Abscission - Demo
A downloadable game for Windows
Abscission is a Lovecraftian, story-driven horror point-and-click investigation game. It involves searching crime scenes for evidence, combining clues and questioning suspects. Puzzles can have multiple solutions as you guide the protagonist - Detective Will Stanhope - through the story.
Stanhope will sometimes be presented with alternative ways to handle a conversation, based on four temperaments:
Melancholic (detail oriented)
Phlegmatic (calm)
Sanguine (sociable)
Choleric (driven)
There is no one approach that works best for all conversations, and Stanhope will need to use all of them in order to be the best he can be.
This game adapts to your choices. People will remember how Stanhope spoke to them and may respond differently in the future, so consider each response carefully. Will Stanhope's destiny is in your hands. Choose wisely.
The demo is available now, with a full release planned in Q4 2023.
Your first task is to gain three pieces of information/leads and discuss with detective Luna, before leaving the apartment block and opening up the rest of the demo.
IMPORTANT - Due to a bug in Abscission Demo Ver 1.0.1, the game may not start correctly (starting in a corridor instead of the Beyond Booleans screen). Please download new version 1.0.3 if this occurs. Apologies for the error!
All feedback is welcome. Recommended age 18+
Contact - beyondbooleans@gmail.com
Download
Development log
- Abscission - out now on Steam!Nov 03, 2023
- Steam Demo back up!May 06, 2023
- STEAM DEMO CURRENTLY DOWNMay 02, 2023
- Major Update! Including a planned release date...Apr 13, 2023
- Summer 2022 UpdateAug 05, 2022
- It's alive!May 07, 2022
- RoadmapFeb 14, 2021
- Helping HandsJan 01, 2021
Comments
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Hi! Looking forward to buy a version here or on gog.
Hey, can i play it on linux ?
Honestly, not sure! I don't think so, but you can always give it a go!
Why can't I buy it here?
Apologies, for now I am only selling through Steam, but I may put on Itch.io in the future.
Just bought my copy on Steam! Glad to see this finally released. :)
Thank you for the support! I hope you enjoy it :)
I've been following this project since the demo was first available. I've been playing games since the days of Atari. Played some of the first pixel games like Kings Quest and Space Quest and watched games evolve all the way up to the modern day. And I can say that the game play, dialog, artwork and other aspects of Abscission are top notch. I'm looking forward to the upcoming release.
I checked in on this project again and played the steam demo version, I noticed that the character portraits have been removed from the earlier version. What is the reason for this change if I might ask?
Hi, yes I wasn't happy with the level of quality in the portraits, and also their style. Part of the next few months of development is experimenting with different styles to see if it's worth bringing the portrait's back... we'll see!
That's a shame, personally I really liked them and seeing them missing was quite jarring for me. I think the portraits added more personality to the character and made them more distinct.
Really nice game and story, but we changed the music because of copyright
Thank you! I have since sourced better (and royalty free) music so this shouldn't happen with the full release.
fantastic game, do you accept fan translations?
wow that was incredible! Loved the atmoshpere and the mystery. Can't wait to play the complete game. I liked the fact that I had to be VERY observant and careful at some points to find all the clues.
The only thing that bothered me in the font in the cut scenes as it's not clear and it disappears very quicly. At least for a non native english speaker.
Thank you for the kind words! Yes, the font wasn't good (mainly due to the resolution of the game, which is 320 x 200) so I've already fixed this for the main game, with animated comic panels and the words spoken by Stanhope (the speech font, nice and clear). I will release a new demo when I get closer to release (and will also be putting the game on Steam).
I totally agree with you, this demo is - so far - incredible. I'm really looking forward to the full release.
Some small criticism from me, though: I'd love to have the dialog to stay forever until clicked away. I'm aware that there is the game speed slider, but I'd rather not slow the whole game down just to be able to read the text in time.
Otherwise no complaint! :)
Love the game so far, to date I've only found one error: The lady in Number 2 has a typo in her dialogue where she says "intersted" instead of interested. Would also appreciate options to delete save files. Other than that, 10/10.
Thank you! I will look into this :)
This is an absolute hidden gem. Hats off to the Developer! Looking forward to the full release.
Thank you! Sorry for the slow development, but it is coming along. I'm making sure that it's the best it can be first :)
Hey! Please don't abandon this project! It's SO SO SO promising!
Hiya! Don't worry, it is just sleeping during a very difficult personal time... it will return!
I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope everything will get better. Making video games is a long, difficult act of love, and our personal problems often make it just more hard. We are human beings. Fragile, unstable, but capable of great things and Abscission has all the potential to become a "great thing" :)
Love from Italy!
Hey - is this game still in development? So hoping to see the finished version when ready!
Yes, still in development, just will take a while!
Hi ! Really enjoyed atmosphere and story. Can't wait for the entire game... You have all support from the FDF Interactive team :)
Thank you! Sorry for the super late reply haha
Please finish this!! As a huge fan of Point and Click games and a good murder mystery this was beautiful. I do understand that this is a demo, hope the full game has more things to interact with, being able to question characters with evidence I have, and maybe even a to-do list to keep players from getting stuck. But overall great story, great demo, keep up the great work, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any updates.
Thank you for the kind words! Work had stalled a bit the last six months due to pressure at work, but I'm back on it now. I will definately finish it, it will just take a while as I do want to add a lot of functionality (such as an objective list, as you suggested). I will post an update in a few weeks when I've made progress. :)
Amazing atmosphere so far and I'm invested in the story. Looking forward the full release.
Thank you, I appreciate it :)
This demo was fantastic. I loved it. Any ETA on the full game?
