A downloadable Visual Novel for Windows and macOS

Winter in the Andatal region has always been harsh, but the people always come together.

Not this year. Not for you. 

Sacrarium Gelus is a short fantasy-romance VN that follows its protagonist (name and pronouns customizable) during one of the lowest points of their life. Unexpectedly, a curse mark has appeared on them, and, for the safety of their village, they have been driven out into the winter snow. 

The only way forward that isn't wholly lethal is to traverse the dangerous, devil-infested Mt. Gelus. They survive the long trip around. The only way forward is through it. This journey puts them under the cold gaze of the sole, formerly human denizen of this mountain: Heimos, the living god of medicine and winter. No one knows about this man beyond the legends...until they meet him themself.

Will these interactions start off on the right foot? Will they learn more about Heimos during their stay or maintain their distance? Will they try to steal from a living god? That's up to you. 

Made for Winter VN  Jam 2022 (work began Nov 5th as pre-production was allowed. The game will be receiving an editing update post-launch to clean up the story and any grammar/spelling issues.)

Content Warning: religious fanaticism, sickness, mentions of MC being stalked (not depicted in-game), mild-intermediate bodily injury (mentioned not shown visually), body horror, chronic pain, brief mentions of suicide, discussions of death, discussions of the existential dread of immortality, possible MC death, possible depictions of severe and irrational paranoia in MC



  • 1 Possible Friend/Love Interest 
    • Ace/Aro/Not Attracted to Men inclusive
    • You can just be friends and still get a Good End
  • 5  Endings (2 Bad, 1 Neutral, 2 Good [with 4 variations])
  • 6 Unlockable CGs
  • Around  30 minutes of playtime per playthrough (give or take your reading speed)



Writing and Primary Coding by Stygian Eye Stories

Background Art by motaberrie

Sprite Art  by Rian

Proofreading by Faust

Secondary Coding  by Miltra

Original Soundtrack by Soulless (Francis Tello)

GUI Template is "Spooky Raven"  by Jaime Scribbles Games with some edits

           Template Assets are also used for itch.io page labels.

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS
Rating
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
(182 total ratings)
AuthorsStygian Eye Stories, Rian, Soulless
GenreVisual Novel
TagsAmare, Fantasy, Otome, Romance, Short

Download

Download
SacrariumGelus-3.1-mac.zip 170 MB
Download
SacrariumGelus-3.1-pc.zip 185 MB

Development log

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 45 · Next page · Last page

This game is just utterly amazing! The difference in the story between getting a bad end and a romantic one also made me adore this game even more. And of course, Heimos is very easy to love, it hurt me to be rude to him for bad ends. Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game and I am so glad I found it. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful game!!!

(+2)

This is so beautiful that I am sobbing and writing this review. I am so deeply in love with the characters, the world building, the writing and art style - oh my stars I'm melting over and over like fondue. You are truly an artist and if we ever met I would bow. I feel so blessed to have found this - you have no damn idea. Changing my depressed ass life one story at the time. I'd love to find out more about the lore and world and IJADOIJASIA I am crumbling, excuse me while I turn into stardust and achieve higher state of conciousness. 

(+1)

adored this one sm!!

(+4)

i wish your writing was its own genre so i could binge it

(+1)

10000000000/10!

(+4)

Surprisingly a very thoughtful and endearing story, I've found a while ago, but it's always nice to revisit it.

(+2)

😭 10/10❤️

(+4)

The worldbuilding in this is lovely, and Heimos is an absolute darling. Really tender relationship crafted between the both of them. Loved the time I spent with this game.

(+1)

Such a beautiful story. I played sacrarium pario first, and I gotta say, the worldbuilding was absolutely *chef's kiss* The dialogue between Heimos and Cassadin was just divine (no pun intended) and the writing flows so easily, making it easy to immerse yourself in the setting. And this is free! Goodness this is one of the best visual novels I've read all year. 

(+3)

I loved this one so much! It's so great to play in the winter haha. I love the worldbuilding, I'm really excited to see more of the world in the other games too (I adored the Sacrarium Pario demo!!), but I also like how the world isn't overly complicated in this story! It's a good mix of easy to understand and interesting :)

(And I love Heimos. His design is soooo cool and he seems nice to sit and chat with haha. The art in general is gorgeous too...)

(1 edit) (+3)

ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER! It's seriously so amazing and I love Heimos.

(+2)

Wonderful game. The world was wonderful to learn about, and Heimos and Cassadin both worked very well. With the non-ending deciding choices also having impacts, it made for a really good experience. Just all around delightful.

(+3)

Absolutely delightful.

I really enjoyed learning about the world of this game, and I was really impressed with how the narrative shifts depending on the choices you make about Cassadin's personality and attitude! I didn't expect so many callbacks throughout the story to choices I made near the beginning, and it made the story particularly immersive (it also made me replay extra times after I'd seen all the endings, just to hunt for more interesting tidbits).

