Okay, so, I admit I wasn't sure about buying this game since it's cancelled, because, I knew I was going to suffer when I reached the end of the content. But, I regret NOTHING! You've made me so happy with this, I really loved it.
The amount of work and detail in this game is absolutely incredible. It's got great art, interesting characters and a lot of freedom, but like, the mistery, and the investigation, and the dreams and... everything. I'm gonna be talking about this to everyone I know for days, or weeks... probably weeks.
Oh, and thank you, I wanted to be a psychologist years ago, and this was a weird, kinda disturbing way, to make that dream come true, haha.
So, great work, you're amazing and talented and as much as I would love to some day see this finished, I respect your decision to cancell the project. I only hope you do what makes you happy.
Please, take care of yourself and be proud of your work!
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! I'm really happy with my decision to re-release it with the recent patch, there may be more in the future but for now I'm busy finishing another project and also trying to get by in university, so there's a lot of my mind.
If you'd like to support my work, don't forget to give the game a rating on Itch (upper right corner of the game's page), it helps to promote it to more people.
That depends on what you mean by that. As for content warnings, you have descriptions of domestic abuse, sexual violence, self-harm, suicide, all sorts of dark themes that you might expect in a horror game. The reason why I hesitate to call it strictly 18+ is because there's no nudity and no realistic gore shown or really described in detail. But I would say due to the disturbing themes alone, player discretion is definitely advised. If you aren't sure about the content, feel free to download the demo before playing the paid build - there's a full list of content warnings at the start and you can get a feel for the general atmosphere of the game.
That said I started developing this game at age 15 so I'm not gonna police anyone, but definitely be careful if any of these themes might be triggering for you.
OMG HIII I just finished the demo and I'm absolutely willing to try this version!! I really loved all of the mechanics you used in the project! And it's inspiring me with my own personal project tyvm!
I know this is now a canceled project and it can be kinda sad, but what you have done is already pretty great! I hope someday we can see more games like this or next works of you <3
I'm glad you liked the demo, there's a lot more content in this most recent build. It's great to serve as an inspiration for other projects, can't wait to see what you come up with!
I can't believe it took me so long to discover this game. My timing seems to have been quite good as well with the recent updates. I'm really enjoying myself so far! The atmosphere, visuals, and writing tie together so well.
I've been trying out William's route, and I think I may have discovered a potential bug? In the third dream sequence, the newspaper and cloth will randomly disappear when I try to use them, which then puts me in an infinite loop of having to re-gather them, only for them to disappear again when selected. I've also noticed that the newspaper will sometimes be referred to as the cloth prior to just poofing out of existence.
This has prevented me from being able to proceed without breaking the window, which I think is the wrong choice that has been leading me to a bad end (where the game window automatically closes) even with a maxed meter.
Is there a way to proceed somehow without making the newspaper and cloth disappear from inventory? I just wanted to make sure that was supposed to happen, because if not, it might be a game-breaking bug.
Fixing this one rn, will update the game with the fix soon
(You can also go back to the patients' rooms hallway, go through the doors with the scary words written on them until you find an axe, pick it up, return to the room with the cupboard and the window and smash the window to skip the puzzle involving the cloth and newspaper, but it comes with a sanity penalty so be careful since it might be near-impossible to make it to the end of the build with that outcome)
Also, thank you for the kind word, I'm glad you're enjoying the game ~
That appears to have fixed the problem! No more disappearing inventory. Thank you so much!
Also, now that I've had time to explore another route, I'm so impressed at just the sheer volume of content in this game. I'm aware that the project was canceled, but it must have taken so much time and effort to put together. I think it will take me a long while to discover all the potential paths and possible secrets, and I've been having such an amazing time. I can't imagine all that you must have gone through up to this point, but I'm very grateful to have been able to stumble across this. This experience was well worth the price and more.
I wish you the best of luck in all that you decide to do!
The game was in development for about 4.5 years before its cancellation, so there was a lot of time to implement branching paths, minigames, etc (sadly not enough to actually finish it). I'm currently finalizing another project, after which I might do another small update to Absolution similar to Patch C.1, but we'll see.
Thank you for your support and I hope you have fun exploring all the different paths.
I encountered a bug in the game after week 1 (when Dr. Sharpe reviews my professionalism) literally every single session I click the screen turns black and it just says
```
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
File "game/script/engine.rpy", line 578, in script
label breaknav:
Exception: Possible infinite loop.
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
File "game/script/engine.rpy", line 578, in script
label breaknav:
File "/private/var/folders/p1/1zrh80t501n5xs6zjg9_y13r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/348930D5-2E7A-45A7-95C6-88A74C2D841F/d/Absolution.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/execution.py", line 59, in check_infinite_loop
Following some investigation, this issue seems to be exclusive to Dr. Sharpe's route. I'm not sure what's causing it yet since it's quite a baffling one, but while I'm fixing it, feel free to try the other routes - they work just fine as far as I can tell.
