Reaper's Rite
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A young man is confronted by his own mortality -- along with the demon he's been sentenced to seal -- as he contemplates whether to fulfil his farming family's ritual sacrifice.
1,000 words
Three endings
Full voice acting
Custom illustration
Original musical track
One very sad, very gay farmboy
Terra Babcock - Story dev, narrative design, writing, programming
Johan Faulstich - Story dev, character design, illustration, editing
Walksoftly - Original soundtrack, miscellaneous
BaiYu - Marketing, social media, beta testing
Avocaaaaaado - Background modeling
Brandon P Jenkins - Voice acting
Follow the devs on twitter at FiendishFiction!
More from Fiendish Fiction:
Status | Released |
Platforms | HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux |
Rating | Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars (106 total ratings) |
Author | Fiendish Fiction |
Genre | Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction |
Tags | Atmospheric, Boys' Love, Dark Fantasy, Gay, Horror, LGBT, Male protagonist, Psychological Horror, Short |
Average session | A few minutes |
Accessibility | Subtitles |
Download
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Development log
- Reaper’s Rite - Thanks, Stats, Sequel Chat + More!May 12, 2023
- Reaper's Rite is now Live!Apr 21, 2023
Comments
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Folklore/traditional folk tale feeling story, inventive, cohesive and interesting! The voice acting is great too. I have to say, the game is frustraitingly laggy(not a web issue, played downloaded)4/5
Really loved this, especially the voice acting and the overall story!
There should be another game about their gay adventures together
this was nice, i liked it. thank you for this <3
edit: spelling error
Thanks so much! We're glad you enjoyed. :)
Loved it!
Thanks so much for playing our bite-sized visual novel! We really enjoyed your playthrough. We're glad the story was clear, despite the short length. This game was developed for the O2A2 visual novel jam, which has a length requirement of no more than 1000 words, hence the single-serving size. Hope that helps to explain why we couldn't divulge too much about our poor farmboy's backstory. ;)
This game is so good!!! The writing, the voice acting, all of it is incredible! I played through to get every ending, and all of them are done so well, I'm so happy that I did! I really loved it!
Thanks so much, Jekyll! We appreciate the kind comment along with the positive review. We're glad you enjoyed!!
Thanks so much for playing... we're glad you enjoyed!
Our team liked watching your playthrough, as well. While we don't have a Reaper's Rite sequel planned, our farmboy and his flirty demon friend may just make a cameo in one of our upcoming games, so you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for Remnants of Dawn. ;) Also, we totally agree about the voice acting... Brandon really knocked it out of the park.
Thanks again!
The first ending I got was the good one and I liked a lot of them being friends and being free, but one of the bad endings when he spares neither the MC nor his family, saying that he can't trust him made me sooo sad, I don't know why I was sad but I was...
It is such a short game that I wished it was longer, the art is really beautiful and the story although short is very good and I really wish there was a sequel... congratulations for the good game! <3
Thank you so much!! We're glad our little bite-sized game had such an impact on you, despite its tiny size. While we don't have any immediate plans for a Reaper's Rite sequel, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on our page... our farmboy and his demon friend may just make an appearance in some of our upcoming content. ;)
I'll definitely follow u and wait for new games, I'm pretty excited for that!
Oh, and if u have any interest in translations to other languages, I can volunteer myself for a PT-BR translation, after all many people here usually don't play games because they don't understand english or other languages... anyways, just a suggestion!
I love it!!
Thank you so much!!
Is there more?! First of all the art is AMAZING, everything blends together so well, like the moodiness of the music, the color pallet and the voice acting, it all fits, I don't know how to explain it. And the story had me hooked, I'd love to know what happens after if anything does happen. But whoo boy that voice acting was amazing!
Goodness gracious, the opening to your vid made us laugh!! Thanks so much for playing and enjoying our little game... despite limited on assets, our team really poured their all into it.
While we don't have any immediate plans for a Reaper's Rite follow-up, keep your eyes open... you may catch a glimpse of our farmboy in one of our upcoming titles. ;)
WOW what a blast!
i loved the art so much. it perfectly fit the ambiance and the writing. i also just always love a good blood sacrifice. the part where the narrator hopes they'll kill him quickly because they love him really got to me. great work.