I was looking to release it at Halloween but work has meant that is unrealistic, but I'm back on it now and will post some progress soon. Thank you for the compliment :)
man, I really enjoyed this but it really needs a button to show all the interactable items on the screen and a hint system.
but still great stuff I will buy when it is done
Good suggestions, I will see what I can do!
Ooooo
Loved the demo, it's a really awesome concept, nice story and atmosphere. Really liked the characters and artstyle.
Hi there! Having some trouble with the menu? I wanted to change some settings in the beginning, but I realized that I needed to start the game to do so. Then, I kept trying to navigate to the settings button, but none of the icons in the top were working; it was just progressing dialog. I did get it to open the settings, but I was having the same issue of it progressing more dialog and not letting me change the settings. I am very interested in playing this game, so I would love some tips.
If you start the game, and wait for the first dialog and cutscenes in the lobby to finish, you should be able to access the options. There aren't many though! I will look to get the options available from the beginning in the full game, this is good feedback, thank you.
this game is really hard. sometimes I don't understand what the hell I am supposed to do. And why I can't call Mark Torrence??? I'm quite frustrated honestly, I'll watch a playthrough instead.
Edit: Address Mark Torrence? Really? That doesn't make any sense
Edit2: Also the really specific stuff that you have to in the game...
Loved the demo. The story was quite interesting, liked the art style. Can't wait for the full game.
Watch game here:
Loved it reminded me of broken sword but I couldn't progress through the rest of the demo for some reason.
MAAAAC!!!!!
i found the tattoo parlor and talked to the other officer abt serina's files but i can't click the location and idk how to get the files :(
If you talked to Bruce and he asked for a drink (because you were choleric at the start), you need to go to your drinks cabinet in your office, then after that back to the map. That should trigger the end cutscene.
Hmmmmm... that's odd, once you have the tattoo location and have spoken to an officer, all you should need to do is go back to the map to trigger the end of the demo. I will look into it, apologies for the bug!
Yes, it was a bug (a missed bit of code). Sorry about that, it's such a steep learning curve. I will update and release a new demo version. Sorry!
i replayed the game and finished it already.
it was very captivating and one of the most interesting games i've played.
looking forward to the full game!!
Hi there,
After I've added the Carmine's Book into the map, I couldn't do anything.
I've searched Mark's appartment and now it's locked (a cop is standing in the front door).
There is apparently nothing else to do in the gallery either.
Am I missing something?
Combine the invoice for the tattoo with the photo of the tattoo, then head back to the map :)
Hi there,
Thanks for the hint.
I just did and I could finish the demo.
The game really looks good.
It brought me back to the 90's when I used to play some adventure games.
The plot seems very interesting and whoever likes investigation puzzles will be very happy to play it.
Also, the possibility to choose different approaches in the interactions makes the game more immersive.
I am looking forward to see the full release.
=)
Thank you so much :)
Unfortunately it seems as if the game starts in marks apartment hallway with the new update. No main menu/splash or anything. Really wanted to play this after seeing some gameplay on youtube :(
Ok, I've fixed and updated a new version. Sorry for the error! I appreciate you telling me :)
Working perfectly now. Thank you!
Definitely love this game, and that's considering I have pretty high standards for games, I seriously love how this game is going and will anxiously await for it's release
Story 9,8/10 (The ending of the demo was GOOOOOOD... But maybe a transformation instead for the gory and Lovecraftian detail?
Dialogues 10/10
Art 9/10 (Plain amazing, faces creepy me out a little and I love it, but something feels... Weird?)
Puzzles 7/10 (very good indeed, but could have use for just a little more complexity)
Details: 11/10 (That bugged shadow disappearing at the end of the hall in Mark's apartment complex? I'm in love)
Overall: a solid 9/10, amazing. As everything, there's things to improve, but the game itself is very good, don't give up, this is very promising indeed!
(And yes, I created an account just to comment this, that's just how much I like it)
Thank you so much for the kind words, yes the puzzles are something I need to increase in the final game. I'm really glad you like it and took the time to comment. I appreciate it :)
My Let's Play, good stuff and visual style - though, likely have to hop back in and see what I was missing from the mentioned missing evidence the dev informed me about ;0
Thank you, bugs noted and (hopefully) fixed!
The game is possibly bugged, or just a 3rd piece of evidence hasn't been found? I got the Evidence in the jacket and the Glass shard, but Hogan (I presume) is very much bugged and I'd presume evidence or needed information to leave the apartment building is needed from Hogan, but the game is bugged and thinks he's always talking to the landlord even when he's done the questioning and is by the exit door, the game invisibly thinks his location is on the Left side of the room by the landlord still. Sort of an unfortunate Softcap lock on the game (If my presumption is right about Hogan holding the info I need to proceed).
What makes me ponder is why no one else who's already recorded the game or played it - has mentioned this bug. Otherwise, will have an incomplete Let's Play out soon.
Hi Neco, I will look at the bug about Hogan's location. The third evidence you need to leave the apartment is finding out where Serina worked (you need to look at the paintings then discuss with landlord, then tell Luna what you found). You also need to discuss boots with the landlord to find a name of who it could be, then combine that clue with the book in you inventory, and tell Luna. Once you have told Luna about those pieces and the glass shard, you can leave and the game opens up more.
Many thanks for playing :)
Edit - have fixed Hogan (and a few other bugs) and uploaded a new version of the demo.
Hmm, looks like the Boots part and beyond is what I was missing, I had the where-serina-worked part. Will double-check these boots
Thanks for the kind words :)
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cool point x click retro