I'm struggling to get onto Dr. Sharpe's route, when I do get onto his route the game says 'You haven't bonded with one patient enough' and tbh so far the only way I could get onto his route is by giving everyone the same amount of attention. So if you could give me some pointers that would really help.
Because the game prioritizes patient routes when determining your route, it first checks if you've spent at least two session with each of them (or you get fired), and if there's any one you've spent five sessions with (because that's the one whose route you're getting). If you still haven't gotten fired and don't have a route, the game checks the conditions for Dr. Sharpe's route, which is an equal amount of sessions spent with each patient during week 1 (3 each, including their introduction on Monday) and getting a good "score" during the job interview (so if he says "It has been a pleasure" at the end before dismissing you). You know you're on his route if he asks to follow you outside after the Friday event - then all you have to say is "I don't mind" and you're good. Hopefully that helped, I might put together a "How to get on each route" walkthrough to spare people the frustration of getting stuck on week 1 (instead of getting stuck later on, when the stakes are higher >:) ).
it's my fault I haven't worded it properly. Treating everyone equally results in the game closing since I haven't connected with anyone, but that's the only way to get onto Sharpe's route. After the walk, we have the game end and say 'you failed to reach enough affection with a patient', and the game ends.
But it doesn't cut off of where 'the content for Sharpe's route ends here'. So how do I maintain being on Sharpe's route without it being a game-end?
Hello! To fully understand: Absolution is officially dead? Want to say I'm totally ok with supporting if there's a chance that you're willing/able to do anything with VN later in future. It is an excellent game, after all.
I think it sadly is, yes. I thought it would be on hiatus but unfortunately, things have happened that made me reconsider that. I appreciate the long-lasting support, either way.
Hello Navypink I purchased your video game: Absolution; Way of the lost a few months ago and I installed updates but I can't continue playing after the demo version, even though I purchased the full version. It says "Dr Sharp's route is not available yet", if you didn't continue making the full version then I like a full refund, but if there is an error which can be fixed so that I can continue playing the game then I'm open for that definitely as I really want to continue playing this game.If there is no refund or help to fix this problem then I have no choice but to give a bad review, but I don't want to do that. I hope you can help me resolve this issue, thank you very much for your time, take care.
What MIGHT be happening is you may not have high empathy points for some of the characters? The current version contains routes for the 4 patients, so to access the full content, you have to pick conversation options that increase empathy points for the character whose route you want to play (ex. Michael, Charlie, William or Tom). If you have low points for all of them, you'd get Dr. Sharpe's route--which isn't released yet.
This happened to me after I bought the game, so go back and pick a patient you like and make sure you have a session with them everyday and pick a conversation option that increases the empathy scale. You'll progress past week 1 afterwards
(Like legit: I'd do save files for every time a convo option popped up and wouldn't continue until I saw the empathy meter go up)
Hello Dolldrumb I'm glad you can help, thank you very much for your help. I will follow your tip, choosing a patient I like and making the empathy bar go up, hopefully then I will go beyond week 1, thank you again for your advice it's appreciated, take care.
Heyo! Love this game so far. That said, I think I encountered... somewhat of a bug? At least, I think it is.
I'm playing on the Mac version. I started pursuing Michael's route, and got up to Sharpe's assessment of my work week. I'm pretty sure I balanced my sessions with the other patients, but after a couple of screens, it said that I didn't successfully form a bond with my patients, and I quit my job?
Honestly, at first I thought it was a nightmare - which is definitely a compelling idea - but after encountering it again, it seems like it might be a bug? And if that's the case, I'd love to see it fixed.
In any case, you've done a fantastic job! I was going to save the money I used to buy this game to buy a different one, but once I played the demo, I knew I had to keep going. Keep up the fantastic work!
Tried it again, this time with Tom - similar session distribution. Same results. I didn't encounter this when I attempted the Sharpe route, however. Though the route's not complete yet anyway.
If it's not too annoying, I'll be trying it with the other two patients as well and share my results here.
Aha! Started William's route - think I figured out the problem. I responded to Sharpe's questions differently - changed it from saying that my favorite was due to "the most complex case" but because I related to them. Route's continuing now.
Still, seems a bit strange for the whole thing to fail because of that choice. I was mainly saying it because it seemed the most accurate, and because I thought it would appease Dr. Sharpe. I dunno if the game quitting was intentional, but it still seems like a bug.
What you're describing sounds like the result of lower affection the first two times you tried to start a route - nothing changes in the Dr. Sharpe conversation depending on affection, but you can only get on a route if your schedule is right and if you've made enough right choices with the patient whose route you chose. I hope that clears things up, because the choice you made differently shouldn't affect anything.
I'm not the creator, and I know this comment is old but I've played this quite a lot and it sounds like you just didn't pick the best choices. A little tip is that if you picked the best option possible with a patient you often get a heart of their colour pop up on your screen, tho not every interaction has a "heart option". I hope this helps you if you decide to keep playing!