Thanks so much for the kind comment, ghost! We're glad our little story left such an impact on you. :)
LOVE! LOVE LOVE LOVE! AAAA!
everything about this is right up my alley, from the visuals to the story itself, and god was it ever executed well too! i’m really taken with the common thread between the pair of characters being their victimization to the same land, how for the demon he is victimized by being trapped and spoken of in a lying, deceitful way, accused of being something worse than he truly is, and for farm boy it’s that he is literally victimized by the community that claims to love him as they prepare him for a sacrifice of his own life to feed a land that clearly doesn’t love him. it was really nice to have a happier ending where the pair break free from these chains that bind them.
major props to brandon for their voice acting, they capture such distinctly different emotions and tones between the demon and farm boy perfectly, and it elevates this story to a whole new level to hear the characters brought to life in that way.
totally enamoured with this art too, the colours melt so beautifully together, and the colour palette primarily boasting shades of oranges and greens really speaks to the duality of the characters as well, green being the life and naïveté of the farm boy while the orange is symbolic of the flame and ruin the community, and farm boy by extension, assume of the demon. LOVE intentional details in visuals like that! 🧡💚
this entry has totally sold me on your work, you’ve gained a new follow and fan in me! :- )
*edited to correct brandon's pronouns!
Wow, thanks so much for the detailed and thoughtful comment, snixiy!
We're thrilled that our short little story managed to leave such an impact on you. Brandon definitely knocked it out of the park with their voice acting, and they were a joy to work with... we love how they brought both the demon and the farmboy to life.
Your comment has also brought a big smile to our artist's face. He definitely pushed himself with both the composition and colours in this illustration, and we're so glad it paid off.
We're excited to have a new fan and follower! If you enjoyed this short little bite-sized visual novel, you'll definitely enjoy our other work. ;)
Thanks again!!
I really like this game. I loved the voice acting and the game's atmosphere. 10/10
Thanks so much, BlancoKix! We're glad you liked the game, and we really enjoyed your playthrough. :)
Thank you, I'm glad you liked the playthrough :)
Can anyone explain how to get the third ending? I got the bad ending and the new beginning ending but I can't figure out how to get the final one.
Howdy, CozyChamomileChaos!
There are two bad ends... here's how to achieve both. Please let us know if you have any more trouble. Cheers!
[SPOILERS]
.
.
.
To achieve the first:
You're the liar!
It's worth it
You deserve imprisonment
To achieve the second:
You're the liar!
It's worth it
How do we break it?
Touch the glass
Thanks for the help!
read "farmboy" as "femboy" about 3 times
The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive... ¬‿¬
(crossposting my review for everyone to see!)
Very nice! Short, but as long as it needed to be. Definitely left me curious about the lore of the world, though. And I wonder what happens to both characters in the good end?
The voice acting was great, too, if a little quiet in some parts even with the voice volume maxed out (but part of that could be my noisy laptop too).
Thanks so much, dogstarlite!
We're glad you enjoyed! And if you're interested in what happens to these two in the good end, keep your eyes open for our upcoming sequel to Up All Night... they may just make an appearance. ;)
aw heck yea >:)
WOW. The whole time I was in awe of everything. The art—massive respect for using a reflection to distinguish two characters! Mirrors are nuts! So much respect for the voice actor, too, for such two incredible and varied voices - especially given that you can't see the farmboy's face at all, but you just know how he feels anyway. And then the music kicked in and it set the tone for such a haunting and earthy tale. The entire time I kept repeating "this is so good" out loud, from start to finish. Such a poignant tale, and the story felt like the perfect length as well.
Bravo! This is the sort of game that inspires me to continue to refine my own writing. Utterly amazing.
Can't thank you enough!!
This means so much to our small team. Pretty much everyone brought their A game to this project, and we couldn't be more thrilled with the work everyone put out. Even though it's such a small game, we really gave it our all; and we're so thrilled that so many folks have been enjoying it so thoroughly. We really appreciate your kind comment, and thanks so much for playing!
Oh, gosh, this was FANTASTIC!! I'm still shivering a bit sitting here writing this now. Everything from the music and sound, to the voice acting, to the art and story and just VIBES was brilliantly done!
