itch.io

He's Just Away is a fantastic piece of science fiction mixed with dark romance that leaves the player with genuine moral dilemmas throughout the experience.

Beyond its beautiful aesthetic, the game truly shines through the morsels of worldbuilding and characterisation that we're provided during the first act itself. A lot of thought has been put into these aspects, but it doesn't lessen the impact of the grief and confusion we're left with as we're dealing with the consequences of the player characters actions and circumstances.

What truly sealed my personal rating of this game is the characterisation of SETO. He's not your run off the mill murderboy with beautiful locks, but he represents the possibility of harm AI could possess if allowed to "complete their objective" without the proper safeguards in place.

This is definitely a game to look out for, not just for otome lovers, but also for science fiction fans alike.

Congratulations! I'm so excited to see when this comes out :3c

Ayo, you freaking ATE with how you wrote this. Fantastically written, a wonderful introduction to the characters and story.

Thanks for the response! Wishing you all the best and if you do need any help with the game, there's a bunch of VN development communities out there who'd be willing to pitch in!

Heyya! I'd love to cover this game but the use of generated AI makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Your art's pretty good, but I'd have preferred it if you had worked on the background yourself, used stock images, or even background assets made available by other developers / artists.

I understand that working on games and assets take time, but I'm willing to wait a little longer to experience this game if it means this is rectified.

FANTASIA!!! You really knocked it out of the park with the rewrite. I love how much more depth you've added to the characters, and just how much more horrifying you've made Sol. I'm so excited to see what happens next for Day 3.

I'm so freaking hyped for this

A fantastic follow up to an already amazing game. The Phantom & The Sun maintains the author's conversational style of writing that makes it easy to read, and compelling storytelling that will have you hooked throughout the various twisted endings.

As fantastical as the world is, the game does not shy away from surprising us with each reveal. The story leaves just enough bread crumbs for the player to follow along as it unveils each mystery in a magically satisfying matter.

It also helps that the fantasy setting in the game is well executed alongside its adorable art style. However, none of that takes away from how thrilling the story is from moment to moment. This game is undoubtedly worth the $6, and I'm incredibly excited to see what comes out of the inevitable sequel.

I second that. This is the error I got when I tried to start the game - 

Funny that you mention that, we're currently working on a separate game to test a couple of mechanics we're planning on including for the full game. Domestic Dread hasn't been abandoned yet, but it will be awhile before we come back to this.

Okay, this comment was made before playing the game but how in the hells did y'all manage to pump out 27,000 words for the game jam. That is insanely impressive. I'll definitely be giving this game a shot in a couple of days!

Y'all can start pre-planning, scouting for talents, and sketching concept art any time. But any scriptwriting, programming, and actual asset creation should be made during the game jam itself.

Hope this helps!

Took me awhile to get to playing this, but this was well worth the read.

I did enjoy the descriptions of the horrors that MC goes through as the story progresses. I couldn't help but think back on MyHouse.wad (I swear, I'll finish House Of Leaves one day) with their descent into madness.

My critique of the game exists only in its use of audio and the lack of visuals for some of the more terrifying parts of the game. There are some moments where I feel the cheery music really undercuts the terror, and I'm often left wishing we could witness the horror for ourselves.

However, being a jam game - I can understand how the time constraint could affect these aspects. I can only hope that either this game or the team's future horror entries will improve over time.

Definitely give this game a shot. The text and available scenes still convey the intensity of the horror, and it definitely helps that there are such cute men you can attempt to romance.

Potion Pleasing has a wonderful premise and even better banter between characters.

Since Prikarin's choice to write canonical characters in their visual novels, we can see how the writing improves as they're able to write more natural characters and compelling worlds for the stories to take place in.

The reference screen is a nice touch to add context to the story without feeling intrusive whatsoever, and I'm only more excited to see how the potioncrafting mechanic will play out in the full release.

This is definitely a demo to look out for, and it's well worth the read.

HEARTPUNCH, DROP A FULL GAME OF THIS MAN AND MY LIFE IS YOURS

Seriously though, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and how much of a silly freak the guy is. I'm such a sucker for silly entries like these, and I hope to see more from you!

PARKER'S BOOTS ARE GIVING ME UNHOLY THOUGHTS ouajhfoejioaegfjij

In all seriousness, this visual novel was definitely worth the wait. It's showing a lot of promise, and I'm so excited to find out more about the lore of the place, and seeing how the potion crafting mechanic works alongside the story.

