Of Sense and Soul
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
In 1875 London, an editorialist and a gentleman have an unusual first meeting through a misconstrued personal ad. Their paths intertwine as they struggle against their own regrets and ways, and they must decide which to follow: their hearts, or the status quo.
Of Sense and Soul is a story lost to time, centred on two men navigating the smog-covered streets of Victorian London: Hugo Brooks, a reserved editorialist who never adventures far outside the written word, or Seamus Charkham, a confirmed bachelor who would sooner move forward blindfolded than look to the past.
Both are set in their ways, and both are in desperate need of a change, though loath to admit it. Despite wanting to believe they’re satisfied with continuing on as they have been, they find that sometimes, things can change for the better — and that the marks we leave on the lives of those around us are so much greater than we realise.
Of Sense and Soul is a late-Victorian character-driven slice of life romance visual novel and the first game by Forsythia Productions. It will be available for PC, Windows, and Linux.
The full release date is to be announced.
Disclaimers and Content Warnings
Of Sense and Soul will be rated 15+, with mentions of alcohol consumption and smoking. No graphic themes or imagery will be included.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the developers' imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The full game is planned to contain...
- A researched, robust Victorian England setting
- Detailed watercolour-inspired visuals
- 2 player routes with multiple endings
- 100,000+ words of story in three acts, comprising about 8-12 hours of gameplay
- 18 scene illustrations/CGs
- Timed choice menus and writing composition menus
- Multiple accessibility options
- Fully original soundtrack
- Partial voice acting
- A lot of gay pining and introspection
The OSAS Extended Demo contains...
- The prologue and a little over half of Act 1, featuring a total of 5 main game chapters selected from both routes.
- 20,000+ words of story, comprising 1.5-2.5 hours of gameplay (2.5-4 hours if streaming)
- 3 scene illustrations/CGs
- 15 soundtracks
- Partial Voice Acting, including six fully voiced scenes.
Of Sense and Soul is a passion project by Forsythia Productions, created by Ingrid Yiu and Rowan York.
Lead Developer and Artist, Co-writer: Ingrid Yiu (ingthing)
Lead Writer: Rowan York
Background Artists: Joseph, Luciam, and Ebbasuke
Programmers: Ende, Justinn, and Fen
Composers: Martin Johansson and Henri Tikkala, with jingles by Bell Kalengar
Casting Director: Eamonn Leighton
Voice Director: MAHO!Cody
Audio Engineer: Xuan Vinh Huynh
VOICE CAST
Max Herzfeld as Hugo Brooks | Shaun Mendum as Seamus Charkham |
Olivia Vidas as Camilla Brooks | Oliver "Liv" Smith as James Ashburne |
Chidumebi Njoku-Browne as Everett Lewis | Richard Gibson as Mr. Coulston |
Nick Eriksen as Mr. Bentley | Vinay P. Nariani as Mr. Hammond |
Su Ling Chan as Miss Lee | Mateo Ervin as Cornelius |
Steven Kelly as Mr. Evans | Vikram Rajan as Mr. Rahim |
Special thanks to our friends and fellow devs who have helped provide feedback on OSAS! We couldn't have done it without you :)
Looking for more OSAS?
Confluence is a free-to-play spin-off game we made for O2A2 Queer Edition 2023!
It's a short, sweet, fully voiced snapshot of the happy ending in store for Hugo in OSAS, so give it a go if you've got 10 minutes to spare!
Confluence (noun): a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point; the joining of two rivers. In the epilogue of his happy ending, Hugo waxes poetic on the scale of his life and love and how, wondrously, the littlest of things can also be the most precious.
Click on the arrow to the left of each question to open the dropdown.
I've found a bug/issue, what can I do about it?
For visual glitches, try restarting the game first--but if all else fails, we have a bugs and fixes thread on our Discord or you can fill out our Demo Feedback form!
When will the game be released?
There is no release date determined as of yet. To find out as soon as we announce it, Subscribe to our newsletter!
How will negative "period-typical" social attitudes be handled in the story?
Of Sense and Soul is written with the intention of portraying queer individuals and voices in history in a positive, heartfelt way. Although the setting is intended to be believably historic, our narrative does not display or provide a platform for discrimination of marginalised peoples, moralistic perspectives, or other prejudices of the time.
Will the game be crowdfunded?
The game has already been funded through Kickstarter! We couldn't have done it without you :)
Will there be voice acting?
