HalOPE
A downloadable game for Windows
(featured in INDIEPOCALYPSE#51!)
HalOPE is a surreal exploration/"puzzle-ish" RPGMaker game about breaking cycles and becoming whole.
play as The Angel, an incomplete being that has been left behind. Explore 4 colorful worlds locked behind mysterious doors, as well as the spaces between them. You'll slowly learn the stories of those you meet, as well as the reason behind your own existence.
The main gameplay centers around collecting items and showing them to the characters you meet! Use items to learn more about the world, progress to the next chapter, or just see some fun flavor text... Most characters will have something to say about whatever you find.
Contains five chapters, each centering around a specific theme and the different ways one might connect to it. Learn about the tiny lives of the people here, and help them find hope in whatever way you can. Of course, not everything can be fixed that easily.
Warnings for strong language, talk of sensitive topics, and some unsettling imagery. For the most part though, this game isn't super intense. It is intended to be more of a contemplative experience, sometimes even a silly or lighthearted one.
The game also contains flashing images and stark changes in color at certain points- none are intended to invoke eye-straining effects, but may still be an issue for photosensitive players.
FEATURES:
- a meandering-style adventure
- 3-4 hours of gameplay
- original pixel art and music
- a few secrets to find
- multiple endings (4)
- lots of love
CONTROLS:
- arrow keys to move
- ESC or X to pause/cancel
- Z or Enter to interact
- Q to access the item menu (only available in certain segments)
- F5 to turn on fullscreen
- F6 to change game resolution (works in and out of fullscreen)
- this and more detailed inside of the game's README.txt!
The game is free, but any donations are very appreciated. Leaving a rating is also really helpful. Thanks!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- HalOPE part of Palestinian relief bundleApr 20, 2024
- v1.5, 1k downloads, & some other stuffFeb 25, 2024
- v1.4Jan 23, 2024
- v1.3Jan 19, 2024
- v1.2Jan 05, 2024
- added .exe optionJan 01, 2024
- v1.1Dec 29, 2023
- HalOPE release!Dec 29, 2023
Comments
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@starbage
I made two pieces of fan art (one of which is still a sketch on paper but I'm planning on recreating it better on digital) and I wanted to know if y'all give me permission to post em? I'll be giving inspo credit to the game of course. If not then I totally understand, but if I can do y'all have insta accs? I'd like to tag u all so everybody else can see what cool ppl made such an interesting game that inspired me to get back into drawing more commonly ^^
(The fan art is of the landlord and the angel we play as, haven't finished the game yet so idk if they have a canon name)
fanart is completely fine to post! You don’t have to ask permission. I unfortunately don’t have an instagram but if you post it and would like to link it so I can see, that would be awesome. Thanks for playing
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBTNTd8R94Z/?igsh=aXhwc3U0M2Mxb2Ey
+
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBZDK09xHFm/?igsh=MXBrZGh6N3p0b2t4NA==
Hope u like them! Also sry for the late response
Awesome game. Here's a blind VOD-stream-playthrough (it took me more then 4 hours) with 3 endings:
The apartments was the most confusing part to me.
I wonder if it possible to make a separate volume controls for music and sounds in VX Ace (or is this game made on XP?), like in MV/MZ. Because I always try to make the music as quiet as possible to not get any copyright strikes from YT.
I have one question though. Can I at least complete secret quest in chapter two without completing one in the first chapter? Because game says that I've got a "community essence" after first chapter, but there is nothing in my inventory still besides scissors.
hi! i am sure there are ways to implement volume sliders, but i didn't for this game and don't really plan on doing so retroactively. at least not anytime soon. the music isn't copyrighted or anything but i know youtube's systems are kind of silly regarding those things. you can really only mute the music entirely or turn the game's volume really low. sorry about this!
Answering your other questions below the cut:
the 'essence of community' is not a physical item-- it will not appear in your inventory. They're just progress flags related to one of the game's endings. So, yes, you can complete Chapter 2's secret quest without having completed Chapter 1's, you just have to figure out how. The guide has hints on the bottom if you want them.