Content warnings mainly have to do with mentions or descriptions of heavy topics, like suicide, child abuse, sexual/physical assault or derealization, general mental health-related triggers. Content warnings related to actual graphics would be partial nudity, blood and jumpscares. Also like, a generally dark atmosphere (but not always!). There's also some swearing.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed Michael's route <3
I did consider making a walkthrough, but due to the game still being in development and receiving changes and updates, it's entirely possible that a walkthrough would actually become inaccurate and misleading with the next update.
If you need guidance for specific choices, I offer that on my discord server and in tumblr asks, whichever works better for you. I assume that what you're getting stuck on is the choice in the dream sequence on Friday of week 2 or Thursday of that week when you go talk to him in his room. Generally, the affection meter typically comes into play last so it's more likely that there were some specific choices that you made on week 2.
Ahhh, I adore this game so much! I love how each route keeps me guessing till the very end, you really know how to build suspense and keep players on their toes! I'll *think* I know how a route will go...only to be thoroughly blindsided in the best way!!
Funnily enough, I started taking proper clients irl (I'm a social work student doing a field placement/internship at a counselling centre) around the same time as I played this build! So it's kinda neat finishing up my irl client appointments and then jumping into this game during my breaks/days off!! 🤭🤭🤭
Eagerly awaiting the next build with bated breath!! *Minor spoilers below*
I'll be on that build like a certain character on top of another certain character!!
You're very welcome! I'm enjoying the work thus far, more than I thought I would!
And I def wanna praise some of the realism of how counselling works in Absolution also!! I find myself really relating to when MC would express hope that she's done the right thing, I was just thinking of that during a session that I thought went poorly. Yet at the end:
My client: Can I see you again?
Me: (LITERALLY why) sure thing! 🥰
I guess never underestimate the power of an interested and empathetic counsellor! And I really feel that in a lot of the MC's personality, so the impact of that on the clients, I think you've really nailed it. My apologies for the rambling, I get too excited of counselling stuff!
The main character is not a doctor, some characters use it to refer to her as an honorific of sorts but she has no medical education nor is a PhD. Hope that clears things up.
jsyk on Charlies route at the very end there's a picture missing for the main doctor dude, after Charlies psych walks in and they talk it shows up as 'image "d side" not found' and the dialogue at the time is 'He glances at the time.'
This is an interesting game, can't wait for the next installment ^.^ tysm for pouring your time and heart into this <3
not to be dramatic but omg. a while ago i fell in love with the demo the first time i played and have been following the games development since. i just bought build b and played through william's route and i just know i'm going to have so much fun spending hours and hours on this game. i wanted a vn that was darker than the others and it's so worth it!! the characters are so complex and honestly i'm so attached. as someone with anxiety, i really appreciate the effort that has been put into this when it comes to researching and understanding the mental illnesses presented in the game. not only are the four main characters super intriguing, the side characters are just as interesting and i'm so excited to see where this all goes!! i really like the art style and just the general theme of this game, such as the music which fits so nicely and really sets the mood at times- like when the music starts to get more and more intense at the same time a situation does, too? 10/10!! everything is so well written and i get way too invested in it because some moments really get my heart racing in more ways in one and legit gives me butterflies at times, lol. kudos to you, dev!! thank you for providing us with this wonderful game!! i've been following it for some time but i will happily wait all the time in the world for more because this truly is that good ♥ thank you so much, navypink!
Thank you, thank you, thank you <3 I honestly really appreciate your comment and since I remember you following me a year ago, thank you sticking with the game for as long as you have.
I've also struggled with anxiety for as long as I remember, so a lot of my writing the disorders comes from personal experience. I'm glad people think it's good representation.
The art style is probably the most divisive aspect of the game, every now and then I see people asking me to redo all the graphics from scratch or commission an artist to do it for me, so it's nice to see that some people like the current graphics. I try to improve slowly, but if I kept trying to redo everything, I would be stuck in a constant loop of fixing graphics and not actually working on the game. I'm glad you like the music, it's honestly surprising to me that as someone who only started making any for this project I sometimes get praised for that too.
If you have the time, don't forget to fill out my feedback survey here and check out all the useful links here.
this is a little late but omg!!!! i just did one playthrough for each four routes so far and once again i have to thank you so much for all of your hard work. i wasn't around for the release of build a but as i said before, i fell in love with the demo and after playing some more my appreciation for you grows more and more!! you don't fail to impress me and i really hope you know how much myself and others are so proud of you and very thankful for what you've done and what you continue to do ♥♥
also, i definitely understand that the art style is different and from what i've seen, it's not your typical art that you would see in a visual novel game such as this, but i think it stands out more, and it's honestly? it's super cute, in my opinion! regardless of what people think about it, i feel like you manage to capture expressions perfectly, and your writing, the story, the plotlines,, and generally the replay value is so good, so again,, ,in my opinion, that should make up for it. either way, you're doing an amazing job and i'm looking forward to playing future builds! thank you for the links, unfortunately i have an irrational fear of discord lol and the only support i can offer is just.. this but thank you again!! thank you for everything, and remember to take care of yourself!!💕
Glad to see im not majorly late to the release, only 19 days :) ive been waiting probably a year for this to come out and ive just bought and downloaded it, cannot wait to get into it!! <£
I just finished playing for a good few hours and OMG I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! It's everything I was waiting for and more, after two years im very happy to notice i havent lost my passion or interest in the game, I remember when i first played it, it was the deciding factor in my plans to become a psychologist in a psych ward. proud to say that your game has now inspired me to start a psychology course in college this september, cannot wait for the next build! i am absolutely in love with this game and i just got done playing micheals route.
