itch.io

I'd be happy for her to stick around otherwise, recruitable or not. "I love the kind of woman that will actually just kill me. "

Check the Jobs tab in the NPC management screen. The Barkeep and Tavern Worker should be on the later tabs.

Alright, been enjoying this one a lot. The systems are a bit hard to work around, not horribly intuitive, but they are satisfying. This would make a pretty solid game even if the sex aspects were entirely off camera. My suggestions would be as follows:

- Skill training options across the board, expanding the courses available and number/variety of books. Right now trying to build up Survival is an exercise in conjuring RNGesus to your aid, and not very much fun. 
- Recurrent courses for the PC in addition to the slaves/servants/mercenaries. It would make later game advancement more feasible.
- A Retreat/Withdraw button in Combat! This one leads to frustration, because while you can choose to engage on most fights (click on person on map, choose to either Engage/Withdraw), there's a few really tough fights that you don't have any option to back out from and are forced into combat by clicking on them (the kaiju sea lizard thing, the coilgun snipers in Stokke or Kelsey, and a couple more that I'm forgetting now).  There is also no way to identify these other than a good guess or bitter experience.  I'm fine with a risk/reward option for the player to allow them to decide if they can or can't face down what's waiting for them, but not "Oh ho ho! You've clicked on my trap card sea lizard thing, and now it's mudhole stomping time!".
- If the backers involved are in love with 'no retreat', then just add an additional designator to the overmap icons for the encounters that will force a fight. We have them for Elite enemies (the crown) and for the people who are extorting money for passage (the dollar sign), so something like a skull or an exclamation mark so that the player knows not to click on that thing unless they're ready for an unavoidable fight.
(that's not the same thing as being in a dungeon or mission and getting jumped by bad guys, that again comes under player risk/reward - you know you're going into the sharp end when you choose to go on a quest)

Fun game so far. Stuck on the Golden Seal quest. I try going to Darkmere, but there's no option for an ambush point and there's not a specific date given for her shipping out (just 'several days'), and unlike Dakota's birthday the quest doesn't give a timer. What do you need to do to trigger the ambush?

EDIT: Found it. My browser window cuts off the top part of the screen, so I missed the interactable point.

Content warnings are usually more than enough for this kind of thing. I don't get mad at people who don't want to deal with heavy topics in their media - some folks are survivors of such real life horrors, and they may not be in a good headspace to deal with them in a game/movie/book/whatever. Good on you for being willing to explain your decisions in a reasonable way, and for including those warnings.

About the only reason I'd recommend a SFW mode in future projects like this one would be for the streamers and Let's Play types who might fall afoul of platforms randomly deciding this isn't "advertiser friendly" or somesuch silliness. But that's a personal suggestion, you do what you feel you should do.

If you revisit the concept, my recommendation would be to leave Mr. Bob dead. Run with the idea that Mr. Bob spends a lot of time out of the house (the Wife says as much), and therefore this wasn't his only family. There's probably nightmare houses like this scattered in multiple places, and I doubt all of them (or their inhabitants) were destroyed when Mr. Bob went down.

Also, unless I'm mishearing it, the 'good' ending has a knock at the door while Alesa is in the gratuitous shower (heh, the showering thing gets me chuckling). We fade to black before we see who's there. I'd like to think that it's not the usual "SHIA SURPRISE! HE'S NOT DEAD!" swerve, but somebody showing up (like the FBI) to let her know that she's not crazy and they do believe her. Let the girl have some closure, she's earned it.

Anyway, good game! You do solid work!

Agreed!

This game is visually great, BUUUUUUTTTT...please revisit the balancing. Right now, the game is quite literally down to the grace of RNGesus, and he eventually gets distracted.

Everything that your skills protect against is a guaranteed loss of a crew member without said skill. Random snakes, chowing down on 'shrooms, all of this stuff should be a chance to die rather than a guaranteed kill. This isn't a complaint about difficulty so much as a complaint about literal unfairness. Something like Oregon Trail or Organ Trail, your ability to prepare and risk assessment has a lot to do with your success or failure, and whether or not you can mitigate issues like broken legs or dysentery, but here none of that matters. You CAN'T prepare against more than 1 thing.

Multiple skills at once, toning down the frequency of events or changing them to give a saving throw of sorts, and rebalance that vomiting possessed guy would go a long way towards making this a truly great game. Your visuals and the style of the thing are awesome.

You save by sleeping on beds. Interact with a bed, and it will give you the option to rest if it's available. Be warned, you'll get attacked if there are enemies in the nearby area (or if the owner of the house doesn't appreciate guests). Clear out nearby monsters if you don't want the rudest of awakenings.

Your demo releases have more content than a lot of full games, which is awesome. Really enjoying it so far.
Will it be possible to get magic skills via increasing your affinity to the various gods? I know that's how it worked in Fear & Hunger, but I'm curious, especially with the one path for the Ex-Soldier that allows you to form a pact with a god.
EDIT: OK, answered my own question. It's not a spoiler here, but yes, if you have a pact with a given god in the Ex-Soldier's opening story it will open up appropriate options on the Hexen for you. A nice bit of multi-classing style customization.