I especially wanted to share my appreciation of the friendship routes -- I started with the one where 

(SPOILERS) Cassadin and Heimos become pen pals, and I found it really sweet. The thought of this scared, sad young man being ostracized by his village, only to decide he wanted that he wanted to live back at his old home and make sure nobody had to suffer like he had... It was really lovely.

Also, Violo's incursion was very exciting. I'm glad I'll get to see more of him and Vivere in Sacrarium Pario! (/SPOILERS)

(+4)

i love heimos so much 😭 all of it was just so beautiful. honestly i wish we could've more of him like 300 hours of heimos. got me kicking my feet.

(1 edit) (+3)

thank you so much. i loved every second. the story brought me joy, heimos himself is an incredible character that i not just like, but respect. it felt really good & soothing to have two main characters communicate openly. and i find the lore of the world to be interesting, very poetic but also realistic. i honestly like the idea of death&time as a cruel power couple - from the prespective of the player, not the cursed mc. and heimos' friends!! aw! the whole thing is just so. nice. thank you again!!

(+4)

My most initial thoughts are, "He is beautiful and his banter with the MC is so cute!"

Your writing flows so well from the lore to the MC’s thoughts to Heimos’ personality and passion. The BGM is so calming at times and positively hair-raising the next, perfectly suiting the atmosphere of the entire VN. 

The difference in Heimos’ treatment of you when the MC makes the more "disagreeable" choices is so beautifully cold and adds much more depth to his personality, albeit painfully so, coming from a romancer's perspective. 

I love that the options the player chooses for the MC’s emotions and motives persist throughout their stay with Heimos and that they're recurring plot points, instead of just being a fleeting feeling or action in one scene, which adds to the authenticity of your characters and the overall immersiveness of your game. I also love that you’ve sprinkled in little bits and pieces of lore throughout all the different routes instead of simply just putting majority of them in the “best” path to take.

///SPOILER START/// Like Heimos' given name not truly being Heimos ?? The presence of and relationships between the other living gods?? wow ily ///SPOILER END///

I love all the variations of the good endings, even the neutral or bad ones. It all makes perfect sense really, and I love this little world you’ve created for Heimos and the people of Frostdine. Can’t wait to explore more of your Sacrarium universe!

(+2)

This visual novel is beautiful, I completely fell in love with the art, the story and heimos

(+1)

Man I am in love with him O/////O

(+2)

I loved this game so much!!

(+5)

Amazing! This was such a good story. I love Heimos' personality. He was so kind and caring but still had an edge to him. The lore and the story were very interesting and never dulled once! I love the ending where you fell in love quickly. That was my favourite! I only wish this VN was longer! 

(+5)

Aaaaa this was so good! Granted I got one ending and that was the one where you fall fast AND HARD. Listen, listen it's a crime that Heimos is such a pretty dude (AND THE DUDE KNOWS HE'S PRETTY--) and his attitude is very entertaining because one moment he feels like a God who has sequestered himself away-- And next moment he's over here encouraging MC to commit arson against their enemies which is, mood.

HOW COULD I NOT FALL FOR HIM? And the fact that common decency is like the way to his Good Route is kinda like, sad? But then again there are legends/stories of "heroes" who do stupid stuff. Not me who upon seeing the "look around" option got my RPG senses tingling and only now I realize, "Yeah, that was a dick move, sorry Heimos". 

But not only that, but I'm enamored by the story. The worldbuilding is insane and it is criminal how we couldn't delve further-- But in the same vein I also wanted more time to spend with Heimos so I'll choose pretty man over my thirst of knowledge regarding this new strange world. Wonderful work, I'll try to restrain myself to get the friendship ending or slow romance-- But I find myself literally struggling because HELLO?! HOW CAN I NOT FLIRT WITH HIM???

(+3)

My obsession with this game is unexplainable, but just know. I've played this game once. and I fell inlove. Imma play it again it love it<333 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HEIMOOSSS

(+3)

i love this game with all my heart, literally heimos is the best.. and the first scene where everyone was literally being controlled by that mf priest and seeing how powerless we were made me cry sm, music and everything is so perfect, i battle with depression and this really helped me sm, i played it 3 months ago but i still literally remember everything, the music and all, everything's so pretty, i might draw heimos sometime, he's so lovely literally the kindest, if i could become immortal with him i would, he's so precious and literally deserves everything, thank you sm for making this game, its literally so comforting to me, i hope youre happy and healthy<3

(+2)

i am in love with your world building lore and charater, and story. i would love to see more stories set in this world

(+1)

coming from the pario demo this game is not at all what i expected but i love it!! every single aspect, from the music and the atmosphere it cultivated, to the artwork for the backgrounds and the sprites, even the snow effect was very charming. and good fuck the writing! the worldbuilding is so masterful and i love the way it connects with pario. this is a world that i long to get lost in because it's so intriguing, you've managed to paint a marvelous portrait of the setting. and last but not least, heimos himself!!! i fell in love with him so fast because he is truly so sweet and endearing. i know he's a living god but all i want to do is protect and take care of him. 10/10, i can't express enough how much i fucking loved this game. thank you for making it <3

is there a walkthrough?? i love this game so much !! hes just such a sweetheart <33

(+2)

This game is sooooooo great! I love the art, music theme, the stories and everything in this game!
I'm so glad I found this game, I really love this VN and Heimos, He's so kind, sweet and gentle
Thank you so much for making this amazing game!