Oh my god, I'm so glad to hear I inspired you to go into clinical psychology, it's such an understaffed profession so your decision makes me really happy <3
Thank you for purchasing and playing, I'm glad you enjoyed the game so far! If you want to discuss Build A with other people who have played it, consider joining the discord server, the link on this page should work.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on week 3 once Build B drops on the 20th this month, much love, ~ Navypink
I cant wait honestly! i cant wait to see all the stories of the characters, im currently playing charlie im pretty sure! that or i just finished his route
Kinda missed the release date, but I was pleasently suprised when I checked out Discord and saw the update lol. Needless to say, I threw my money at navypink like my life depened on it. No regrets, would do it again. I did play quite a few VN's in my life but sweet mother maria, "Absolution" is truly one of a kind. I don't think I ever had the pleasure to play anything even remotely similar like this: the story is very interesting and I can see just how much thought went into the characters. Especially big bravo for the coding! I do work with ren'py too so bow to your coding skills, you did an amazing job lol! Thanks for your hard work and letting us enjoy your game, hope you have a nice start into the new year :)
Ah, thank you for all the kind words <3 I'm glad the discord is serving its purpose.
It really warms my heart when I see people praising Absolution for being unique - with how many VNs are out there, it's very discouraging to hear that people find something for themselves in the game.
The coding is something that I'm pretty ambitious with (which has backfired sometimes when I set out to do more than I could) so I'm glad that you appreciate it. If you need a tutorial on anything from Absolution coding-wise, I'm happy to provide those on the server.
As of right now, a steam release is not planned as it would likely cost me more than it would earn. But maybe if the game does well in the partial release, I'll consider a steam version upon the full game's launch, so keep your eyes peeled. I suspect there will be some festive giveaways in 2022, so if you lack the means to buy the game on here due to itch.io's payment methods, you can be on the lookout for that.
Really like how accepting and hardworking MC is, she really cares about helping others even though it makes her get too involved for her own good. I'm also curious about her past. I love the characters and I'm excited to see how they develop. Michael is my fave rn, but every character has hidden depths and mysteries that I'm excited to explore so that may change. Can't wait for build B!
That's the way I wanted MC to feel - she has the best of intentions, but it sometimes gets her hurt because she simply cares too much and gets involved when she should leave some things alone.
I'm glad you're enjoying the game, and I hope to hear more from you after Build B drops!
To anyone who is reading this and is unsure of purchasing it or not, do it!!! This game is so astoundingly unique and amazing! There's only two weeks so far but it's packed with content and definitely worth the $5!
Anyways at the time of writing this I've only finished William and Charlie's Week 2s so far, William yesterday and Charlie today and all I can say is that....wow...week 2 is definitely different and much more intense than Week 1 and I'm all here for it!!!
(Semi spoilers)
There's that one scene in Charlie's Week 2 on Friday that shocked me...like I was not expecting him to do that to the MC LOLOL??? it made me confused, flustered, but even more excited for Build B coming out in January (which I can hardly wait for heh) but anyways, I'm glad that I found this game like 2-3 years ago and have supporting it ever since! I'll continue to support it until the final release comes out :D Hope you stay happy and healthy, Navy!
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Okay, so, I admit I wasn't sure about buying this game since it's cancelled, because, I knew I was going to suffer when I reached the end of the content. But, I regret NOTHING! You've made me so happy with this, I really loved it.
The amount of work and detail in this game is absolutely incredible. It's got great art, interesting characters and a lot of freedom, but like, the mistery, and the investigation, and the dreams and... everything. I'm gonna be talking about this to everyone I know for days, or weeks... probably weeks.
Oh, and thank you, I wanted to be a psychologist years ago, and this was a weird, kinda disturbing way, to make that dream come true, haha.
So, great work, you're amazing and talented and as much as I would love to some day see this finished, I respect your decision to cancell the project. I only hope you do what makes you happy.
Please, take care of yourself and be proud of your work!
Hi, thank you so much <3
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! I'm really happy with my decision to re-release it with the recent patch, there may be more in the future but for now I'm busy finishing another project and also trying to get by in university, so there's a lot of my mind.
If you'd like to support my work, don't forget to give the game a rating on Itch (upper right corner of the game's page), it helps to promote it to more people.