And yes, your game better than Undertale :)
Copying what i wrote in the review since apparently this is a different thing lmao
Having just finished my first playthrough of this and about to immediately (tomorrow) start a second, I figured this would be a good time to write a review.
I typically don't really bother with writing reviews to games i play but this one felt very special and to be honest I can't exactly figure out why, but I'll try my best to write about it anyway.
Firstly, the thing that drew me to this game in the first place, the visuals: I initially thought it might be something like Omori since that's what the appearance of it reminded me of but I found the game to be very different from that in most aspects. The art and general atmosphere of it though gave me a very warm feeling all throughout this experience except for places where that was intentionally absent. It just all feels so cozy and nice.
Secondly, the thing that has made this game stick to my memories so nicely, the characters: There's a lot of characters to meet throughout this game, most of which naturally only get a few minutes of screentime and no real impact on the overarching narrative, never the less the developer has done an excellent job of making them feel real and making me care about most of them. Other times where sympathy wasn't intended I found the game great at making characters feel imposing or untrustworthy, and in either case, a lot of the dialogue is just incredibly fun to read through.
Thirdly, the other thing that made the game etch itself in my mind, the story: I can't really say much here as the overarching narrative relies on obscuring certain info until much later into the game, so i won't add to what's already in the description. I will, however, say that it's incredibly good, and made me feel anxious for the wellbeing of this world and its characters, I still haven't gotten the 4th ending -hence the second playthrough planned- but i think that's a testament to how much this game has made me care about its world and characters
Lastly, the gameplay: It's fairly simplistic and as the description describes, I found the simple puzzles strike a nice balance of keeping things interesting without feeling tedious or making things drag unnecessarily
Overall, probably one of the best games I've played in recent memory, despite the comparatively short runtime (it took me 5 hours but i just play games a lot more slowly than most). Highly recommend it if you're interested enough to have read my yapping up until this point and I'll definitely be looking forward to any other project from this developer!
I love this game. Played it two weeks ago and still cannot stop thinking about it. Thank you for making this. I hope to try and get the fourth ending soon.
This game is EXELLENT! Seriously, I can't believe this whole thing is freeee! Better than many expensive games I've played, ngl.
SPOILERS!!
I have one thing i don't understand though: In the very end, after killing Her, I'm pretty much stuck, I've tried interacting with everything, but i just can't move on. Am i meant to just be stuck there forever, or am i missing something?
hi! Thank you for enjoying the game. I’ll go into the spoilers below the cut!
After killing Mother, you should be able to pull out the scissors in her chest. There’s only one tile you can interact with to do this, if I remember correctly you need to do it from the top. Afterwards a white door should appear near the top of the room (takes a few seconds for it to show up) and you should be railroaded into the ending from there. If you still aren’t able to trigger it, please let me know!
Thanks! Finally got it, heh. Such a cute ending :D
this is incredible. i didnt expect this to be so good but i loved every minute of it, the characters are so interesting and i love all the different worlds. this was so fun to play, thank you
i hadnt gotten the fourth ending when i wrote this, but now that i have, its even better. i almost cried /srs this game is so beautiful
this whole game was so beautiful and stunning, the story was also very gripping. I hope they continue the story or make more rpg maker-style games !!
This game was stunning and amazing to play. Thanks so much for making it (and everyone involved)! But I had two questions: 1) Is it possible to give the flower shop lady in Chapter 3 the white flower? and 2) To unlock the fourth ending, do I have to go back to Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 and change something before continuing chapter 5?
thanks for playing!
1) yes, it is possible but a bit difficult, though it does not lead to much else other than extra dialogue because it is mostly leftover content from an earlier period in development that i didn't want to scrap. maybe someday i'll patch the game to make it a bit more substantial.
2) also yes! i haven't made a walkthrough for the fourth ending in lieu of keeping some mystery alive, but i leave some hints for it at the very bottom of the official guide page.
Thanks so much for clarifying! I'm gonna try my best to get the fourth ending. Also, I still think being able to find the flower for the flower shop girl is pretty neat.