Partial voice acting will feature in OSAS, consisting of vocalisations for regular gameplay and some fully voiced scenes.
How can I share my thoughts on the demo?
Visit us over on Discord or leave a comment/review on this page! We'd love to hear from you! We also have an Extended Demo Feedback Form for more in-depth prompting.
Updated | 9 days ago |
Status | In development |
Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (36 total ratings) |
Authors | Forsythia Productions, ingthing |
Genre | Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction |
Made with | Ren'Py |
Tags | Bara, Boys' Love, Dating Sim, Gay, Historical, LGBT, Period Piece, Romance, Victorian |
Average session | About an hour |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Keyboard, Mouse |
Accessibility | High-contrast |
Links | Steam, Homepage, Steam, Twitter/X, Patreon, Blog |
Download
Install instructions
Choose the file that's labeled for your computer's operating system, unzip, and click the icon labeled OSASExtendedDemo to start the game!
If you're on MacOS, you may get a warning that reads:
'OSASExtendedDemo' cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.
Instead of moving the file to trash as the pop-up window suggests, you can allow the app to run in the General tab of your Security & Privacy settings.
More on how to do this here under the "How to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer" header.
(This game is largely developed on a Mac computer, so it definitely works!)
Development log
- Ext. Demo Ver 4.1 (Big Bug Fix!) + 4.2 (Little Bug Fix)16 days ago
- Ext. Demo Ver 4.0 + Season of Pride 2024!17 days ago
- OSAS broadcasting for The Storyteller's Festival 2024 on Steam!Jan 31, 2024
- OSAS Dev Update: September-October 2023Nov 01, 2023
- In Memory of Mateo ErvinOct 16, 2023
- OSAS Dev Update: July-August 2023Aug 23, 2023
- 103% Funded! A Voiced CG Preview & Next StepsAug 17, 2023
- Ext. Demo Ver 3.0 + Kickstarter CountdownAug 04, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The new demo doesn't run past the prologue, right after "I wonder... what will you make of it?" It encounters an error on both Windows (11) and Linux (Fedora 41)
[code]
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
ScriptError: could not find label 's1'.
Full traceback:
File "script/prologue.rpyc", line 188, in script
Hello there! Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Version 4.1 is now up which fixes this error!
(It turned out that it was also impossible for players to access anything from the prologue, which is certainly not what we intended.)
Please do let us know if you encounter any more issues and I'll be happy to assist if you do!
Working fine now! Fantastic work by the way, looking forward to the completed game!
Update: There is also errors if you proceed to disable timed responses the first time it's prompted. It works fine if you proceed with time responses though
Thank you very much, so glad you've enjoyed the demo!
I've just uploaded Version 4.2, which should make it possible to turn timed choices off and proceed as usual. Really appreciate your feedback!
(We'd actually love to have another playtester, if you'd like to have early access to newer game contents! Feel free to drop by our Discord Server and give us a shout if you're interested! 💌)
Your demo is so beautiful and charming that I am blown away, and the main characters are so earnest and sweet that I'm in love with them! I'm so very glad to have the chance to grab it via Backerkit, and I'll give the demo a review when I have the chance.
No android version on the demo😭
Stunningly well crafted, this demo hits every note perfectly and then some. The camera movement, the art style, the writing, the cohesiveness, the balance of emotion and humor, and so so much more- this demo is an utter joy to play, and I want so badly to see more of Hugo and Seamus (and everyone else)!
Love it! Can't wait for when it's released
Oh my, this is amazing
What a charming VN! It's so carefully crafted: it was an absolute delight to read. I wish you good luck with the rest of the development! \o/
This is one of the highest quality VNs made using Ren'py currently out there. It's a must-play for queer VN and classic literature enthusiasts filled with lovable characters, amazing art and music. I would highly recommend people play this demo.
I saw the email you've sent me and I've played the first chapter so far. I've been patiently waiting on more of this game to come out. It has been amazing so far and I look forward to chapter 2 when I have the time to play it further. 10/10
This is absolutely a must-read for fans of precious, slow-burn, queer men's romance! A genuinely well-crafted, well-directed, and well-researched visual novel. It's just the right amount of yearning, sweetness, and poetic angst, with a fun sense of humor in not just the words, but the scene direction too! It's so endearing, I can't stop gushing, I want to pamper Hugo lol, and I'm so excited to see where this story goes! More people should play and share it; the team and this project have come a long way since the 2020 demo and it was worth the wait!