Would you rate your game as 18+? (I haven't played it yet)
That depends on what you mean by that. As for content warnings, you have descriptions of domestic abuse, sexual violence, self-harm, suicide, all sorts of dark themes that you might expect in a horror game. The reason why I hesitate to call it strictly 18+ is because there's no nudity and no realistic gore shown or really described in detail. But I would say due to the disturbing themes alone, player discretion is definitely advised. If you aren't sure about the content, feel free to download the demo before playing the paid build - there's a full list of content warnings at the start and you can get a feel for the general atmosphere of the game.
That said I started developing this game at age 15 so I'm not gonna police anyone, but definitely be careful if any of these themes might be triggering for you.
Alright, thank you!
OMG HIII
I just finished the demo and I'm absolutely willing to try this version!! I really loved all of the mechanics you used in the project! And it's inspiring me with my own personal project tyvm!
I know this is now a canceled project and it can be kinda sad, but what you have done is already pretty great! I hope someday we can see more games like this or next works of you <3
Hi hi, thank you <3
I'm glad you liked the demo, there's a lot more content in this most recent build. It's great to serve as an inspiration for other projects, can't wait to see what you come up with!
I can't believe it took me so long to discover this game. My timing seems to have been quite good as well with the recent updates. I'm really enjoying myself so far! The atmosphere, visuals, and writing tie together so well.
I've been trying out William's route, and I think I may have discovered a potential bug? In the third dream sequence, the newspaper and cloth will randomly disappear when I try to use them, which then puts me in an infinite loop of having to re-gather them, only for them to disappear again when selected. I've also noticed that the newspaper will sometimes be referred to as the cloth prior to just poofing out of existence.
This has prevented me from being able to proceed without breaking the window, which I think is the wrong choice that has been leading me to a bad end (where the game window automatically closes) even with a maxed meter.
Is there a way to proceed somehow without making the newspaper and cloth disappear from inventory? I just wanted to make sure that was supposed to happen, because if not, it might be a game-breaking bug.
Oh boy, hang on
Fixing this one rn, will update the game with the fix soon
(You can also go back to the patients' rooms hallway, go through the doors with the scary words written on them until you find an axe, pick it up, return to the room with the cupboard and the window and smash the window to skip the puzzle involving the cloth and newspaper, but it comes with a sanity penalty so be careful since it might be near-impossible to make it to the end of the build with that outcome)
Also, thank you for the kind word, I'm glad you're enjoying the game ~
The game is updated for PC right now so feel free to download the new version.
That appears to have fixed the problem! No more disappearing inventory. Thank you so much!
Also, now that I've had time to explore another route, I'm so impressed at just the sheer volume of content in this game. I'm aware that the project was canceled, but it must have taken so much time and effort to put together. I think it will take me a long while to discover all the potential paths and possible secrets, and I've been having such an amazing time. I can't imagine all that you must have gone through up to this point, but I'm very grateful to have been able to stumble across this. This experience was well worth the price and more.
I wish you the best of luck in all that you decide to do!
No problem!
The game was in development for about 4.5 years before its cancellation, so there was a lot of time to implement branching paths, minigames, etc (sadly not enough to actually finish it). I'm currently finalizing another project, after which I might do another small update to Absolution similar to Patch C.1, but we'll see.
Thank you for your support and I hope you have fun exploring all the different paths.
I encountered a bug in the game after week 1 (when Dr. Sharpe reviews my professionalism) literally every single session I click the screen turns black and it just says
```
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
File "game/script/engine.rpy", line 578, in script
label breaknav:
Exception: Possible infinite loop.
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
File "game/script/engine.rpy", line 578, in script
label breaknav:
File "/private/var/folders/p1/1zrh80t501n5xs6zjg9_y13r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/348930D5-2E7A-45A7-95C6-88A74C2D841F/d/Absolution.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/execution.py", line 59, in check_infinite_loop
raise Exception("Possible infinite loop.")
Exception: Possible infinite loop.
Darwin-21.6.0-x86_64-i386-64bit
Ren'Py 7.3.5.606
ABSOLUTION
Mon Jan 1 17:50:33 2024
``
That is extremely strange, will investigate and update the game once it's fixed
Following some investigation, this issue seems to be exclusive to Dr. Sharpe's route. I'm not sure what's causing it yet since it's quite a baffling one, but while I'm fixing it, feel free to try the other routes - they work just fine as far as I can tell.
I fixed it, but it will probably take another ~1-1.5 hour for the new build to compile and upload.
Yeah you fixed it, but SPOILERS (kinda?)
I'm struggling to get onto Dr. Sharpe's route, when I do get onto his route the game says 'You haven't bonded with one patient enough' and tbh so far the only way I could get onto his route is by giving everyone the same amount of attention. So if you could give me some pointers that would really help.