This game is so good and immersive OMG. I wonder if it's some part inspired by Undertale ^^. Please keep up the good work!
This game was absolutely stunning! The writing, the characters, the designs/visuals, the story... It had so much heart to it, and...well, it made me a bit more hopeful about the world, haha.
This is the first RPG Maker style game that I've played without watching a Let's Play or Walkthrough of it, and I have to say, it did NOT disappoint! Good pacing, subtle hints and general game design and atmosphere, especially through the BGM. It reminded me a smidge of Paletta, though I know lots of media creates representations of emotions and concepts with distinct color schemes.
Overall excellent job! I may not have been able to get all endings, but I got the 'most difficult' ending and two others, and as you intended, all of them fit perfectly. The aforementioned difficult ending had me crying a little, not gonna lie. Once again, a spectacular job, and thank you for including your game in the Palestinian Relief bundle.
jeez. how tenderhearted. i loved the dreamy atmosphere. it reminded me of anodyne 1 with the way each character's dialogue is simple and sincere and evokes so much of the Feeling of the world around them. probably i would die for lorena. any chance of throwing the OST on something like bandcamp? i'd love to be able to purchase it
ano1 was one of the main games that inspired me to start making this one, so hearing this makes me especially happy. Thank you for playing!
I do really want to put the OST up for purchase at some point, I just haven't gotten around to it yet because I'd also like to include bonus tracks and things like that-- I also just got preoccupied with life stuff as most developers do. When I get around to it I'll make sure to put an announcement up on this game's devlog. Until then, I do have the base files found in the game thrown on my soundcloud!
I'll be otherwise vague to not spoil people, but I wanted to get the fourth ending before commenting---I really really loved this! I adore the sincerity of your writing and the respect and care that you use to address the different subject matters of the story.
Another aspect I wanted to comment on was that this was a rare case where the "bad endings" felt narratively satisfying--though I was very happy to work for the fourth ending, the other three endings still felt fully realized and (albeit much sadder) satisfying conclusions! Any single one of them on their own would've been a powerful ending but all four of them really make it shine :]
On a less writing-heavy level, I also really love your character designs and environmental art, they're super distinct and really lovely! I had a wonderful time playing this, and I'm excited to see what you do next ^^
I'm glad all the endings feel satisfying to you. I didn't want to correlate "best ending" with "true ending" in this game, so I tried to make them all exhibit different facets of the same core idea. Especially since I know most players will probably only go for one or two of them. Thank you for playing!
Had a wonderful few evenings playing this! Thank you for putting it out on the net and stuff ^^
I finished this a couple of weeks ago, and the longer it has to settle in the back of my mind, the fonder I become. I'm a really big fan of the way the game rewards the player and the angel on how deeply we're willing to engage with the setting and characters, and the way that ties into the overall themes of the story. Part of that was being able to take my time to feel my way through each level's zone at the start and having the puzzles kind of click into place (for the most part - skill issue but I'm so bad at maps that chapter 2 probably took me the longest).
Trying to be vague for spoiler reasons, halOPE felt very intentional in the way it approached its themes and characters in the best way possible. Every interaction was one you could connect to a chapter theme, and the development (and not just the reveal) of the silent protagonist felt very earned.
Thank you so much for making and sharing this game!
[Spoilers below!]
I'm always such a sucker for games about family and the complicated relationships that are born from duty and cycles of expectation and grief, and it was such a pleasant surprise to play halOPE. Like going out to the grocery store to shop around for snacks and finding out that someone has baked me several cakes. I love the relationship between each angel and their world/chapter as reflected in the names, and what Hope experiences and gains from each level.
Getting to the end with Regret's little island with bottled letters and a compass was also very bittersweet - the complicated relationship you can have with your long-awaited chosen youngest sibling when all you have is the idea of them vs when you are confronted with the reality of a Person, and what that means re: 'the culmination of the cycle that took everything from me'.