(+2)

:)

(+7)

oh my lord, ok ok, so tbh i started playing sacrarium pario first and you honestly should have seen the look on my face when i started this and realized they were connected- in all honesty i wish this was a show because i have become so attached not only to the love interests but to the story as a whole. I can confidently say that i have NEVER played a dating sim that has made me feel THIS eager to have more content. not only that but for both of the MCs in the two games I feel a personal connection to them. while im here I might as well also comment on pario, bc wow. when I played it (and I know it is not completely finished yet) I felt feelings a game has never made me feel before, both games have drawn out of me feelings of anger, dread, desperation, and love. Everything is so well written I was absolutely shocked not only that but the characters OMLLLLLLL the characters themselves have beautiful development and i was brought to a very satisfying conclusion for this game, my only regret after playing this is that i won't be able to consume any more content for him. *COUGH COUGH FANFIC WRITERS, COUGH COUGH* I WISH that there were like thousands of fan works for this series because im honestly in love. overall this was very well-written work and I honestly cant wait to see more work in the future. 

SO REAL BECAUSE MY JAW LITERALLY DROPPED WHEN I REALIZED VIOLO WAS MAKING AN APPEARANCE AND VIVERE WAS MENTIONED  😭

(+2)

Poor sweet boy.

(1 edit) (+1)

Very nicely done! The art and music are lovely, the atmostphere cozy and wintery, and the writing is polished. Best played wrapped in a nice blanket with a hot cup of tea. :)
Thank you for a wonderful game!

(+2)

I have not even finished this game, but I had to come here and say that I love Heimos he is precious to me.

(+2)

Game Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYuc1W8SHq9B6TTYXzWTLx3qK-wO2ksh

Sacrarium Gelus is a lovely story featuring our cursed protagonist and a trapped living god (nice or mean depending on your choices)! While there is only one main person to interact with, I like that there is a lot of depth about Heimos, about his background, what he liked, expressions, experiences and so much more! He reacted to each choices, and the ending varied depending on your action and thoughts.

I really like the pace and the interactions before Heimos and our protagonist. The way they think is quite mature and how they handled the villagers seems to be the best option (despite revenge is sweet but too risky haha). Despite the dark themes, I mostly feel fluffiness during the stay at Mt. Gelus. The most important thing is communication and willingness to explain yourself. It makes the interaction between the two so open!

Thank you for the lovely game and I'm looking forward to your future games!

(+3)

I LOVED THIS GAME SO MUCH!!

(+2)

It was sooooo cute! I am absolutely in love with this novel. Can't wait for your next projects! ♥♥♥♥♥

(+2)

Interesting world-building and characters! :D

(+4)

I am so glad that I saw a reblog of this project's announcement because it's definitely one of my favorite VNs I ever read!
I liked the pacing, as well as the character sprites (so many cool details!), background art (I didn't expect the snow animation and I was so happy about it hehe, very nice touch!) and the music (I might be mistaken, but the tracks that played on the neutral/bad routes felt more eerie?). The lore about the deities and the demons and the different cultures was really interesting to learn, too. The variation that comes with the choices also kept me replaying multiple times... After which one can definitely understand better how the different "versions" of Heimos came to be in the legends!
I aimed for a friendship ending for my first playthrough, which was very sweet, then I did the bads and the neutral and finally treated myself to the rest of the good endings. Very very interesting to see all the differences! I personally found the neutral the most sad, the bad 1 fitting, and the bad 2 also sad but more so for Heimos... I adored all of the good endings, though my favorites were the friend end 1 and romantic end 2 <3
Great work about everything!

(4 edits) (+5)

This story is such a great example of amazing world building done right.Great writing! The atmospheric writing combined with the ost and the visuals made reading the story so immersive; I felt the hopelessness from wandering in the snow, the anxiety and tension during the encounters with less than friendly beings, and the coziness warm feelings of living with Heimos. I'm very impressed by the range of experiences this vn could put me through. Well done!

I have only completed one romantic good ending, but I am beyond satisfied with how Heimos ( ok, whoever designed him has all of my love and appreciation, he's so beautiful ;;), and his romance, were written. Compared to other ancient or immortal characters I've come across, Heimos actually feels and acts his age. He's wise, mature, practical, but also empathic and understanding. The power dynamic between him and the mc is that of equals, and I sincerely love how you made Heimos and the mc acknowledge it and them working together towards balancing it ( e.g. Heimos always insisting that mc has a choice, him always taking the time to explain things to the mc, being protective of mc's safety but not over-protective to the point of being toxic possessive, and so on). I want to thank you for being able to write him in such a way, you've truly nailed it ❤️ 

This is a marvelous vn. I wish it were longer :D just so we can spend more time with these characters. Author, you have yourself a new fan!

(+4)

That was sooo great! 

Heimos is such a cool character, I really enjoyed his interactions with the MC.

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