Because the game prioritizes patient routes when determining your route, it first checks if you've spent at least two session with each of them (or you get fired), and if there's any one you've spent five sessions with (because that's the one whose route you're getting). If you still haven't gotten fired and don't have a route, the game checks the conditions for Dr. Sharpe's route, which is an equal amount of sessions spent with each patient during week 1 (3 each, including their introduction on Monday) and getting a good "score" during the job interview (so if he says "It has been a pleasure" at the end before dismissing you). You know you're on his route if he asks to follow you outside after the Friday event - then all you have to say is "I don't mind" and you're good. Hopefully that helped, I might put together a "How to get on each route" walkthrough to spare people the frustration of getting stuck on week 1 (instead of getting stuck later on, when the stakes are higher >:) ).
it's my fault I haven't worded it properly. Treating everyone equally results in the game closing since I haven't connected with anyone, but that's the only way to get onto Sharpe's route. After the walk, we have the game end and say 'you failed to reach enough affection with a patient', and the game ends.
But it doesn't cut off of where 'the content for Sharpe's route ends here'. So how do I maintain being on Sharpe's route without it being a game-end?
Or is there no content for Sharpe after week 3
Me too tbh
Hello, please contact itch.io support with the same email you used to log into itch.io, I can't issue refunds myself.
Hello! To fully understand: Absolution is officially dead? Want to say I'm totally ok with supporting if there's a chance that you're willing/able to do anything with VN later in future. It is an excellent game, after all.
I think it sadly is, yes. I thought it would be on hiatus but unfortunately, things have happened that made me reconsider that. I appreciate the long-lasting support, either way.
Hello Navypink I purchased your video game: Absolution; Way of the lost a few months ago and I installed updates but I can't continue playing after the demo version, even though I purchased the full version. It says "Dr Sharp's route is not available yet", if you didn't continue making the full version then I like a full refund, but if there is an error which can be fixed so that I can continue playing the game then I'm open for that definitely as I really want to continue playing this game.If there is no refund or help to fix this problem then I have no choice but to give a bad review, but I don't want to do that. I hope you can help me resolve this issue, thank you very much for your time, take care.
Not dev (obvi) but maybe I can help!
What MIGHT be happening is you may not have high empathy points for some of the characters? The current version contains routes for the 4 patients, so to access the full content, you have to pick conversation options that increase empathy points for the character whose route you want to play (ex. Michael, Charlie, William or Tom). If you have low points for all of them, you'd get Dr. Sharpe's route--which isn't released yet.
This happened to me after I bought the game, so go back and pick a patient you like and make sure you have a session with them everyday and pick a conversation option that increases the empathy scale. You'll progress past week 1 afterwards
(Like legit: I'd do save files for every time a convo option popped up and wouldn't continue until I saw the empathy meter go up)
Hello Dolldrumb I'm glad you can help, thank you very much for your help. I will follow your tip, choosing a patient I like and making the empathy bar go up, hopefully then I will go beyond week 1, thank you again for your advice it's appreciated, take care.
No problem! I hope it helps :))
Sue best character.
Still in love with your work! Any idea when build D may come out?
Hi, I'm planning to write a devlog post about the current situation soonish, since I don't want to keep you guys in the dark.
Hi Navypink! I hope you're doing okay. The updates stopped and I was worried about you. It's nice to see you back. :)
Heyo! Love this game so far. That said, I think I encountered... somewhat of a bug? At least, I think it is.
I'm playing on the Mac version. I started pursuing Michael's route, and got up to Sharpe's assessment of my work week. I'm pretty sure I balanced my sessions with the other patients, but after a couple of screens, it said that I didn't successfully form a bond with my patients, and I quit my job?
Honestly, at first I thought it was a nightmare - which is definitely a compelling idea - but after encountering it again, it seems like it might be a bug? And if that's the case, I'd love to see it fixed.
In any case, you've done a fantastic job! I was going to save the money I used to buy this game to buy a different one, but once I played the demo, I knew I had to keep going. Keep up the fantastic work!
Tried it again, this time with Tom - similar session distribution. Same results. I didn't encounter this when I attempted the Sharpe route, however. Though the route's not complete yet anyway.
If it's not too annoying, I'll be trying it with the other two patients as well and share my results here.
Aha! Started William's route - think I figured out the problem. I responded to Sharpe's questions differently - changed it from saying that my favorite was due to "the most complex case" but because I related to them. Route's continuing now.
Still, seems a bit strange for the whole thing to fail because of that choice. I was mainly saying it because it seemed the most accurate, and because I thought it would appease Dr. Sharpe. I dunno if the game quitting was intentional, but it still seems like a bug.
Hello, thank you for playing the game!
What you're describing sounds like the result of lower affection the first two times you tried to start a route - nothing changes in the Dr. Sharpe conversation depending on affection, but you can only get on a route if your schedule is right and if you've made enough right choices with the patient whose route you chose. I hope that clears things up, because the choice you made differently shouldn't affect anything.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the game <3
I'm not the creator, and I know this comment is old but I've played this quite a lot and it sounds like you just didn't pick the best choices. A little tip is that if you picked the best option possible with a patient you often get a heart of their colour pop up on your screen, tho not every interaction has a "heart option". I hope this helps you if you decide to keep playing!
This looks amazing, I hope I can purchase it soon!
By the way, may I ask about the game warnings (e.g. gore, jumpscares, etc)?
