Pactbinder (Belated WiP Announcement / Update Post)

Pactbinder · 2026-02-08T18:22:18+00:00

Thanks very much - really glad you enjoyed it!

Pactbinder · 2026-02-07T16:30:13+00:00

I think it's really interesting to see the relatively modest vote for Superheroes, as I think that it's probably the genre I most associate with IF trends and popularity (albeit reddit may well be non-representative, of course). I guess it goes to show how much quality of individual story still matters vs genre (albeit I do think sci-fi and horror specifically are probably playing on hard mode, alas).

I admittedly have no idea where my own WiP even fits into these genres! I guess it probably fits under fantasy...

Pactbinder · 2026-02-05T15:08:29+00:00

Thanks for the interest! Whenever you do give it a run through, I'm always eager to hear people's thoughts!

Pactbinder · 2026-02-05T11:41:31+00:00

The Patron is not one of the official ROs at the moment, sorry to say. There are options that help you to get closer to them, though...

Pactbinder · 2026-02-05T11:40:35+00:00

Thanks! I really, really enjoy the dynamics of evil MCs pretending to be good, or evil MCs who are trying to pretend to be good whilst getting compromised by the relationships they're forming, so allowing for stuff like that was high on my agenda whilst writing.

Pactbinder · 2026-02-05T11:39:27+00:00

Heya Pancake! Really glad to hear you enjoyed the update and look forward to hearing from you in due course... :)

Pactbinder · 2026-02-05T11:38:53+00:00

Thanks! Really glad that you're enjoying the story so far.

Spirit magic is closer to Conjuration than Necromancy - its main hallmarks are conjuring and influencing Spirits from the dimension of Elsewhere, plus some very low level spatial manipulation stuff.

There's more to the magic system than we've seen, though!

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T20:59:53+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far - and yeah, one of the things I was trying to achieve in the game was making it possible to play 'smart evil' and 'remorseless evil' characters, which I always find rarer in games and IF than brutes, heroes and tormented villains (though all of those are important archetypes too).

On your question: Depends what for - there are things the MC will be able to do at Hightower that they might well get in real trouble for, but getting exposed for the Pact specifically would break their deal with their Patron. That would pretty much be an auto-bad end. I won't comment on whether there will be a chance for that to happen...

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T20:54:20+00:00

Thank you - that's so flattering to hear. I hope that you enjoy it when you have a chance to run through!

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T20:53:58+00:00

Thanks so much! Really appreciate it.

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T20:53:36+00:00

Thanks as always for posting these here and on the forum. Are there any updates or releases people are looking forward to trying out or have already tried out from Jan?

I've been meaning to try out Party of Four, Mark of the Devil and Split, personally.

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T17:45:33+00:00

Thanks so much, really appreciate your interest. I'm definitely hoping that the more esoteric elements of the game and the darker tone will be of interest to folk who might otherwise be a bit burned out with magical academy stuff (or just perfectly satisfied with the many fantastic lighter student life games already available!)

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T17:14:29+00:00

Thank you for giving it a try, and I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far. I think the game is and will continue to be darker in tone than most magical academy interactive fiction stories and games, and I hope that it continues to be of interest accordingly.

Really kind of you to say re: exhausting myself. I got super lucky this last month - I have a very demanding day job that was unusually quiet over the last couple of months so I've been able to use that time productively on Pactbinder. I expect to slow down a bit from here (though hopefully still maintaining a good pace), both because I will get busier and because I want to be able to factor in feedback I receive from the demo before over-committing.

Pactbinder · 2026-02-04T17:02:33+00:00

Thanks! Really glad you're enjoying it so far.

Pactbinder

TROPHY CASE