Stages of Grief
There lies a thorny path in the way forward
You exchange words for a spell
Then between the lines on your lips
It shall bloom nevermore
Overview
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This micro Visual Novel was made in five days for O2A2 Jam, with the restriction of only one of any asset excluding GUI components:
- 375 Words by Requiem (one ending and many ways to get there. 8 actions with 2 variants of each)
- One BG, created through one layer of Digital Moon's Forest Background, duplicated four times and flipped in-engine.
- One BGM by Oto no Sono
- One SFX by Universfield
- One Sprite by AC-Silhouette
Featuring the following GUI components:
- Font Basteleur by Keussel and Font Avara by Raphaël Bastide
- UI SFX by Nathan Gibson
- Shaders by PostLudium and Stella
- UI Template by Skolaztika
- Main Menu BG by Digital Moon
- Speech Pauses Script by Kigyo
| Status | Released |
| Platforms | HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android |
| Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (5 total ratings) |
| Author | Requiem |
| Genre | Interactive Fiction, Visual Novel |
| Made with | Ren'Py |
| Tags | 2D, Atmospheric, Minimalist, Narrative, No AI, poetry, Short, storygame, Story Rich |
| Average session | A few minutes |
| Languages | English |
| Inputs | Mouse, Touchscreen, Smartphone |
| Links | Blog |
| Content | No generative AI was used |
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- The Random Nature of GriefAug 21, 2025
- Web Fix for Mobile + Android BuildJul 20, 2025
- It's O2A2... and maybe a belated Neo-Twiny?Jul 19, 2025
Comments
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A nicely told representation of the stages of Grief. After a few tries I managed to reach the end of the travel, then proceeded to do 2 more times trying to see all texts. You did an excellent Job
Thank you! I’m really happy that people are willing to replay it to see everything :)
I love the use of the space. The way the sprite moves and the text is placed all feels very intentional and gives the words more weight. The layout, especially for repeating words and phrases, is just done so exceptionally well and really affects the reading experience. I'm obsessed.
Thank you for such a kind review! I’m glad this resonates with you :)
Your poetic voice is really beautiful, and the way you used the sprite and looping background to enhance the narrative I found really inspired! It really was a powerful, reflective journey through your grief late at night, cursing the night, pleading to the stars, reflecting, crying...
The looping choices too also fit the narrative so well! It's not a straight journey through grief, and I can't get over how fitting a choice that is, thank you for making this!
And thank you for playing this! A lovely comment, and I’m a bit embarrassed (but it’s really nice, thank you!)
It's put-together well, like a poetry in motion. I second the comment below that using the text boxes to break up thoughts was a really nice touch.
That’s very kind of you, thank you very much!
This was really fun! I love how you used the floating text boxes to kind of break up thoughts, and how the placement of the witch reflected their progress on their journey (at least that's my reading of it). Not to mention how solid the styling and presentation is. The special start screen and backgrounds !!! UGH!! this was really cool
Thank you very much! I was worried it might be too short, but I did pay special attention to the presentation ^_^