Deluge: Sermon for the Dead


From the depths I call to thee—
—Lord, hear my cries for mercy.

Spring has come to Abbotsford — while Abe is growing increasingly preoccupied with his duties for the school paper, Rika solicits him to track down a set of human skulls that vanished from the island a century ago. As their search progresses,  Abbotsford is shaken up by a string of mysterious abduction cases targeting high school girls.

In the meantime, campaigning has begun for the town council elections. While political infighting rises to an all time high, Marisa — the new girl in town — takes center stage. She promises stability, but an appetite for uncontested power glistens in her eyes.

Deluge: Sermon for the Dead is an interactive visual novel with psychological and lovecraftian undertones.


FEATURES
  • Carefully crafted mystery visual novel where choices matter.
  • Three different ending routes to explore, leading to a total of eight different endings. (3 good / 5 bad endings.)
  • Immersive game world featuring fleshed out characters and countless settings.
  • Intuitive user interface.
  • Non-repetitive, atmospheric soundtrack spanning multiple hours.

Included languages: English (ENG),  Español (ESP), 日本語 (JPN), 中文(CHN), Русский (RUS)



Download

Download
Deluge2-2.1-pc.zip [all languages] 1.2 GB
Download
Deluge2-2.1-mac.zip [all languages] 1.2 GB
Download
com.socah.deluge2-2.1-release.apk [all languages] 793 MB

Install instructions

Deluge runs on PC, Mac, Linux and Android.

ANDROID

To install the Android version, download the .apk file and install it. In case of error, please try the following solutions in order: 1. Make sure 'install apps from unknown sources' is enabled. 2. Make sure there is plenty of free storage space. 3. Make sure the .apk file is placed in the device's root directory. 4. Restart the device.

The Android version should run fine on all android devices. (The bug affecting phone installs has been fixed.)

Also available on

Development log

Comments

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[P.S. I wanted to post this review on Steam but couldn't, so I came here to Itch.io to share it instead. Hope it reaches you, Lain]


As a fan of Deluge, I have to admit that SftD had a greater psychological impact on me than ToCW and its DLC (Ina) ever did. At first, I found it both interesting and strange that two characters were grouped together in a single route (Mei with Rika, Ina with Marisa), until, later in the game, I learned about the “mini-routes” that let you choose one of the two characters—except for Mei, who—according to what I’ve read—will get her own DLC (final) later on.


Now then, let’s talk about the game. The first four chapters were wonderfully packed with content: Marisa and Bernard’s identities, the Easter Break, the three Abbot skulls, the Oystercatcher Lane case, political giants at war, Naomi’s tragedy—so much to process, and that’s before even touching the routes. I assume the purpose of these chapters was to serve as an appetizer before the main course, and I think they pulled that off wonderfully. Somehow, the story hooks you into its chaos—you need to know what happened, what’s happening, and what will happen.


Ina and Marisa's route: perfect. I really thought that dumbass Abe was about to get played again by a pretty girl, until he fortunately was rescued by Ina and the Resistance (if you go on Ina's mini-route). On the other hand—in Marisa’s mini-route—if you let Abe harmfully fall in love again, he escapes with her just like he did with Mei in ToCW (though this time it actually worked out better than expected). All in all, it’s a route that’s healty to digest—if not outright amazing—even for the most objective player. Kinda ambiguous if you ask me, yes, but still a breath of fresh air.


Mei and Rika’s route: ...Dude. Okay, I'll be honest. You’ve lobotomized me in five different ways. I’m not gonna lie to you—my body has never been more tense in my holy life. The more I played, the more I could feel my face warping into an expression of… anguish? Regret? Shock? All three at once! Look: Rika is a work of art as a character, but a piece of shit as a person, and I’ve held a grudge against her since ToCW. That hatred only intensified in this goddamn route. I mean, why tf are we so cooked here, man!? The only part I enjoyed was the time I spent with Mei at the beach tbh...


Alright, now onto the complaints:


1. From what I can gather, SftD takes place after the good ending of Ina’s route in ToCW, because—by elimination—if it were Mei’s route, she’d still be calling Abe “Sigurd” from time to time (which she strangely doesn’t), and if it were Rika’s route, Abbotsford would have already fallen to the deluge. So here’s my question… Is SftD a standalone timeline? Or is it a continuation without a canonical base? Normally I wouldn’t make much of a fuss, since the game is still enjoyable—but this feels like something that deserves an explanation.


2. Let me be blunt: as the player, I declare myself Abe’s #1 hater when it comes to his passivity as a protagonist. Y'know, the prota-player kind of hate that Kris has for their soul in Deltarune. How many times have I wished I had the power to create a choice at a specific point or for a specific character just to steer the story down a better path for Abe? And yes, I understand everyone is unique and has their own personality, but—God—Abe needs more personality. Believe me, more and more! I need him to scream, to get angry, to laugh, to cry, to fight! Enough with the "self-insert" thing—I need Abe to be more human!