Hi, I'm glad you're interested in the game!
Content warnings mainly have to do with mentions or descriptions of heavy topics, like suicide, child abuse, sexual/physical assault or derealization, general mental health-related triggers. Content warnings related to actual graphics would be partial nudity, blood and jumpscares. Also like, a generally dark atmosphere (but not always!). There's also some swearing.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed Michael's route <3
I did consider making a walkthrough, but due to the game still being in development and receiving changes and updates, it's entirely possible that a walkthrough would actually become inaccurate and misleading with the next update.
If you need guidance for specific choices, I offer that on my discord server and in tumblr asks, whichever works better for you. I assume that what you're getting stuck on is the choice in the dream sequence on Friday of week 2 or Thursday of that week when you go talk to him in his room. Generally, the affection meter typically comes into play last so it's more likely that there were some specific choices that you made on week 2.
Ahhh, I adore this game so much! I love how each route keeps me guessing till the very end, you really know how to build suspense and keep players on their toes! I'll *think* I know how a route will go...only to be thoroughly blindsided in the best way!!
Funnily enough, I started taking proper clients irl (I'm a social work student doing a field placement/internship at a counselling centre) around the same time as I played this build! So it's kinda neat finishing up my irl client appointments and then jumping into this game during my breaks/days off!! 🤭🤭🤭
Eagerly awaiting the next build with bated breath!! *Minor spoilers below*
I'll be on that build like a certain character on top of another certain character!!
Hi, thank you for your comment. It's so cool that you're actually doing counselling work, I wish you the best in that!
You're very welcome! I'm enjoying the work thus far, more than I thought I would!
And I def wanna praise some of the realism of how counselling works in Absolution also!! I find myself really relating to when MC would express hope that she's done the right thing, I was just thinking of that during a session that I thought went poorly. Yet at the end:
My client: Can I see you again?
Me: (LITERALLY why) sure thing! 🥰
I guess never underestimate the power of an interested and empathetic counsellor! And I really feel that in a lot of the MC's personality, so the impact of that on the clients, I think you've really nailed it. My apologies for the rambling, I get too excited of counselling stuff!
Thank you, I really appreciate your perspective on the game!
Would you consider changing the Ms. of Ms. Hart to Dr. on the front page? You can edit the next sentence to say "a young female psychologist"
The main character is not a doctor, some characters use it to refer to her as an honorific of sorts but she has no medical education nor is a PhD. Hope that clears things up.
jsyk on Charlies route at the very end there's a picture missing for the main doctor dude, after Charlies psych walks in and they talk it shows up as 'image "d side" not found' and the dialogue at the time is 'He glances at the time.'
This is an interesting game, can't wait for the next installment ^.^ tysm for pouring your time and heart into this <3
Thank you, I'm almost sure this is fixed in the next update but I'll take a look again today.
not to be dramatic but omg. a while ago i fell in love with the demo the first time i played and have been following the games development since. i just bought build b and played through william's route and i just know i'm going to have so much fun spending hours and hours on this game. i wanted a vn that was darker than the others and it's so worth it!! the characters are so complex and honestly i'm so attached. as someone with anxiety, i really appreciate the effort that has been put into this when it comes to researching and understanding the mental illnesses presented in the game. not only are the four main characters super intriguing, the side characters are just as interesting and i'm so excited to see where this all goes!! i really like the art style and just the general theme of this game, such as the music which fits so nicely and really sets the mood at times- like when the music starts to get more and more intense at the same time a situation does, too? 10/10!! everything is so well written and i get way too invested in it because some moments really get my heart racing
in more ways in oneand legit gives me butterflies at times, lol. kudos to you, dev!! thank you for providing us with this wonderful game!! i've been following it for some time but i will happily wait all the time in the world for more because this truly is that good ♥ thank you so much, navypink!Thank you, thank you, thank you <3 I honestly really appreciate your comment and since I remember you following me a year ago, thank you sticking with the game for as long as you have.
I've also struggled with anxiety for as long as I remember, so a lot of my writing the disorders comes from personal experience. I'm glad people think it's good representation.
The art style is probably the most divisive aspect of the game, every now and then I see people asking me to redo all the graphics from scratch or commission an artist to do it for me, so it's nice to see that some people like the current graphics. I try to improve slowly, but if I kept trying to redo everything, I would be stuck in a constant loop of fixing graphics and not actually working on the game. I'm glad you like the music, it's honestly surprising to me that as someone who only started making any for this project I sometimes get praised for that too.
If you have the time, don't forget to fill out my feedback survey here and check out all the useful links here.
