My first thoughts went with Henry Howard Holmes and his horror hotel.

Looks interesting...

You never heard of Sweeny Todd...which is very clearly what this is ripping off?
The real joke here is that Todd is an urban legend..not one shred of real evidence has been found that he actually existed. He was created by a "Penny Dreadful" writer. And Bierce pretty much swiped that story from the Sweeny Todd urban legend. Seems like you and me are the only ones here who are familiar with "Sweeny Todd" which this game is very clearly a rip off of.

Well, I certainly didn't know he was into tailoring, but he was the master of very close shaves. ;)

Probably the worst pies on GOG.

I take back my comment about almost nobody here being famliar with Sweeney Todd.
The think is this game is such an obvious ripoff despite that dumb disclaimer.
I don't why they felt compelled ot put it there, since the legend of Sweeny Todd is in the public domain. It originated in the 1830's for heaven's sake.
Now individual versions can be copyritghted...like the Sondheim Musical..but not the legend itself.

I used to know whole parts of it by heart and sing it.

Well, it was turned into a musical by Sondheim, and it was turend into movie in 2007 by Tim Burton, staring Johnny Depp andHelena Bonham Carter. It is not like it is some kind of weird little kult thingy that noone knows. all big names here, and the movie was nominated for, and recived sevral awards

"You are what you eat" describes perfectly this game.

The intro of the demo mentions that their premises used to be a barber's, so it seems they're willing to wink at the source material. Maybe they thought tailoring suited (no pun intended) their game better because cloth can be treated as a resource.

Of course I've heard of Sweeny Todd. Nice movie with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, btw.

However: Sweeny Todd is pure fictional and the statement on the game's page says "the plot [of our story] is not to be associated with actual historical records."

So, I intentionally started to think of "actual historical records" that may have played a role in inspiring this game.

And the first "actual historical records" that sprang to my mind (after seeing the screenshots with the multi-storey building) were H.H.Holmes, and (after reading the description of selling the victims as food): Carl Großmann.

But since basically no one here would have ever heard of the latter - I went with Holmes for my comment.

These Pakistani nuclear threats have sure been taken to another level!

I'm so excited about this as it's essentially Sweeney Todd as a video game. The only thing that would make this perfect is if they a Barber Shop DLC is added. I'd definitely buy this game if they did that, but I'll probably get it regardless.

Well this is a fairly unique premise for a video game...

Me too, I have the DVD of the original stage production, which I much prefer to the 200y film version, which I dislked because of Burton's bizarre decisions at to what he cut. He cut "Kiss Me' one of the best song, and gut the punch line "GOd, That's Good" from the chorus of that song, not to mention having the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" only as a instrumental.
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IMHO, it is Sondeheim's best work.
I had real problems with the fim becausee they cut so much from the play.
The original play is better, beleive me. Too much was cut from the film version, including some of the best songs.
See the DVD of the orginal broadway production instead.