The Answer Is Behind You
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
You, a professional translator, are contacted by a researcher asking for assistance with a text written in a language never seen before. The offer is too tempting to refuse... but what secrets does this long-forgotten language hold?
Average gameplay time: 15-30 minutes
- About -
- Narrative focus: The game is meant to tell a story. It's up to you to try and interpret your situation, though remember that only one ending exists for us all.
- Solve puzzles: Decipher an unfamiliar, symbol-based text through pattern recognition.
- Tense atmosphere: The audiovisuals support the story in a way that aims to translate to an unsettling vibe.
- Controls -
The only control you have in this world is LMB to advance the dialogue and select answers. You can also press ESC or RMB to open up the game menu. (This does not pause your game.)
- Notes -
This is a small solo dev project - I'm a writer before I'm anything else, so please don't judge the rest too much!
If you play the game, I'd love to hear any theories you may have. There's an answer to everything…
- Known issues -
- Cursor not showing: This bug only appeared once during playtesting but should have been resolved. If this still occurs, running the game in compatibility mode or windowed mode should fix it.
- Please note that this game was primarily developed for Windows. Linux has not been tested, and Mac has only been tried by one playtester. Due to this, I may not be able to provide fixes for these two specific platforms.
Download
Install instructions
Unzip the downloaded file and run the executable.
Comments
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Promising, I'm getting interested in your writing and creativity. If you wish to continue pursuing this genre, I'd advise you to dive deeper into Lovecraftian horror. This game gives off lovecraftian vibes with the whole "unknown language" aspect, which is a good thing. Hope to see more from you in the future.
Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it! This game is meant to lean in that direction as I'm a fan of cosmic horror, so I'm glad it gives off those vibes!
I am so bad at these kinds of logic puzzles, but the game was worth the frustration lol
Thank you for saying that, I hope you enjoyed despite the frustration haha!
Really good game, confusing at first but easy once you understand what to do, also really enjoyed the storytelling!
Thank you for the feedback, and for playing the game! I appreciate it lots!
wow i love this game. those hand kinda freak me out. anw, whats the meaning by that "you are me" on the left window
Thank you for playing, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! And that's up to you to figure out... 👀
Thank YOU for playing!
I can't seem to get a cursor. I tried Windows 8 compatibility(Wasn't sure if that's what you meant or something else) and running as admin but no luck. Anything else I should try?
I'm sorry to hear that the issue still persists! I believe what specifically worked for my playtester with the same problem was Windows 7 compatibility - I wasn't sure if it mattered or not so I didn't specify this in the known issues list. If you try Win 7 instead, please let me know if that fixes it for you!
No worries! It seems inconsistent, cursor came up yesterday and then later it didn't again. I'll get it sorted but just letting you know, don't know what it would be.
That is so strange, thank you for letting me know! It does seem like a common occurrence with this engine (another fix may be to unfortunately play in windowed mode, which of course isn't preferable) but I'll have a look and see if there's anything I can figure.
Ended up really liking this game! Simple and effective and the puzzles were a lot of fun. Hope to see more games from you!
I appreciate your kind words (as well as you making a gameplay video), thank you so much!
Very interesting horror game. Nice puzzles.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make a video on it!
Atmosphere was really on point the further into the game you went. Even the character creeped me out when he was looking behind him. Nice job.
Here's my channel for other games I have played. https://www.youtube.com/@Levont
Thank you so much for playing and for making a video on it! I appreciate it lots! :)
I loved it!! Quick and easy game to play that gets you hooked very quickly!
This makes me so happy to hear, thank you for playing!
That was an incredible game. The storyline, the voice acting, the little horror aspects its js all so god im like tweaking out omg? Thank you for bringing this game to existence im so invested.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm really happy you enjoyed it!