The Anchorite

I absolutely LOVED it. I discovered it on AlphaBetaGamer's channel and I kept questioning myself over actually playing it or just watching it and... love the writing, the art, the direction. Maybe I was sleepy, but hadn't fully realized it wasn't a game from the 80's. Sure, the soundtrack was...too good, but the vibes, everything else felt perfect retro to me. Thanks for creating this gem, it's amazing it's the work of just 2 weeks, and a single person.

The game is absolutely gorgeous!

actually fire ass game

very cool! thanks for sharing. Maniac Mansion vibes

Very i interesting game.i like this graphic

loved this game great

wow 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

That was absolutely incredible! The pacing, the story, the use of repetition to establish a pattern, and then brutally taking that pattern away... An absolute masterclass in horror, and a joy to play!

This was sooo fun and enjoyable. I enjoyed the cutscenes and little animations. The length of the experience was perfect.

I loved everything about this game. The twist was kind of predictable, but its presentation is perfect here. Great work!

A good example of a short game that works perfectly as it is. I really enjoyed the few minutes it took to play through. I like how you built up the player’s immersion by providing simple tasks to complete while gradually unveiling the background story and drama through small doses of information and events. I have to admit, I somewhat anticipated the twist —probably because I was biased by my expectations— but it was still surprising and clever how everything connects at the end. The atmosphere and dialogues worked great. It’s impressive that you managed to do all this in just two weeks. Congrats! :)

Amazing game. I really enjoyed the plot twist.

The plot twist is crazy tho 

Great game! I guess I need to check out all your other games now

A beautiful game with a sad story...

really good!  we need more!

Nice this was really good game I like it and you did really great job for this game! anyway well done keep it up!

Really nice! Back to early point and click adventures like Kings Quest. Got a Beneath a Steel Sky vibe from it. Great work, hope you continue this project!

Love the art style, love the story, love the anticipation..

Such an amazing game and would love to see it continue.

Hey! Wow. That was great. Nice, puzzles, lovely animations, great story. It all led nicely to the end. Are you planning to continue this one 'out the door'? It's kind of asking for it, no?
Bravo.

Really great, thanks so much!

Congratulations,
this is a good game with a "crescendo" of mystery. Too bad it was so short.

i am so stuck LOL. i have the quill but cant figure out what to do with the ash to make ink. i feel so stupid, anyone have tips? thank u!!

Great and amazing game. I really enjoy it. ALL ENDINGS HERE: 

How to get the quill? I have ink ready, knife and a water bucket(for some reason?), and I used the knife to open the pillow..? But I can't take the feathers out of the pillow as Anchorite just talks about sleeping and something about the pillow.
Lol, please send help.

I have nothing to say besides that it was an amazing game. It shows that sometimes long doesn't mean better.

So much said with so few words, there's a compassion in this work that I didn't know I needed to see.

I want to thank you for making this one.

It takes some serious talent to tell a story this captivating in such a short amount of time 👏

Btw, finished your game on Linux natively. Take a look at this if you want to package it yourself: https://itch.io/t/4016389/play-ags-games-on-linux-natively

beautiful story. continue making games. wish he walked faster haha

It was a pleasure playing your game! It has nice graphics and a great plot! The music fits very well to the atmosphere and the game gets more and more thrilling. Hats off!

woah beautiful graphics, awesome story, loved it! 

I loved it! Great job!

I strongly recommend playing this game to anyone who comes across it. If you like a strong story with some gently puzzles, you will have a good time.

I really enjoyed your game. Good work as always

Hello,

Very interesting premise, and I enjoyed the twist. However, I did encounter some bugs that unfortunately messed up the narrative pacing.
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The broken wall was immediately accessible from the very beginning, just as I first entered the bedroom. This resulted in me getting to what I assume is one of the endings within five minutes of play, which I suspect wasn't intended.

I also encountered some of Steven Don's issues on the replay (the visible Amos sprite on top of the sealed door whenever he (it?) speaks, wrong draw location for Amo's words, the chest was already open and the hammer acquired at the start of the game, etc)

Two weeks definitely sounds like an intense crunch, so I think this is pretty impressive for such a short time. If you don't mind me asking, what engine / software (or library) did you use to make this?

EDIT: Playing all the way through a second time gave me the narrative as intended. Excellent -- the pacing was very important to the payoff at the end. I'd love to see a sequel where the Anchorite navigates life outside the, eh, "tower".

Really nicely done. The sudden shift in tone was really quite effective.

Few minor issues I encountered:

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• the "3 commandments" and "closed chest" are hotspots, but there are no labels for them (oddly enough, the chest has one, but only when opened)
• the "mess" and "broken pestle & mortar" hotspots are available right from the start
• a few issues with draw ordering:
  • the cake coming through the opening gets drawn on top of the opening
  • when the anchorite is sitting at his desk, writing on the parchment, the parchment is drawn on top of the anchorite
  • the shovel does not seem to go into the ground, but draws on top of the wood surrounding the garden bed
• several "you can't do that" style messages appear erroneously (like when actually doing the thing you're supposed to do):
  • when digging up the garden to plant the seeds
  • when putting the clothes in the tub
  • when putting the bucket under the pump
  • when dropping the water into the tub with the clothes
  • when using the inkwell with ashes on the water in the bucket
• Typo: I won"t be able to get all of the dirt out with just water should probably have a ' instead of a "
• restarting the game (to try out what happens when choosing a different option at the end) results in glitching out almost everything:
  • I have the inkwell, quill and knife already in inventory at the start
  • the cake is already in the room when the young anchorite wakes up
  • Amos's blue text is by the anchorite's head, rather than by the door
  • Amos's sprite can be seen drawn on top of the door and he becomes an interactible hotspot... I can actually ask him the same questions I can in the control room:
    
  • from here the game is too glitched out to be able to get further, I had to quit and relaunch the game to be able to do a second playthrough