Semblance and Shadows
Please note: The loading screen does not show, you will see a black square before the game launches, please be patient!
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After waking in a forest, you find yourself in a ruined manor with no memories and a cat that somehow speaks, but refuses to give anything other than the teasing, cryptic answer:
“You’ll be in the basement.”
— About —
Semblance and Shadows is a Gothic Horror 2D point-and-click adventure game. Explore the manor, interact with the surroundings, chat with a sometimes helpful cat, and try not to make too much noise, as you search to find a way to the basement.
There are no jump scares in this game! A character appears at random, but it's appearance will be highly telegraphed, and is not intended to startle the player.
If you require a larger version of the game(1500×845), please download the attached file.
There are no Game Overs!
— Features —
- 30min- 1hr of playtime
- 2 Endings
- 12 Classical Paintings
- SFX but no music or VO
- Visual Novel style dialogue
Please Note you CANNOT save, you will need to complete the game in one sitting. Thank you for understanding!
— Detailed Content Warnings —
This game contains non-explicit themes of surgery, death, and ghosts. There are instances of implied blood, depicted in black and white.
Other than the Rembrandt painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicholaes Tulp no gore is depicted. Viewing this painting is not required to complete the game.
For more details click below.
Click to Expand, may contain spoilers
- Mentions of Cannibalism via Tantalus in Greek Mythology and the painting The Raft of the Medusa. Optional
- Mentions of people-eating via the painting Diomedes Devoured by His Horses Optional
- Mentions of murder and torture via the story of Elizabeth Bathory. Optional
- Strongly implied vampirism
- Depictions of surgical tools including a trephine and bone saw
- Mentions of people dying/let to die during surgery (not explicit)
- Depiction of Snakes in the painting Lilith.Optional
- Mentions of snakes in the story of Ascleipus. Optional
- Discussions of existentialism and philosophy of the self
- Loud sounds of crashing, mirrors breaking, and heartbeats
- Hunting/Stalking by ghosts
- Artistic nudity (see painting list below)
— Painting List —
Only the paintings 'I'm half sick of Shadows' said the Lady of Shalott and The Lady of Shalott are required viewing, neither of which contain artistic nudity. All other paintings are optional, but choosing not to view them may impact your perception of the story.
Click to expand
- Tantalus by Gioacchino Assereto, c. 1630-1640
- Diomedes Devoured by His Horses, by Gustave Moreau, 1865
- Lilith by John Collier, 1887, Female Nudity
- Equality before Death by William Bouguereau, 1848, Male Nudity
- Young and His Daughter by Pierre-Auguste Vafflard, 1804
- The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tulp by Rembrandt, 1632
- Venus with a Mirror by Paolo Veronese, 1582, Female Nudity
- The Autopsy a.k.a. And She Had a Heart! a.k.a. Anatomy of the Heart by Enrique Simonet 1890, Female Nudity
- The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault, 1819, Male Nudity
- Portrait of Elizabeth Bathory artists Unknown, c. 1585
- 'I'm half sick of shadows' said the Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1915
- The Lady of Shalott by William Holman Hunt, 1888-1905
Understanding the excerpt from Night Thoughts, is not required to complete the game, but if you are having trouble here is a Break Down that will help.
— Citations —
Click to expand
- Wikipedia contributors. (2002, January 2). Lilith. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
- William Bouguereau. William Bouguereau | Musée d’Orsay. (n.d.). https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/egalite-devant-la-mort-153690
- Wikipedia contributors. (2023, April 24). Venus effect. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_effect
- Szádeczky-Kardoss, I. (2015, January 21). The Bloody Countess?. Notes on Hungarian History. https://notesonhungary.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/the-bloody-countess/
- Wikipedia contributors. (2023b, September 9). The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_Lesson_of_Dr._Nicolaes_Tulp
- Met Museum Contributors. (n.d.). Pierre Antoine Augustin Vafflard: Study for “Young and His Daughter.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438676
- Dose of art #92: Enrique Simonet – La autopsia / Y Tenía Corazón! / the anatomy of the heart (1890). Size Of Art. (n.d.). https://sizeofart.com/dose-of-art-92-enrique-simonet-la-autopsia-y-tenia-corazon-the-anatomy-of-the-heart-1890/
— About the Author —
Writing, Coding, Character and Background Art
by Kaden Ramstack
You can find him at the following locations:
Twitter
Cohost
Online Portfolio
—About Unity—
This game was made near completion before the announcement on Sept 12, 2023 that Unity would be taking $0.20 USD from every installation or web play of games made using the engine. The company has since backtracked and said web plays would not be eligible for this fee, however this may be subject to change.
This game is 100% free and does not qualify for this fee, so feel free to play as many times as you like.
However, I do not encourage others to use this program to create games at any level and would highly recommend looking to other engines, such as Godot or Ren'Py.
This game will always be free, but if you would like to support me I would encourage you to take a look at some of my tabletop games that are available for purchase. If you enjoyed the themes of this game you might also enjoy YOURSELF, a solo journaling game about heritage and identity.
Download
Install instructions
Mac coming soon!
Development log
- Citations Added!Dec 06, 2023
Comments
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This game was fantastic! The art for each room is stunning, and I was surprised by the large number of sprites created for the cat (whom I love). The final room was delightfully spooky. I had a great time playing.
This was fantastic! I loved the art, and story, and the fact that you learn about art through it too
I have a question though, Why was there a painting in the room that you seal? When you can't get into it after wards to listen to the cat talk about it (I'm fairly certain there was art in that room you could click on anyways)
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
You should be able to click on and learn about the art from the moment that the cat joins you and tells you to look around at the decor. It doesn't tell the player directly but it should always replace the help button when the art is on screen as long as the cat is with you.
The dialogue where the cat reminds you after the mirror was just to let the player know that you could click on the Shalott paintings again to learn about them. I was worried that people would think that you weren't able to do that since the cat read the poem about them. There is no information change about any of the other paintings.
As for why they were in the sealed room, I just didn't have any other place to put them which is why there's a warning to look at them before sealing it. Hope that helps!
Ah ok, that makes so much more sense!
I definitely hadn't realized that was a thing until the cat tells you about the paintings down the blocked off hallway lol
I might have to go back through just to see what he says about the sealed room paintings too haha
Still, great job!
A short, spooky game with great visuals (love the detailed black and white drawings and funhouse mirror perspective) that had pretty much everything I could want from a Gothic horror tale!
I do have two minor complaints--I would've really appreciated a keybind like space or enter to progress the text. I do also think that if the game doesn't include music, then background ambience at least would have elevated it. (Very quickly into my playthrough I had to go and put on some Rachmaninoff in the background)
Overall though, I enjoyed my time with it. The story and gameplay itself were well done!
Thank you so much for the review! I hadn't considered the keybinding for text since I mostly play mouse only point and click, but it's a very good idea! The unfortunate thing about music files is they are very large and I was at my limit for what itch accepts for a browser file play so I wasn't able to include any of it but your suggestion is great!
Not at all! It's a shame about the sound, but I can imagine how hard it'd be to fit in a game with this much detail!
I play on a standard Macbook Air and I was able to progress the text by using the forward (right) arrow!