Heartbreaker: The Visual Novel

Heartbreaker's banner on Itch.io

### Disclaimer

Heartbreaker contains discussions & depictions of dark, adult subjects that some viewers may find extremely disturbing. The game is NOT intended for ANYONE under the age of 18.

*Heartbreaker* is an upcoming game by Abyzou Interactive™.

It is a visual novel with an aesthetic inspired by 1990s anime and retro Sega consoles such as the Mega Drive / Genesis and Saturn.

It will have voice-acted cutscenes, and an original soundtrack.

The game is currently available in early-access alpha on Itch.io here.

## Story

The story is set in a fictionalized version of 1996-1997.

In the fictional town of Sanseto, Osaka, the "protagonist", Yūki "Kouhai" Sakura, enters her first year at the elite college Kareji, and encounters a new suitor every episode, with whom she begins to build a relationship.

The player character, Tanta Aiko, pursues Kouhai with an obsessive romantic interest, with the intent of eliminating any & all of her love rivals, to keep Kouhai to herself until the time comes to confess her feelings.

In this sense, Heartbreaker is a romantic horror story, where you are the villain / monster.

## Gameplay

Most of *Heartbreaker* plays as a standard visual novel, with some point-and-click elements.

The player makes choices when presented with them, and at certain points is able to click on background elements for additional effects.

At certain points, an icon called a "Chance" will appear on-screen for a single message. If clicked, it awards the player with a single "Favour Point" or "FP", shown in the pager button. Each of these icons implies some manner of sordid or underhanded action, ranging from placing bugs, to taking lewd photographs, to stealing documents. When the player has gathered five FP, they can page the mysterious benefactor "Karma" and use their FP to purchase a favour. Karma's favours provide either a shortcut on the current Plot, or ¥500. Sometimes, a Chance in a ¥ shape will appear, and award an instant ¥100, to represent the idea of picking up a coin on the ground.

The player is also able to visit a shopping strip called High Street three times a day, to purchase items or witness special events.

The game takes place across thirteen planned "episodes". Each episode is set over one week, with a period of unknown time between each week.

At the start of each episode, Kouhai will encounter one of the rivals, and begin to form a bond with them. The player must then choose between six "Plots" to eliminate the rival, preventing them from confessing to Kouhai on Friday afternoon. The Plots range from benevolent & cautious to violent & drastic, and each tell a different aspect of the rival's story.

Episode 13 will focus on the culmination of the player's choices throughout Episodes 1-12, and the ending they receive as a result.

## Episodes

Each episode is named after the motif of the current rival.

Episode 1: Snake - - - - - - Episode 2: Horse - - - - - - Episode 3: Goat

Episode 4: Monkey - - - - - - Episode 5: Rooster - - - - - - Episode 6: Dog

Episode 7: Pig - - - - - - Episode 8: Rat - - - - - - Episode 9: Ox

Episode 10: Tiger - - - - - - Episode 11: Rabbit - - - - - - Episode 12: Dragon

Episode 13: TBA

## Plots

Sabotage - Stealthily sabotage Kouhai's daily interactions with the Rival to make her think less of them, and ultimately reject their confession on Friday afternoon.

Murder - Find an opportunity to get the rival alone, and end their life with your own hands.

Befriend - Help the rival to earn their trust, so that they'll have no choice but to stay away from Kouhai.

4: TBA

5: TBA

6: TBA

Some Plots will only be unlocked on subsequent playthroughs, and some may require diverting your current path.

## Trivia

* With the game's art style being inspired by retro Sega titles, it was intended to resemble "A Mega Drive game ported to the Saturn."
	+ This was largely intended to explain AbyzouDev's inability to portray the Mega Drive aesthetic with 100% accuracy, with some upscaling / remade assets in a hypothetical Saturn port being expected.
	+ The game's default resolution is 704x480, which was considered the Sega Saturn's highest "widescreen" output at the time.
* *Heartbreaker*'s universe contains many fictional corporations etc. who are references to real-life entities.
	+ Banzen is the in-universe equivalent of Sega, except for some minor changes.

## Notes

* As with many parts of *Heartbreaker*, several "Japanese" names in this project were chosen using not only literal or phonetic puns, but also a variety & mixture of *-on,* *-yomi,* *nanori* etc. readings for kanji that would not be typically used for names in reality, a common technique in Japanese fiction; It is important to remember that *Heartbreaker* takes place in an alternate timeline that - while closely mirroring our own - contains several differences in its fictional history. Good-faith attempts have been made to create semi-believable names (with some artistic licence for fiction & entertainment's sake), but any suggestions for better names and / or kana & kanji should be sent to: AbyzouDev@gmail.com