A downloadable visual novel for Windows, macOS, and Linux

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You are brought back to life for one final hour by a troubled necromancer. He cautiously swears he's from your past. Spend your final moments putting the matter—and you—to rest.


⚠ Content Warning ⚠

This story's mature themes contain:

  • Fantasy religion and/or occult themes
  • Brief description of graphic violence and death (No visuals)
  • Player death (Non-graphic)

Player discretion is advised.


This Life Escapes Me is a ten-minute, linear visual novel about loss, originally developed in seven days for the Only One of Any Asset (O2A2) Jam of 2020

The Developers:

  • Director, Writer, Character Artist - Coda
  • Background Artist - NiAsobu
  • Programmer - BaiYu

For the post-jam revamp, Special Thanks to:


Content Warning
Death (Non-graphic), Bereavement, Graphic violence, Blood

A short prose epilogue has been published! Taking place immediately after the events in This Life Escapes Me, read the third-person perspective focusing on the man you left behind:

"This Life Escapes Me: Afterstory"

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Rating
Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars
(266 total ratings)
AuthorsCoda, tofurocks, NiAsobu
GenreVisual Novel, Interactive Fiction
Made withRen'Py
TagsAmare, Boys' Love, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, josei, LGBT, Otome, Romance, sad
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse
AccessibilityOne button

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

ThisLifeEscapesMe-2.0-win.zip 54 MB
ThisLifeEscapesMe-2.0-mac.zip 38 MB
ThisLifeEscapesMe-2.0-linux.tar.bz2 44 MB
This Life Escapes Me Afterstory.pdf 66 kB

Development log

Comments

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

I felt the emotions so sincerely I cried while voice acting it out loud 😭 I completely forgot people were in the same room as me. I was immersed in the story - in Gad's life - and in turn what should've been. I also love the changes in facial expressions that was timed so well with the writing pauses. Everyone involved in the making of the game deserve an applause 👏

(+2)

Reallly good Sad so so so Sad I hate crying but hope Gad let go enough till he with his love one once more

(+2)

it's beautiful. a beautiful sadness. :'(

(+2)

Just an amazing game!
(+6)

feeling bad for Gad is not enough I need to reach through the screen and hug him

(4 edits) (+5)

Idk how to express how sad the ending was through words so have a picture.

Create meme "cat , sad cat meme, crying cat" - Pictures - Meme-arsenal.com

It ain't ur fault Gad, don't blame urself sweet boi- 

(っ╥╯﹏╰╥c)

I would heckin bend the laws of life & death for dis precious man-

(+4)

the end absolutely broke me, but in the best way

(+7)

THE END WAS SO TRAGIC. POOR GAD. I'M SOBBING, He spent so many years of his youth to get his lost love, only for him to realize he must let them rest, and in turn let himself rest. But still I wish for there somehow to be a happy ending, even if it's in my imagination :'(

(+3)

The story is short but the ending brought tears to my eyes. The ending broke my heart o(╥﹏╥)o

(+2)

Lots of emotion in a small game - good job!

(+3)

Holy fuck this was perfection. Also I was just thinking how wonderful a prequel would be and the announcement is just above the comment box. 


It's also just a perfect ship dynamic and I absolutely need to do some writing of my own inspired by this.

(+3)

Man, five stars for the story. Simple, yet somehow passes the emotions through. Very good work!

