That Which Binds Us [Otome / Mystery / Modern Fantasy] [Released]

[MikomiKisomi]

 

Idris is a bonds man- a special bonds man. While most of his clients need to bail loved ones out of jail, a few are looking for a reprieve from someone they once knew. For Evalise, all she wanted was to get a bail bond for her boyfriend, when Idris surprised her with a simple but confusing question.

What if you could make him forget all about you?

Story

Evalise's boyfriend has a bit of a wild side... and a bit of a knack for being caught. She arrives at a bail bonds place run by a man named Idris- however, while working out a bail bond, he springs a question about a different kind of bond- a memory bond. With his knife, he's able to sever any ties a person has with someone else, permanently, making the other person completely forget about his client. With one small cut, she'd be able to leave her not-so-great boyfriend behind and move on...


Characters

Evalise Adams


Our protagonist, Evalise. She's 26 and works a regular retail job with a not-so-regular boyfriend who's a repeat petty criminal. Eva isn't the bad girl type, so her friends don't see why she's with him- but to her, it's just a matter of convenience. She was in a car wreck over a year prior to the start of the game, and ever since then her memory has been blurred and she's slowly distanced herself from her friends. So, finding any kind of person who'd show her a bit of comfort- even at the price of having to bail him out of jail a few times- was worth it to her.

Idris Whitcher

Idris is a bonds dealer who also runs a lesser-known side business of severing the bonds people have with others. He's 28 and likes seeing movies the night they come out, playing with his shelter rescue labrador, and taking long walks on the beach- at least, that's what his dating profile reads. He takes an immediate interest in Evalise, but hasn't exactly tried the whole "dating" and "relationship" thing in a while.

...And many more characters in-game!

Details

This game was being made for the Indie Game Maker Contest, a month long game jam held by Degica to make a game in any valid RPG Maker engine. I was hoping to finish this game, but alas, I was only able to get a demo finished. So, now I've ported it to Ren'Py and am finishing it, extending it in the process!

The concept for this game came from something quite visible in the key art- the red string of fate. While it's not present in the game, it does give a good idea about what the game is about, as it focuses on the bonds forged between people and fate. As it was a starting point for me in development of the story and is an item most people can identify, I placed it front and center in the artwork.

Steam Page

The current demo is about 15-20 minutes long.

Demo
Download it on Itch.io! 

Edited October 20, 2019 by MikomiKisomi
update

[MikomiKisomi]

Update 2/14:

The Valentine's update is here! What does it include? Well, the extended demo is now released! It adds a few extra scenes that better fleshes out the plot, new expressions, updated GUI, and new music! You can download it from the same link as before, right here. 

 

Of course, that's not all there is! Last but not least, here's Eva wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day~

 

[MikomiKisomi]

Big news, guys!

The Steam store page for TWBU is now live! Add it to your wishlist to get a notification when it releases~

We also now have a Discord server for anyone interested in TWBU or our future games!

Here's some more screenshots for you guys too!

 

 

[Plk_Lesiak]

Looks nice, you do have a grammar error in the 4th screenshot on that Steam page though (I think he was meant to look melancholic).

[MikomiKisomi]

Major Update

TWBU has received a massive art overhaul! All of the backgrounds have been replaced, CGs edited, one CG redone, and a brand new CG added! There are several other smaller fixes to the game to improve the overall quality as well. Basically, if you haven't checked it out before, now's the perfect time!

Steam Page  ♥  Itchio Page  ♥  Twitter