Innar

Targets players who like slow, fragmented storytelling, linguistic puzzles and emotional immersion. It offers different experiences: puzzle lovers can decode the monster language through rune deduction, note-taking and password entry. Players focused on emotion can witness Chloe’s shifting words and behaviours while exploring and gifting items, shaping their bond and the ending through their choices.

During the process of growing up, everyone has experienced being misunderstood and rejected by others due to their immaturity. Innocent thoughts, unrealistic dreams, and even unintentional mistakes can all become experiences that one regrets looking back on. As we grow older, we gradually build a more complete understanding and learn to reflect on the past and correct our mistakes, becoming who we are today. However, in this process, some things that once belonged to us have been left in the past. Those ideas that no longer align with current cognition, the stubbornness that cannot integrate into reality, and the flaws that were exposed before seem to be sealed away in a castle deep within the heart.

This work explores from the perspective of the witch Innar. Deep within the castle lies a monster named Chloe, and she is actually the abandoned version of the past self, the parts that were discarded and negated as we grew up. Facing this dark, terrifying, yet vaguely pitiful existence, Innar can choose to ignore her, kill her, or accept her. When the past self reappears in the form of a monster, how will we face her? Perhaps we no longer recognize the past self, and there is no need to go back to the past. But does this mean that those past selves should always be abandoned? This work does not attempt to directly provide an answer about growth, but rather hides this question within the exploration and choices of the castle. What the player faces is not only the monster in the castle, but also an already forgotten past that still remains deep within the heart.

Chloe, who had escaped from the disaster, lost her memory and returned to the ancient castle as the red-haired witch Innar.

Players control red-haired witch Innar to explore a monster-infested ancient castle. As they wander through halls, basements, stairwells, bedrooms, a study and kitchen, they gather items and clues, examine paintings and documents, and piece together the castle’s history and the backstory of the monster Chloe, as well as the bond between Chloe and Innar. Core gameplay revolves around castle exploration, environmental storytelling, rune decryption puzzles and character interaction. The runic script is phonetic: each symbol stands for one syllable, and words are formed by combining runes and separated by spaces. Chloe speaks in short, simple phrases resembling childlike speech. Players deduce rune meanings from paintings, texts, inscriptions and interactions, logging translations in a vocabulary list. The game does not mark answers right or wrong; instead, it invites players to form their own interpretations through observation and reasoning.

Basic controls and systems support this loop. Players interact with objects by pressing E to examine or collect them. Paintings and books open a separate page-flipping reading view, while sealed doors require input via a rune keyboard. Players can give backpack items to Chloe to get unique responses, and unlock affection-based random dialogue. A numeric affection system shifts with every interaction, changing Chloe’s behaviour and conversations to reflect the evolving relationship. Supporting features include a paged backpack, vocabulary notebook, and manual save/load, alongside main menu options for starting, continuing or quitting the game.

There are three distinct endings representing different stances toward the past. In the Departure ending, Innar accepts history yet chooses to move on. The Kill ending sees her destroy Chloe and sever all ties with the past. The Unity ending has her merge with Chloe, accepting her past and embracing her whole self. No single ending is framed as the correct one, leaving interpretation up to the player.

This project was first conceived as something like an electronic pet or Pokémon-style experience: players could keep different creatures, bond with them, and uncover their stories through dialogue. The idea drew inspiration from the comic Nidoru the Prophet. I planned a unique language for each creature type — tree spirits would speak using plant terms instead of ordinary words, while monsters would use simple, broken grammar like young learners. I also intended to use an AI API for ongoing conversations, with custom language rules to keep AI responses consistent and avoid stiff, rambling dialogue. Back then generative AI was still emerging, and I wanted to experiment with its use in games.

As development went on, I found this vision was too demanding for my skill level and schedule. Building multiple creatures, their separate language systems, and a stable AI chat framework involved far more work than expected. To make the project manageable, I scaled it down: instead of many creatures, the story now focuses on one. I removed the AI dialogue feature entirely for reliable storytelling, keeping the text-decryption gameplay. Players uncover the creature’s tale by exploring, gathering clues and deciphering texts, and this puzzle mechanic was later refined to tie closely to character relationships and the core theme.

This process taught me key lessons. At the start, I was excited about the novelty of AI and focused on its creative potential, without properly evaluating implementation costs, workload and feasibility. Even after cutting the project scope, I underestimated how hard text-based puzzle design is — balancing clues, plot pacing and readability proved challenging. A smaller scope does not always mean easier design. If I restarted, I would lock down the core experience early, test a small gameplay prototype first, then add more content. Great ideas alone cannot make a game work; creators must constantly weigh technology, workload, gameplay and story, and be ready to adjust direction while developing.