Something about stories involving sacrifice really cut right to the core of me and turn my stomach cold for some reason (and I mean that in a way that I love it because they can be so delightfully creepy and ripping of my soul dlkajfsldka). There's just... such a sense of helplessness to them. Of a weird innate sort of evil that exists in large groups of people that feel like they're doing something "for the greater good" and that leads to them to do horrible, terrifying, and sometimes gruesome things. And that, tbh, is scarier than any demon, any supernatural entity, any monster that might be out there. So I really felt myself right away feeling terrified and sorry for the boy. Then when the demon appeared -- GOD. MY GUT DLKAJLFDS. I LOVE the use of the mirror to set up the boy and the demon talking to each other. And the demon's expressions were so delightfully creepy -- coupled with that VOICE, GOD. The voice acting was so well done guhhhhh. The difference between the scared boy and the sardonic charming demon was excellent. And especially the visceral fear in the boy's lines. Just. Absolutely wonderful.
I don't even know what to talk about next it was all so good LOL The art??? HELLO???? I'm in love with the sketchy grittiness of the art and the composition of the shot. And the colors? SOOOOO CREEPY AND AMBIENT. The darkness of the roomed paired with the sharp orange of the setting sun outside and the lines of light it paints across the room. It made my heart thump-thump thinking about how close it must be to the time of the sacrifice and really amped up the tension and aura of unease just painted across everything. Also the music?? slash... sound effect? LOL I think it was all one track? The way it changed, the subtle ins and outs of the semi-melodic parts with the ambient sounds. It was the perfect track for this and was so subtly unnerving.
Overall, just fantastic. I will try to stop rambling here a bit. I ended up choosing to put my hand against the glass first. I couldn't help it LOL I was angry at the villagers for wanting to sacrifice the boy and drawn in too much by the demon perhaps LOL Though I did go back to play the other option out, too, afterwards, just because I was curious what would happen. OH, I FORGOT TO MENTION I LOVED THE LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE FARM BOY'S CRUSH AND THE FACT THAT HE WAS TAKING HIS PLACE IN THE SACRIFICE THAT REALLY GUTTED ME GOD. See I knew I would miss something.
ANYWAY I WILL STOP NOW. I just loved this so much. Amazingly done and a fantastic, eerie, visceral experience that will sit with me for a while!!
Wow, thanks so much for the kind and thoughtful comment, Carrot! Your enthusiasm always blows us away. :)
We agree... Brandon did a phenomenal job bringing both characters to life. We couldn't be more thrilled with their performance, and we're so glad it paid off!
We tried something different for the art in this game, employing a background modeler to create a 3D bathroom which our artist then sketched over. It was a huge boon as it saved him a huge amount of time, effort, and pain, and he was able to focus more on the things he excels at -- character art, expressions, and color. He especially had a lot of fun setting the scene with a unique color palette. We're glad his efforts shine through!
Our musician also knocked it out of the park with a single, seven-minute-long track. He always goes way harder than he has to, but he always does a fantastic job.
We're so glad you caught on to the subtlety of the farmboy taking the place of David as the sacrifice, too! We were a little worried folks wouldn't catch on to this since you can only express so much in 1000 words. Happy to hear our writer's efforts to add this little detail paid off. :)
Anyway, thanks again for playing... we're so glad you enjoyed!!
Yay, another demon game! And what an amazingly polished game! The voice acting really helped raise this, and I loved the look of the entire thing. The writing really made the background of this world come to life, I could imagine all of it.
I got the bad ending the first time, and then I got the others, but I think that even though it was tragic, the bad ending was my favourite. Sad, yes, but where the story could go from there really interested me! But then, I'm always a sucker for a summoned demon angst story!
Thanks so much! We agree, Brandon totally knocked it out of the park with their performance. The bad end is definitely poetically tragic... our writer always does a phenomenal job tackling the idea of no such thing as a perfect ending. There will always be sacrifices. In this case, maybe literal. ;)
Thanks again for playing!
outstanding game, amazing concept, clever working of the game jams rules, great visuals and voice acting, insanely well executed all around
Thanks so much!!
WHAT THIS WAS SO GOOD!!! this is SO POLISHED too!! it was a joy to play. loved the setting and how tragic it is <3 incredible job y'all
Much appreciated!! We look forward to playing your entry too, when we can find the time. ;)
I loooooove it!
Thank you!!
The presentation for this is soooo good!! I loved everything. The voice acting was incredibly good and I think I could listen to that demon all day.
The story was very good and the kind I 100% enjoy and I definitely did! I want to say more good things, but I'm running out of words so good job! I loved it.
Thanks so much, Ronove! We agree... Brandon really exuded the sultry demonic appeal we requested in their performance. We couldn't be more thrilled. ;)
Thanks for the kind comment!