti. Vicky did the art and UI for I Write Games Not Tragedies (as well as these pictures!) and Julia wrote the game! We shared the programming, game design and general insanity. Next, the publishers! Tomoko Miya and Samantha Low. Miya and Sam both have amazing careers in the game industry, but I Write Games Not Tragedies is the first title for their new publisher, Yotsuba Interactive. We will be forever grateful they took a chance on it!We have some fun plans over the next few months. We will keep doing bug fixes and improvements, and we also want to try give more people the chance to play I Write Games Not Tragedies... Steam Deck optimization or Mac version, anyone?Thanks so much for being part of this journey, and stay goth! Studio Wife and CornmandogRead full article on Community Announcements (lonelyharpsclub)AnnouncementsOfficial
Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese have been added!
To all the baby bats and emo elders,Thank you for your amazing support! We’ve rolled out new language updates and fixed several bugs 🐜✨ We’re thrilled that players around the world can now crash out to Ash’s story in even more languages. Enjoy the journey! Yotsuba Interactive, Studio Wife & CornmandogRead full article on Community Announcements (fatcat622)AnnouncementsOfficial
🤘🏻I Write Games Not Tragedies is OUT NOW!! 🤘🏻
Misfits and Myspace users, we’re proud to announce that ‘I Write Games Not Tragedies’ is officially out! 🎸 Ash’s messy, sketchy world is now ready for all of you to dive in. We’ve worked long and hard (dark circles are just natural eyeliner) on this deeply personal and deeply cringe experience to make it the best it could possibly be. You’ll love I Write Games Not Tragedies if you love A coming-of-age story that’s honest, sad, humorous and most of all - embarrassingFun rhythm game mechanics that will have you literally screaming for the highest scoreA unique hand-drawn art style that’s both dark and kinda cute, just like our souls Localisation UpdateI Write Games Not Tragedies is launching in English only. Despite our best efforts, we could not get our localised builds to a level of polish that we would be proud to release. We’re so sorry and we understand how disappointing this might be to players who are looking forward to experiencing the game in Japanese, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese from day one. However, hand on heart, we are working on this right now and aiming to deliver these localised versions as soon as we possibly can. Whether you’re a baby bat, emo elder or the normie of our dreams - thank you for being here and we hope you have fun seeing the world through Ash’s eyes - Studio Wife, Cornmandog & Yotsuba InteractiveRead full article on Community Announcements (fatcat622)Patch NotesOfficial
I Write Games Not Tragedies Demo Update!
The I Write Games Not Tragedies Demo is now live! Thanks so much to everyone who has downloaded it. This is an important (but scary!) step in our game dev journey. Thank you to some lovely players who pointed out some small bugs in the demo, we've fixed them. In particular, the button to the credits now works! We have noticed that a small bug where the text formatting can go a little strange when you switch between Japanese and English frequently. Please bear with us as we work to resolve this! We are working hard to improve I Write Games Not Tragedies ahead of release. Please share any feedback that you think will help us. We're so happy to have you with us on this journey and we're so excited about what's next.Read full article on Community Announcements (Lonely Harps Club)
