Guilty Pleasure Games: novels in Telegram

Visual novels on phones tend to hit a wall at the app stores. Adult stories rarely get approved, and on iPhone they barely exist. Indie studio Guilty Pleasure Games found a way around that by releasing its games as a Telegram Mini App. 📖

The library is small for now, but it already has an audience of about 20,000 players a month. The games are tagged as adult content, so this is strictly for grown-ups. 🔞

Why Telegram, of all places

The developers say they want these games fully playable on mobile. Telegram, quirks and limits included, gave them the only route to Apple devices without shipping a separate app.

For players it's simple: open the bot, tap the button, start reading. Progress is tied to your Telegram account, so you can start on your phone and continue on desktop.

Observer Effect, a dark romance

The studio's first finished novel is Observer Effect, and it's available in full. The tagline is deliberately provocative: "Embrace your inner stalker." You try to win people over using surveillance, spyware and a talent for exploiting weakness.

• Mia. The new neighbor across the hall, with a shady past.
• Cristy. The girl in the window across the street.
• Arin. Your buddy's girlfriend, which means choosing between temptation and friendship.

The plot is morally murky on purpose. It's fiction, but if those themes bother you, give this one a pass. 🎭

Coming up next

The studio's next project, Speed Summer Lovers, is marked "soon". The team is small and builds its games in Phaser as HTML5, so new releases don't follow a big publisher's calendar.

Energy, keys and other mechanics

The Mini App runs on two resources: energy and "love keys". Energy limits how much you can play in one go, while keys open special scenes and branches. Both can be topped up, including through the plus button.

• Gifts. A rewards section for players who come back regularly.
• Invites. Friends who join through your link earn you bonuses.
• Settings. Sound and basic display options.

Read this before you start

1. Mind your age and surroundings. It's an adult game, so not something for a work laptop or around kids.
2. Set a spending limit. When energy runs out fast, top-ups get tempting. Decide your budget in advance, or play for free and take breaks while it refills.
3. Keep fiction and reality apart. Stalking and spyware are crimes in real life. In the game they're only a story device.

If you like choice-driven stories and you're fine with adult themes, Observer Effect is complete, so you can play it through and decide whether the studio's next novel is worth waiting for. ✨