Escapism - a visual novel (GMTK Game Jam Version)

Escapism - a visual novel (GMTK Game Jam Version)

Content / Trigger Warning: depression

Description: "Escapism – A Visual Novel" is a story-based game where you get a glimpse into the protagonist Allie’s life. By immersing themselves in video games, Allie attempts to hold on to happy memories shared with friends – an attempt which gradually turns into avoiding these friendships and other personal relationships. The game tries to authentically show the impact of a loved one’s depression on their social circle.

Entry for GMTK Game Jam 2026 "Countdown": The Protagonist, Allie, has only so much time left to stop the increasing isolation before it's too late.

Personal Note: First-Timer & BLODDY Beginner !! While we are SO PROUD that we actually did it, this honestly is not a finished product. This jam entry is simply the outer outline of our idea. Without any mentionable development-experience, we used this jam as a motivation to dive into it. The <actual> arcade game within the novel part was'nt finished in time -  so we scratched it from the current version. Feedback is very much appreciated!                     - Nico & Samuel

Update 01/08/2026: Added Web-Player-Support and Fixed Audio-Issues.
Update 02/08/2026: Bug-Fixes and added Menus & Settings
Further Updates will be released in a separate itch-page.

Licences: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTS9yZCni4n3-FOJ_hYBo_vJHPaUwsMXKuvD9955q9OaEREMJ6kVSYfx_c8rwLOw6DzhP7EoCYQOfhR/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true