I loved the little scribble 'first creation' we see in Hope's world as it starts to gain substance, too! Like 'manifestation of baby's first Want'. And the way it's informed by the world Hope experiences and connects to through playing the game!!
Speaking of which, I hope this is an okay place to ask (and that I did the spoiler thing right because I don't really. use itchio much): there are a couple of things that really stick with me after playing the game for me to roll around in my head and I'd love to hear what you intended with Community's gift of scissors at the start of the game, and then Love/Regret's compass and the direction it points once you're past the maze.
I initially interpreted the scissors as symbolic of community (literal / support system) allowing one to 'cut free' from a cycle of violence, or maybe a gift allowing Hope to 'shape' their own self or future, as a positive reflection of the hole in their chest (esp. as you can use it to take Mother's life and place, so it ends up being a choice on how you use it). And I think in that final confrontation (or just before it? I should have taken notes but didn't, rip) it looked like the compass was showing the "correct" direction as back, which I thought was maybe Regret trying to urge Hope away from danger (this one I may be fully imagining. Wish I'd taken notes for real, sorry).
Were either of those close at all, or was the intent totally different?
Regardless of whether or not I read the game totally wrong, I had a really good time playing it and I hope I didn't offend haha. Thank you so much again for the great game, and I hope you're having a great month!
hi, thank you so much for such an in-depth comment! Stuff like this truly makes my day. A lot of the stuff in the game is intentionally up to interpretation, I don't like implying there's a "wrong" way to read things, but I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
Community’s gift was something that kind of just came together, actually. The scissors as an item came before the siblings existed as characters (I was in the middle of developing Chapter 2 when I had come up with them as the main "reveal", and I think it shows a little bit). I came to really enjoy the scissors as a symbolism of "cutting free" though, and began to lean into it a lot. It's why Mother has such a strong web/thread association to her (as well as the white Interlude areas). That is to say, I didn’t originally put as much thought into it as it might seem. It was kind of a happy accident. i really love this reading of it though.
As for Regret, the compass pointing away from Mother's confrontation is intentional :-) if I remember correctly, the earlier versions of the game didn't have this, so it was partially added as a hint for one of the endings. But I also wanted it to be a way for some of Regret's desires to shine through. They care for Hope even if they're kind of spiteful about it at times, and I thought having that show through the compass would be a fun detail. I'm really pleased someone made that connection!
Thanks again for playing!
pumping my fist in the air a bit. thank you so much for indulging me with your answers! i totally get the hesitation to imply a correct interpretation, but i do love getting 'director's commentary' on things like this if only so i can compare and contrast my experience of the story with the writer's intent. family themes <3
i hope you have a great summer! o/
This was such an amazing game!!! Had me hooked from the start!
thank you for playing!
THIS IS THE BEST GAME IVE EVER PLAYED. literally everything - the graphics, character, music, story is amazing. i literally have no words (unfortunately i was able to unlcok 3 endings only, im too dumb to unlock the last one)
thank you! I'm glad you had a good time with it. The fourth ending is intentionally pretty tricky/out of the way, but I recently made a guide page that has a few hints at the very bottom if you'd like to try and find it: https://starbage.neocities.org/HalOPE/guide
Wonderfully poetic, and introspective. Thank you!
thanks for playing :-)
one day later, and ive completed all four endings!!!! and ohhhh my god this is one of my fav games of all time omg???? the arts beautiful, the story's beautiful, the characters all feel real and honest, and aaughsgjhjsag !!!!! i love this game!!!!! it really resonated with me and it was like... exactly long enough and complicated enough imo without being tiring, i played it over the course of two days (including starting from the start again for the fourth ending lol) and it was just wonderful!!! much love to the creator <3 <3 <3
thank you so much, im glad you enjoyed your time with it <3
loving this game so far!!!! stuck on chapter three, though, where ive completed glasses->frog->reaching haunted house, but cant figure out what else im supposed to do!! its absolutely wonderful though, and ill def be reviewing again after i work out what to do :D
I'm glad you are enjoying so far ^^ I put some guidance below, but you're free to ignore if you'd rather figure it out for yourself.
