Exploring abbeys and the weird web with Ayu Koyama

Ayu Koyama (she/her) is an interactive fiction writer and designer whose work explores religion, history, and digital play. In this episode we chat about what drew her to interactive fiction as a form, how that intersects with her experimental web design projects, and the ways a distant relationship with Catholicism influences her games. In closing we invite you to read old books.

You can learn more about Ayu’s projects on her personal website and play her games on itch.

Ayu’s Cool Things to Share
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsman, 1955) book series

Things Discussed
- Night Confessionals (sweetfish, 2023)
- Eider Cake (sweetfish, 2024)
- Heretic Pride (Laika)
- Pentiment (Obsidian, 2022)
- Commonplace (Pitter-Patter, 2022)
- LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST (LITHOBREAKERS, 2024)
- The Neo-Interactives
- Weird Web October

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.