Reaplaced

Man, I thought I had it all figured out and I definitely did not. I had bits and pieces but definitely not the full picture. This was so well written and wonderfully executed. 

Quite a freaky ending. I love how snarky Grea is and the general love note to various mythical creatures, from jiangshi to yokai and more!

I really enjoyed the lore embeds in the book, it felt like an immersive, natural way to learn more about reapers and other supernatural creatures! I didn't even realize that reapers aren't death themselves lol. 

The character's responses to all the situations felt believable and it was engaging to see everyone's different theories!! 

Absolutely terrific! I have always been a fan of the manor house murder mystery genre, and this is such a delightful and compelling addition, taking the established tropes and elevating them! I enjoyed this so very much--thank you, and well done to the team as a whole! ✨

(Copied from the Spooktober rating page to help this with Itch.io's algorithm.)

Oh, this was a joy to play through! I love mini-mystery stories, and this one was a treat.

The UI animations are very pretty, and I enjoyed going through the little cluebook and reading through all of the clues I gathered while the investigation was going on. The costume ideas for the trio of friends were really fun too, and I loved how each of the three (and of course, our protagonist Grea) had their own distinctive personalities.

Also - I'm very proud to report that I got to the culprit before Grea revealed the answer. Wahoo!

Excellent work all around. Thanks for making this!

This is my favorite Spooktober entry so far - great job!

This is one of my favorite VNs/KNs I've played recently! It's so polished and well-constructed that I would consider buying it or games like it. 

There are so many aspects of this project that I loved, including:

- Sprites: The appealing character designs and all the expressions and animations.
- Backgrounds: There are just SO MANY of them. I liked examining all the little details. There was always something new and interesting to stare at. I enjoyed looking at the rainy portions and even the bloody and gory parts!
- GUI: The shaky text effects and the positioning of the options.
- Music: My favorite tracks were the ones that played during the investigative and reveal portions. The song title being displayed is such a cool feature too.
- Sound design: All the sound effects plus the blips for the text and for instances when something important is mentioned.
- Title: It's unique and extremely apt. I love the logo too.
- Ending: I browsed the comments and saw that a few had gripes about the conclusion. Personally, I liked it. The tone went a bit grimmer than I was expecting, but the darkness made sense to me, given the outcome and the characters involved.

Of course, I was enthralled by the writing (I didn't spot a single typo!) and the murder mystery itself. I appreciated the clue system and the reminders to try and solve the mystery for ourselves. Regarding the reveal, I figured out the broader mystery but not the specifics. The culprit was, in fact, the one I LEAST suspected. I think I focused too much on my inventory of clues and neglected to consider that subtler tells were being planted right from the beginning.

The reaper lore was super interesting. Grea's personality was consistently engaging. It was a clever choice to portray her POV for this kind of story. Due to the nature of her work, it made sense that she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and wasn't prone to attachment. Overall, this world you've created has so much potential, and I'd love to see more!

(Note: Copy-pasting this comment from the Spooktober VN Jam 2023 page.)

lovely spooky game

copypasting my comment from the rating page because i think posting it here will give the game more visibility...


This one was so much fun! I love the art and the general aesthetic, plus the character designs. Kai is so pretty, dokidoki...

I'm Very Bad at solving mysteries so I didn't even attempt it lol, but it was nice that the game keeps track of all your clues and warns you before the big reveal so you can take some time to think things through if you want.

Since it's a murder mystery which mostly focuses on the mystery part, and it's relatively short, I feel like the characters aren't super super fleshed out even if some characters do wind up with their flesh being torn out lol but it's not necessary. Everybody has a unique, distinctive personality, and I like Grea lot; she's very businesslike but also pretty quippy alongside it. I guess she must enjoy her job a lot haha

The UI is great, the music is fitting and spooky, the number of BGs is impressive, and it's overall very polished! I really enjoyed my time with this; tysm for making it! ♡

I really enjoyed this! The reveals were laid out in a way that made them fun to discover as the story went on. The mystery and worldbuilding felt unique, which is surprising for a short game jam game.

I didn't expect to be genuinely creeped out by the game, but the story actually did make me feel unsettled.

Also, I thought the visuals were really good and impressive, the sprites and backgrounds in particular. The character designs were fun too.

I think it's fun that the game directly challenges you to try to solve the mystery on your own, and gives you a final warning before the main character solves it out loud herself. I couldn't figure it out on my own, and I liked the actual resolution!

Overall I thought this was really impressive for a game jam game and I had fun playing it!!!

Excellent music, great mystery, good art, and great immersion. Well done, I applaud!

This game was such a pleasant surprise! From a lot of other entries that I played this one called my attention right away and had me hooked from the beginning! 

The presentation, ease of access, the music and the character sounds and interactions were all on point! Even the mystery was excellently presented. 

You gave the audience enough time to get to know the characters and know their motivations and personalities which made me get invested a lot easier into them. 

Great game! 

This was a really interesting idea! I like the lore and character designs especially. I thought the clues were well incorporated and cleverly used to allow the reader to solve the mysteries alongside the characters. The music, backgrounds, and sound effects got the job done, helping to set the creepy, suspenseful mood. And I like all the different angles that were visually incorporated during the scenes, really helped with the immersion that we were witnessing the story unfold. The overall plot was wonderfully paced, well structured, and kept me in suspense all throughout. My only criticism is I thought the ending paled in comparison to the rest of the story. Once the murderer started doing their villainous monologue, revealing all their secrets ... the writing felt forced and rushed to me. While the other characters' reactions to the situation left me feeling unsatisfied with how things turned out. Aside from that though, I thought it was very well done! Murder mysteries are a challenge to write, so I respect all the thought and effort that was put into this one.

Wow! I loved the music and all the sound effects added to the atmosphere too. The design of the scythe was also really cool! And the mystery was very clever, it had me guessing between the three of them for a very long time.

I don't know what it is that Grea that hits me in all the right spots but I love her character so much, not gonna lie. Her design, the bluntness of her dialogue, her dynamic with the cast in general, just... Delightful. True Neutral Vibes.

This was such a fun read. I particularly loved the structure of the mystery, the whole giving the player a chance to figure it out before the Detective reveals the answer... It almost feels Holmes-like.

...Also getting those vibes from the fact that I botched the answer in the end ahah, but the answer made sense, and included so much that was shown/told to us all along, to the point where I feel like all the clues were there, and Grea is genuinely smarter than me for noticing them when I didn't - Hence, Holmes-like~!

Plus my god the final act is a ride! Give this one a shot!

I'm excited to find out that Mystery Gamedev is a thing, and I'm hyped to see what else you're able to create together!

Have played 30 minutes of, it's really good!

Edit:

And I had time to play through yesterday, was a really good Spooktober game.  Really appreciated that it was presented as a mystery, and gave you time to make a guess.  Well my final guess was wrong but that's OK.  

Excellent job with the characters and story, everything else is nicely polished too.

A very cool and intriguing murder mystery!! I really loved the art and music; and the mystery certainly had me on the edge of my seat!! Playing as a grim reaper was awesome, I don't think I've ever played a detective mystery where you play from the POV of a mythical being; Grea was a very charming protagonist too. The 3D backgrounds were cool too, they gave me a lot of Danganronpa vibes! All in all, I think this was a great game, you guys did an amazing job creating a whodunnit with this level of detail and polish in such a short time!! (╯✧▽✧)╯