After visiting the ghost house, there's another location you need to go to, to find the other ghost NPC... said location isn't accessible from the start of the chapter though, you have to open it up.
(And, for a more direct answer):
You have to open the red doors directly right of Lorena's house. If I remember correctly it goes something like this
North of the church, interact with the bug and get the drawing, show that drawing to the human artist, take his watering can, give it to the invisible girl who stands next to where the frog was. you can use the item you get from her to open the red doors and progress further.
tysm omg!!!!!! super cool to get a reply youre one of my gfs fav developers on itch.io we played tiredspace tg as a date!!!
oh wow, that's really flattering!!! Thank you so much
this game is absolutely amazing!!! if it hadn't only just come out i wouldve easily mistaken it for a classic of the golden age of rpgmaker! im so glad this game exists.
That is extremely flattering.. thank you so much for playing <3
This game was just amazing, there were so many feelings - I just culdn't stop myself when every dialog and every character is so unique, when they have their own problems and flaws, it just enchants me! Not only that but it is so beautful and delicate in every way! I just loved this game so much! (sorry if I got any word worg, english isn't my first language.
I did a small fanart since the game changed my brain chemestry (I took a big inspirantion in the other fanart here for Hope!!
OH MY GOSH!!!! I love love love how you incorporated so many little details of the game into the piece, the composition is so lovely T_T 💕💕it really feels like you captured every key moment! I love it, thank you so much!!
Thank you for the kind words as well, I'm happy you were able to be inspired by something I made!
just finished the best ending possible. Man what a beautiful game. time to write about it! I hold a lot of affection for this thing and I hope that it gets more and more popular, I think that this deserves it.
thank you for the kind words! Im happy you enjoyed your time with it
I absolutely love this game, it felt so good to know what to do in chapter 3-4, keep up the good work for everyone that was involved in this.
Might i ask, what inspired Love/Regret? I didn't think there would be a big tsundere so I'm curious as for their origin
thanks for playing! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
(spoilers below)
I don’t know that Regret was inspired by anything in particular…? Maybe there were some characters I was charmed by at the time that I can’t remember now. I think I just really like characters who are a bit mean at first but secretly have a lot of love in their heart. Since family relations are a key theme in the game, their complicated feelings were kind of inspired by some personal experiences as well. The original iteration of them was much nicer but then I decided that was boring, lol
Based opinion, have a nice day
oh wow!!! i absolutely loved this. i'm a huge fan of angelic things so when i saw this i immediately knew i had to play. the music and art was so engaging, i'm so in love! will definitely be following more of your work from now on :3
thanks for playing! :D
i love this game. its so fun to play! i loved getting to know the characters and helping them out, i loved the art and color palettes, and i loved the music. the dialogue is also so natural and felt Real every time. there was not one character that i was disappointed with (characterization wise… tin made me go :/ a few times but i still love them) it was really rewarding whenever i figured out how to progress or solve someones problem! there were a few times where i could Not figure out what to do and had to look up a play through, but i do understand its crazy difficult to balance challenging the player while not making it too hard, especially because “the player” is a wide range. i streamed most of chapter 2 and on and i plan to stream getting the other endings because i just know ill want to have my first ever reactions in the future when i know this game front to back. this game inspires me soo much!! im definitely going to check out your other games too. thank you for making this!!
thank you for leaving such a thoughtful comment!! I appreciate it very much :-) I hope you have fun getting the other endings as well
Hello! I love this game, but can't find out how to progress past the first two endings? Could anyone help me?
Hi. For the three normal endings, they should all be accessible from the final save bench of the game. If you've already found two by going upwards, try going a different direction instead :-)
The fourth ending has some specific requirements you needed to have met before reaching Chapter 5. I've yet to make an official guide on this, but some players have found them already and posted walkthroughs of it!
Amazing game. Well worth the wait for the full version. This deserves to be talked of as an RPG Maker classic with the likes of OFF and Yume Nikki. The vibes and feelings of each world come through so strongly, the characters are likeable and intriguing even with only a few lines of dialogue, the puzzles are just hard enough to be fun without (too much) frustration, and the themes hit hard.