(+1)

This nearly made me cry.... so heartbreaking

(+1)

you are inSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANEEEE this.. is absolutely, perfect. LITERALLY omfg i gotta play this again

(+4)

Man, that was really sad in just a few minutes. From all the visual novels I had I thought Gal was a yandere but I realized that Gal couldn't cope, he tried so desperately but just couldn't. I'm so glad in any and all endings the MC, though doesn't have their memories, still treats Gal tenderly as though somewhere inside of them still loves Gal no matter what. And for Gal who had known the harshness of life to have the one good thing taken away from him, god no wonder the man coped the way he did in such a delusional way. At the very least MC was able to give closure to not only themselves but to Gal who desperately needed. I do agree with one of the comments (Ebbasuke) that the game having no audio (whether it be music or sound effects) was really weird and kind of off-putting (especially when music suddenly pops in at the credits) but the short narrative was melancholic enough that you could overlook it. A wonderful story with beautiful art, I wish Gal and MC all the best.

mobile browser: text starts at the VERY bottom of the screen, and any li es under the first are off it. 🤷

(+3)

this should not have made me cry as hard as it did I-I

(+3)

This visual novel is amazing. It's short yet powerful and beautiful. I look forward to the prequel!

(1 edit) (+4)

I'm crying like a baby. This one breaks my heart more than it should oh god

(+3)

I loved the melancholic atmosphere of this game along with its beautiful art <3 

(1 edit) (+2)

Hello Coda! I really enjoyed this, it was beautifully made! Do you have an email where I can contact you? I'd like to talk to you about the possibility of translating This Life Escapes Me into Spanish :)

(+2)

This was one of the most beautiful visual novel I've played. Short but full of contents, tragic but with [ SPOILER ] an happy end. [/ SPOILER].
Great art, next time maybe you could add a bit of ambient sound.

Keep up the good work!

A happy ending? 

(+2)

Gorgeous art and game!

(+3)

Beautiful! I'm a sucker for melancholy. I found it a bit disturbing that there was no sound until the credits though. Could've used some ambient sound effect (wind, water, leaves, etc.) in the background. For some reason, the full-screen button and config button were on top of each other, but I didn't really need them while playing.

(+2)

Holy shit, I'm so mad- I love this so much, this game is so good, but-! I can't handle sad endings like this!! Thank you all for your hard work!! This is such a good game!! I'm so angry about this!! I'm so glad I played it, thank you again!

(+2)

It was nice =) Some beautiful art + good writing that made me briefly shift my mind and soul to this story. 

I did not expect 4min play make me visit such an amazing world.

Thank you for making it.

I would love to read something of this sort again from you!

(+3)

I cannot express how beautiful it was. The background was brilliant, Gad is a broken little sweetheart who I want to hug forever (I love his character) and the whole thing was just perfect. In just a few words it could evoke so many emotions and tell so much about the characters' personalities and their relationship. It hurt a tad bit too but in a good way. I hope I can read similar stories from the same team in the future. <3

(Sorry for bad English!)

(+1)

Well, gotta contribute to the comments section here as well.

Here you go, my review (again)

This Life Escapes Me Review

(+4)

If you want to cry, listen to End on a Hai by Roland Faunte while playing..... I just happened to do this and ended up a mess.

Thank you for introducing me to the song! It fit perfectly, ended at the same time too, really added to the immersion and it was perfectttt Great music taste <3

(+1)

wow, it was so...

just, thanks a lot for your work. wish I could make something as great as it was someday.

(+1)

D: why? XD I loved it and I'm trying to not cry, it's too short and painful, I loved the background music.

Sorry if I say something wrong XD English is not my mother language

(+1)

Oh, this was lovely.

(+1)

This is a beautiful and emotional game! i'm going play it again while listening to "the unquiet grave"

(1 edit) (+1)

That shit hurted ;~;

(+1)

I LOVED THIS!!!

(+1)

Bittersweet and complex, with art and atmospheric effects to match. I felt as though I learned a lot about the player character as well as Gad, and the story, though short, was well developed! Encore!!

(+1)

Holyyyyyy this was so good. I loved the ending especially! 

(+2)

This game exceeded my expectations! The art is gorgeous. The writing...oh my god the writing, it was a perfect emotional gut punch. I can't emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this game.  

(+1)

I cried. Real tears. Holy shit. 

(+1)

Clean and beautiful game! It's a satisfying sweet story.

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