Creepy, atmospheric, with the right amount of EUGH to go with it.

I was pleasantly surprised with this game, as it does highlight the creepier aspects of your typical yandere love interest while managing to portray the protagonist's mental health struggles in a tasteful manner. I loved the overarching story told through the various endings, and I feel like this game scratches all the right itches I'm looking for in a story like this.

All in all, I'm definitely looking forward to the developer's upcoming projects if there will ever be one.

A promising start to a mystery, dark romance visual novel. I expected the game to have focused on the main Love Interest's obsession, but I was pleasantly surprised by how it instead shone a light on the abuse and seedy dealings of the fictional circus, and how it affected each of the characters. Nothing felt inconsequential, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the chapters play out.

Ayo? Is it the Clock himself?! Nice! Thank you so much for playing this absolute mistake of a game. Glad you enjoyed it!

I love how we collectively agreed that content farmers suck, lol. Absolutely loved the game! It was well worth the wait. Hope to see more from you soon :3c

I can't believe I missed that joke while writing this, aaaaaaa

Aaaaaa, this looks adorable! Can't wait to try this out :3c

A house clean-up simulator with an Eldritch abomination in the bathroom? Sign me up!

In all seriousness, this is probably one of my favorite games from Bun_Tired. It features the usual dark humor you'd expect from their other games, but beyond that - the gameplay mechanic of cleaning up the apartment is fun regardless of the game's short runtime.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this one if you're looking for a good, quick chuckle.

Hey there, I'm also having issues with playing the game. Right after the opening disclaimer, I'm brought to a blank screen with only the word, Start in the middle of the screen.

Whenever I tried to hit Start, it just leads to a black screen and nothing else happens beyond that. It's impossible to even enter the menu past that point. This seems to be a problem with both versions of the game uploaded.

The Kid At The Back raises the bar for visual novel writing within the yandere dating sim niche.

What initially caught my attention was its vivid art style that definitely lends to its popularity. However, playing through the game introduced me to a depth I've only ever seen in more ambitious titles.

While most of the tropes in the game are fairly standard affair for its subgenre, The Kid At The Back takes it a step further and allows your actions (or inaction) to influence the world and characters around you beyond a simple affection meter.

This sense of continuity where certain events will take place unless you intervene makes each replay a worthwhile visit.

While I can only hope the developer will continue this form of storytelling as the game continues development, I'm also aware the prospects of a full experience is incredibly ambitious.

Either way, I'm excited to see more from this developer.

I decided to check out Manly's playthrough of the original game before writing this, but I believe that A House For Alesa Remake has definitely made leaps and bounds in quality over the original.

The atmosphere of the game is undeniably unsettling, making clever sparing use of various scares that kept me anxious throughout the game. I love how there's more of a focus on the various characters, adding subtle elements of cosmic horror to the lore.

To me, I would consider this a certified classic - comparative to RPG Horror classics like Ib and Mad Father. This has left me itching to try playing the original sequels to A House For Alesa.

Hey there, the Spanish voice acting still shows up in the English version of the game under sound effects instead of voice volume controls. I'd love to cover the game but I'm afraid I'd be missing out on the sound design if I mute that 😅

*notices u* 👀

Hey there! Absolutely loved the game. I think it's pretty cool conceptually, and the monster design was just spot on. I was wondering if it'd be alright for me to put up the video about the game, I wouldn't want to tread any boundaries considering it's a school assignment.

Hey there, absolutely loved the story and the noir vibes of it! Just wanted to let you know that the game does get stuck after Clive says... [SPOILER AHEAD]

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"So... my place or yours?"

It also provides an error code, "Tag name: [t]could not be found" during the line, "Clive didn't say a word to the other bot as he opened his coat, pushing it aside before"

I believe I was playing both the x64 and x32 windows version of the game.

Would you believe me if I told you we forgot?

Aaaaaaa, thank you so much for making a video on it, Noah! I really hope you liked it!

Ngl, there was supposed to be a crack ending where you can actually die from eating the cookies - but Leo said no, so :(

Aaaaaa, so glad you liked it! I think what's funny about this is that neither of us have made a game before, and Leo's only ever played 2 Visual novels in his life 😂

I'm so glad you liked it! But also, no - I don't think either of us remember the password 👀

It's in there somewhere, we just forgot where we put it.

Nooooooo, I can't take best boy dying again QuQ

All according to keikaku