3. Okay, maybe the change in sprite quality is up for debate, but I won’t dwell on it too much. Maybe in a future update—when you have the time and budget—you could give the characters some re-sprites. They don’t need to be more realistic or professional, just something that keeps ToCW’s essence while incorporating the SftD style—a fair balance. Beyond that, all the characters are beautiful.

(P.S. I won’t say anything about the use of AI for the backgrounds or other assets. I honestly don’t think it’s a bad implementation. Sure, some players might complain, but all that will get sorted out with time.)


4. This one is personal… Mei. My Mei Walhsing. As a big follower and lover of her, I have to say that in this game, it felt like Mei wasn’t really Mei. That there was no Mei in Mei. She still laughed, and cried, and shone like the sunshine she is, but… did her time with Karin really change her that much? Was the mysticism in her eyes and the hallucinations really what made up her essence? I won’t lie to you—I miss those ashen eyes. Whatever... I’ll definitely be buying her DLC for SftD, even if I’m terrified of what you might end up doing to my Abbot's May Queen...

Oh, and one more thing... That kiss. Yes, you know what KISS I'm talking about... No hate—first of all—but it still makes me laugh that I literally felt that you hit me with the worst flashbang of my life in that scene... But it’s okay, it’s okay. It wasn't the only way for Rika to pull us into her underworld, right? Thatwas just some goofy inside joke from the dev team… right?

...And, excuse me, what the actual... What did Mei mean with “What did you do? This isn’t a middle school sleepover—!” bro!? I bet that wasn't part of the lore...


Sorry for making you read so much and explain so little, but I just want you to know that I love Deluge, and I’ll keep loving it wherever you take it. I hope this VN soon gets the recognition and fandom it truly deserves. I can’t wait to see the fanarts, the icebergs, the mods, the theories. Keep it up, and please listen to the community, guys.


(being able to add images here makes this a thousand times funnier)

Hi Gabriel!

Thank you for reaching out to me with your feedback. Hearing that you liked the game means a lot to me, and it's not often that you get detailed feedback like this, so I appreciate that you took the time to write down your thoughts. Also great cat pics. 🍺 1

To answer your questions:

1. After finishing the first game (ToCW), we had lot of ideas and stories left for the setting of Abbotsford. Enough to make a second game. Continuity-wise, the player is free to interpret it as either a 'parallel universe' reboot of the game. But there are also some anchor points to consider it a soft-sequel to Mei's good ending. (eg: Mei is living with Karin, no longer on the farm.) Of course, some things don't carry over between games. (As you noted, the Sigurd arc is forgotten.)
If you want you could probably also place StfD after Ina's good ending, but I feel it would take a little more plot amnesia. 

2. Abe can be a bit passive at times. I hope to do some games with stronger protagonists over the next years.

3. Point noted. We've done a few minor improvements to the ToCW sprites. More may follow in te future. In SftD the sprites are a bit more zoomed out from ToCW. What was your opinion on that change? (I'm considering returning to the more zoomed in sprites in future games, but I'm interested in receiving feedback.)

Incorporating AI art in games is still a controversial subject. We're not opposed to it by principal, but we would like to make games with as much human-drawn art as possible. StfD is currently at 2% AI art, and we may reduce it further in future updates.

4. We had big plans for the May Queen in SftD, but due to scope concerns we had to cut them from the base game. (Otherwise the game would have ended up twice as big as planned.) Due to this Mei has been relegated to side-character status.

We're currently working on the Mei ending route DLC, which will contain two endings from her and total 1+ hour of gameplay. It should probably release in September.

What happens at sleepovers stays at sleepovers. 🙂

Thank you again for playing our games and reaching out!

Cheers, lain 🍺

I know where the achievements were. I wish there was a path to Naomi so I could save myself and be closer to her.

and what would be the final canon?

Hi Dave, glad you liked the games! 🍺

With final canon, you mean like a 'true ending', right?

I think it's up to the player, just choose your favorite protagonist, and that's your final canon. We haven't preselected an ending that's more true than the others. 🙂

Cool game!

Thank you for playing! 

Good game 🌸

(1 edit)

I played the first game and loved it. I'm still trying to figure out if Ina has some sort of a good ending. Rika was my favourite. I really want to congratulate everyone that worked on the game. It was short, but even as someone pretty experienced in visual novels it was honestly such an unique read. I literally just made an account just to comment on this, I hope I can play more team games.

I'm currently having a problem with the Android version of the second game:


As you can see, the name of the character is overlapping with what they're saying. Is there any way to solve this?

Thank you for playing our games and taking the time to write down your thoughts. It's highly motivating to hear that you enjoyed Deluge, especially coming from an avid VN reader!


As for the bug: the android version still does that on small screens (phones). Tablets are okay. It's actually quite easy to fix (Game 1 should run fine on phone), and as we have an update planned soon I'll make sure to take care of it. I'll notify you when it's done, in one or two weeks.

Oh this is awesome! Can't wait and thanks for your hard work! Sorry for the weird English, it's not my native language so it's easier to read than it is to write a lot of the time.  

Hi Gracenote! I just put out an improved Android build. It should run well on small screens without dialogue overlapping the namebox.

I've tested it and everything seemed to work. Let me know if you encounter any other issues. :-)