~ Navypink
this is a little late but omg!!!! i just did one playthrough for each four routes so far and once again i have to thank you so much for all of your hard work. i wasn't around for the release of build a but as i said before, i fell in love with the demo and after playing some more my appreciation for you grows more and more!! you don't fail to impress me and i really hope you know how much myself and others are so proud of you and very thankful for what you've done and what you continue to do ♥♥
also, i definitely understand that the art style is different and from what i've seen, it's not your typical art that you would see in a visual novel game such as this, but i think it stands out more, and it's honestly? it's super cute, in my opinion! regardless of what people think about it, i feel like you manage to capture expressions perfectly, and your writing, the story, the plotlines,, and generally the replay value is so good, so again,, ,in my opinion, that should make up for it. either way, you're doing an amazing job and i'm looking forward to playing future builds! thank you for the links, unfortunately i have an irrational fear of discord lol and the only support i can offer is just.. this but thank you again!! thank you for everything, and remember to take care of yourself!!💕
Glad to see im not majorly late to the release, only 19 days :) ive been waiting probably a year for this to come out and ive just bought and downloaded it, cannot wait to get into it!! <£
I just finished playing for a good few hours and OMG I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! It's everything I was waiting for and more, after two years im very happy to notice i havent lost my passion or interest in the game, I remember when i first played it, it was the deciding factor in my plans to become a psychologist in a psych ward. proud to say that your game has now inspired me to start a psychology course in college this september, cannot wait for the next build! i am absolutely in love with this game and i just got done playing micheals route.
Oh my god, I'm so glad to hear I inspired you to go into clinical psychology, it's such an understaffed profession so your decision makes me really happy <3
Thank you for purchasing and playing, I'm glad you enjoyed the game so far! If you want to discuss Build A with other people who have played it, consider joining the discord server, the link on this page should work.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on week 3 once Build B drops on the 20th this month, much love,
~ Navypink
I cant wait honestly! i cant wait to see all the stories of the characters, im currently playing charlie im pretty sure! that or i just finished his route
Kinda missed the release date, but I was pleasently suprised when I checked out Discord and saw the update lol.
Needless to say, I threw my money at navypink like my life depened on it. No regrets, would do it again.
I did play quite a few VN's in my life but sweet mother maria, "Absolution" is truly one of a kind. I don't think I ever had the pleasure to play anything even remotely similar like this: the story is very interesting and I can see just how much thought went into the characters. Especially big bravo for the coding! I do work with ren'py too so bow to your coding skills, you did an amazing job lol!
Thanks for your hard work and letting us enjoy your game, hope you have a nice start into the new year :)
Ah, thank you for all the kind words <3 I'm glad the discord is serving its purpose.
It really warms my heart when I see people praising Absolution for being unique - with how many VNs are out there, it's very discouraging to hear that people find something for themselves in the game.
The coding is something that I'm pretty ambitious with (which has backfired sometimes when I set out to do more than I could) so I'm glad that you appreciate it. If you need a tutorial on anything from Absolution coding-wise, I'm happy to provide those on the server.
Have a nice start into the new year too, Asher.
I really wanna buy this game >.< I play the demo and blown away
if u can, can you release this on steam? maybe in the future?
Thank you <3
As of right now, a steam release is not planned as it would likely cost me more than it would earn. But maybe if the game does well in the partial release, I'll consider a steam version upon the full game's launch, so keep your eyes peeled. I suspect there will be some festive giveaways in 2022, so if you lack the means to buy the game on here due to itch.io's payment methods, you can be on the lookout for that.
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GOOD WORK DEV LIKED IT
Really like how accepting and hardworking MC is, she really cares about helping others even though it makes her get too involved for her own good. I'm also curious about her past. I love the characters and I'm excited to see how they develop. Michael is my fave rn, but every character has hidden depths and mysteries that I'm excited to explore so that may change. Can't wait for build B!
Thank you <3
That's the way I wanted MC to feel - she has the best of intentions, but it sometimes gets her hurt because she simply cares too much and gets involved when she should leave some things alone.
I'm glad you're enjoying the game, and I hope to hear more from you after Build B drops!
To anyone who is reading this and is unsure of purchasing it or not, do it!!! This game is so astoundingly unique and amazing! There's only two weeks so far but it's packed with content and definitely worth the $5!
Anyways at the time of writing this I've only finished William and Charlie's Week 2s so far, William yesterday and Charlie today and all I can say is that....wow...week 2 is definitely different and much more intense than Week 1 and I'm all here for it!!!
(Semi spoilers)
There's that one scene in Charlie's Week 2 on Friday that shocked me...like I was not expecting him to do that to the MC LOLOL??? it made me confused, flustered, but even more excited for Build B coming out in January (which I can hardly wait for heh) but anyways, I'm glad that I found this game like 2-3 years ago and have supporting it ever since! I'll continue to support it until the final release comes out :D Hope you stay happy and healthy, Navy!
Thank you for the kind words, Steph <3
Just purchased it! Looking forward to the full release, I really loved the demo when I played it a few months ago <3
Thank you prikarin <3
I added you to the week 2 channel on the server just now, I hope to hear from you there soon as you make your way through Build A!
i've been waiting for this for so long and to say i'm excited is an understatement. my god! i hope you're doing well dev, by the way! :)
Hi, thank you for the comment! I hope you enjoy week 2 - make sure to leave your thoughts on it below, have a nice day <3