If I had any problem with it, it would just be that text speed was a kinda slow for me, and it got a bit tedious if I talked to a character expecting new dialogue only for them to just repeat the last thing they said. But that's a minor thing, other than that, great work!!
oh wow that is incredibly high praise!!! thank you so much for playing & leaving your thoughts 💜:,D
Insanely impressive! Finished all 3 normal endings and went back to get the best ending, it was definitely worth it! While going back and reading all the notes and conversations again for the best ending, everything made so much more sense after experiencing the normal endings. I can see how much love and effort was put into this game, splendid job!
thank you for playing!! I’m glad you had a good time with it ^^
Just finished Chapter 1 and this is already gorgeous - thank you for making this!!
thank you for playing!! :-)
absolutely gorgeous game. really resonated with me. the graphics, the music, the story, the characters, everything is all so lovely and feel like home. it took a little bit for me to figure out some of the things on my own, i relied on watching someone's playthrough to figure out a few things but i don't believe this made the game lacking at all. if anything, it was a fun challenge. my favorite parts of the game have to be the third chapter and the best ending. overall, a beautifully done game. will have a place in my heart from now on.
thank you so much for your kind words! I’m happy it resonated with you :-)
I made some fanart of (SPOILERS BELOW)
Hope and Regret, the siblings ever! I really love this game, thank you for taking your time to create something so lovely and making it free as well!
ooh my gosh AMAZING!!! It totally made my day to see this, thank you soooo much T_T and thanks for playing too! I’m happy you enjoyed it 💖💖
i haven't the slightest idea what to do in the green area? i opened the red door with the umbrella and i'm not sure what to do after that
The two main questlines of the area "converge" at the red door. There is a second requirement you must meet for something to appear there. Since I don’t know what point of progress you are at to get that second requirement I will go over all the steps to get it
-visit the church and interact with the book, you should meet a character who gives you glasses
- give the glasses to the old woman and then get the basket from her
-use the basket on the dark green patch of grass to catch the frog, get the lure
- give the lure to the fisherwoman to make her move out of the way
-go to the new area that opens up and speak to someone you find there
!!! thanks! i didn't realize i had to grab the basket, so that's what i was stuck on
Thank you so much! That said I’d appreciate keeping images of major spoilers below the "view rest" cut for comments if possible ^^
Excellent game. 10/10 would play it again and bash my head on the wall.
Also found the best ending, which is not in this video unfortunately, it's on the description for the other end discovery.I really enjoyed everything in this, characters are a colorful cast, worldbuilding and lore, and the friendships we made. Art is very cool too.
I was really in love with the style, music and dialogue in the game but unfortunately i think i got stuck in the 2nd area?? after cutting that one persons hair i ended up running around for over an hour trying to figure out what i needed to do next, I cant tell if something in the game broke or if i just missed something but for the amount of time i spent going through every door and interacting with every object and character, I feel like i was pretty thorough. Its a shame because i really liked everything up until that point but the door mazes fusterated me pretty bad. I wish there was a guide i could've pulled up or something to put me on the right track. I think ill get back to it once a guide or walkthrough does drop.
i got stuck at the same place, you need to go to the room with the piano and stay there for like a minute, until the person inside the room moves
Oh my god. You are lying THERES NO WAY. I LITERALLY GOT SO DESPERATE TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO PROGRESS THAT I DID THIS THINKING IT WAS LIKE THAT THING IN EARTHBOUND WHERE YOU HAVE TO NOT MOVE FOR LIKE 4 MINUTES.. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When in doubt, do NOTHING!!
this is nice
HALOPE!!! <3333 this game is great, every minute i spent playing it was worth everything
GAME OF THE YEAR 2023!!!!!!!!!!! i loved it so much.. thank you so much for making it!!!
,,I can't seem to leave the room where the person who wants beautiful things are?
wow i can't believe i broke something so simple. a new build should be up now, you can just drag your save file from the old game folder to the new one. so sorry about that!