The Lover of Me

The icon for TLOM

**The Lover of Me** is a free to play *The Murder of Me* dating sim-styled game. The objective is to successfully romance Zielo without 'dying' (losing your save progress). There are a total of 15 endings and is known for being extremely frustrating to play if you attempt to unlock them all.

Gigi Dutreix has stated that the events, stories, plot, and personalities of the gods and the Sons of Heephis in game are **NOT** canon to the original story.

## Synopsis

*After a particularly boring day at home, you and your close friend start to discuss the recent happenings and sightings of cryptids. All of this happening in a small town known as Easton. That night, you cannot sleep and instead opt to research myths and legends around your town. You come across an old fable that speaks about the existence of three Gods, though mysteriously, the book has been damaged beyond repair save for a few images of a single God.*

*With little care for your safety, and against your mute friend's warnings, you choose to go and check out this supposed ghost town, only to come face to face with a terrifying realization: it is as if this place was never a town to begin with. There are creepy eyes that watch your every move, limbering figures, and scratchy chuckles scattered throughout the town, no doubt keeping a close eye on you!*

*After some more exploration, you stumble into an organic cave of some kind and end up seeing one of the legends you read about-- the only God of your world... Zielo.*

*This God of everything sees you as a toy, something to get amusement out of. Yet... you feel like there is something more to him. Something deep down that he refuses to show.*

*Will you try to get through to him and see what's under that shell of his?*

*Oh, and one last thing...*

*Welcome to the Zielo cave.*

## Gameplay

The game is coded in the Ren'Py engine and makes use of various ATL scripts. Zielo often breaks the fourth wall and will refer to you numerous times as your computer name, meaning the name you put in game will **not** be the name Zielo refers to you as. This is to increase immersion to an extent and make it feel as if *you* are trying to date god, not the persona you put in. Some have mentioned the fourth wall breaks make the game feel like *Doki Doki Literature Club!* with a more Sonic styled vibe.

Romance in TLOM is a straightforward dating sim: the more the player picks choices a character likes, the more that character will like the player. The player will find three random items in their room at the beginning of the game: Zielo's energy controller, a snapdragon flower, and an old picture of the three gods. Who you choose to give the items to will affect the game in different ways. This gets increasingly difficult if said player tries to romance Zielo, as he will often change his mind about them mid-path if they pick incorrect answers or poorly worded responses. This can be *very frustrating* as even the tiniest slip up will cause deletion of your save file, making you restart the entire game all over again. When asked if this was an accident, Just Jay said that, "*it is fully intentional and those who read TMOM will understand why this happens-- you simply annoyed god and he ashed (killed) you. Your memories and past are gone and you need to reenter life anew."*

At the beginning of the game, you can only romance Scrap or Zielo. The player must successfully romance them both before you can unlock the Sons of Heephis and their routes. Contrary to popular belief, the player doesn't date Sonic Shadow or Silver, and instead, the game will change to where the story is told from the Triple S's perspectives and *they* will romance Zielo. This is a subtle nod to people who ship the Sons of Heephis with Zielo as a sort of crackship.

## Endings

 **"I warned you..."**

This article contains **SPOILERS**!
It is **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED** that you catch up with the comic or comic dubs in order to understand what is happening!

The Lover of Me has **15 total endings**. All of these endings require you to pass Scrap's TMOM lore test in the beginning. When you unlock an ending, it will appear on your main menu:

### **General endings**

##### Soulless ending

 You will know if you got this ending when the narration switches from third to first person.

##### Distrust ending

 > Give untainted Zielo the amulet

##### Virtue ending

 > Don't give untainted Zielo anything.

##### True Virtue/Purity ending

 > Give untainted Zielo the picture of the old gods.

### **Unlockable Triple S route endings**

#### Masters of Control (Silver x Zielo) ending

 > "Sin made you feel like you need to control things, didn't it?"

#### Soulless ending

 > "You must've been shortsighted if you were convinced to harm your brothers by sin, huh?"

## Frequently Asked Questions

The following FAQ comes from the itch.io page.

**Q:** *"Will this game be available for mobile?"/"Is this game an app?"/"Will this game be on mobile devices?"/"Will this game be in the app or play store?"*

**A:  NO.** Please stop asking.

**Q:** *"How do I play the Triple S routes?"*

**A:** You must achieve all 5 possible endings, and then, the next time the main menu pops up, the buttons will unlock.

**Q:** *"How do I play the game?"*

**A:** Download the appropriate .zip file for your computer, right click on it and extract it to your **DOCUMENTS (YOU NEED WINRAR OR 7-ZIP!).** After that, open the file, double click on "The\_Lover\_of\_Me.exe" and the game should boot up!

**Q:** *"The game won't run!"/"I can't play the game, even in administrator."*

**A: Make sure you follow the download instructions above.**

**Q:** *"My save files are being deleted!"/"Why can I not save?"*

**A:** The save files being deleted is normal.

If you are having trouble saving, it is because you did not extract the TLOM folder into your documents. Move the TLOM file to your documents and it should work.

**Q:** *"This doesn't have any malware like sonic.exe, right?"*

**A:** No, this game is malware free.

**Q:** *"I got an exception error"/"My game crashed!"*

**A:** Report it to me on twitter.

## Trivia

* The game makes use of music from the *Silent Hill* and *Resident Evil* video game series.
* Wolfblade83, the previous voice actor for Zielo, lent his voice for encounters with the character.
* Agent 83, the character, is a reference to the *Sonic Forces* TMOM Plays series.
* According to H.u.mun, the game was originally an ongoing joke between them and Gigi.
	+ The original concept was a Scrap dating simulator.
* There are numerous easter eggs in the name entry screen. Some will result in a rather humorous response from Scrap or a complete restart of the game from Zielo.
	+ Naming yourself "Scrap" will make him reference it mid-game.
	+ Naming yourself "Zielo" will result in an interesting line of dialogue from him.
	+ Naming yourself any of the current voice actors (Star, Joseph, Dragon) will result in a short voice clip of the character they voice to play.
	+ Naming yourself "Gigi" will result in a strange yet interesting scene with Zielo.
	+ Naming yourself after the programmers (H.u.mun and Just Jay) will result in a scene with Scrap.
	+ Naming yourself after the music producer (Infernokit) and the discord server owner (Eaglecrye) will cause a short and humorous scene with Scrap.
* In some points of the game, there will be random files added to your game folder. These files are either ciphered stories, texts, soulless ramblings, or nonsensical stories.
	+ One of the notable stories that can be found is *Hollow* parts 1 and 2.
	+ Another file is ciphered text written from Scrap's perspective.
* This was technically Scrap's first appearance before issue 14.
* There are two videos of the game in beta provided by Just Jay: