Apostles (Latest Update 0.10: July 2023)

I’m playing this around 2:00 AM. I’d gotten to the dinner scene at the mayor’s house and was just having a nice, dozy time enjoying the stuffing scenes. Boy did that wake me up.

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I haven’t played since the excellent first release. I still can’t believe how well-written Apostles is. Great job!

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Yeah it was late when I got to that part too, had to crawl into bed and think a bit afterwards lol

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Thank you, that always means a lot to hear!

@DreadRoach @MightyHalberd
It sounds like my foray into horror was a success!

Hey everyone hope you’re having good ones! A game my sprite guy has been working on the art end for just had its release, so give it a look-e-loo if you are intrested! Unfulfilling Isekai Simulator (formerly known as NPC Sim 2)

And on a happier note, work for the next update for Apostles has already started. Usually I take a little break between updates, but I’m far to eager for this one! After the doom and gloom of the last update I’m dying to work on something a bit more lighthearted. It’s still quite a ways away, but I hope to hit it with you all before the end of the year! Take care!

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Team Brainfucking > Team Dick Maggots

Again, seeing minor characters get love is always great. I always liked piggy boy (except for the part where he’s a pig-person who eats pigs, that has to be illegal somewhere) so it was nice to see him getting a minor role in this update. If he’s the one who gets murdered… ;(
Well it’ll probably open on “Wow, you really murdered that chicken leg”, wouldn’t be very light hearted if someone died immediately lol

I bet anything that Gretel started the Red Days, I’m pretty sure in an earlier update it was mentioned that Jean-Luc, the Twins and the Saviour(s?) stopped it, and in this one they talk about curbstomping her into bits, Gretel being “the cause” of the leshy that attacked Auburnwoods that attracted the adventurers, causing the death of many, many, people, et cetera. Also I didn’t think it was possible to make a visually horrifying scene with the adorable little chibi RPGMaker models, but holy fuck the “fratricide” corpse (Hansel? I dug in the files because Gumily’s post made me curious about what eldritch demons were inside) actually freaked me out. I don’t know about anyone else but when someone gets inflated/fed to death in a horror movie it always hits me, it’s such a gross and undignified way to go. Hopefully he’s more mobile in the pits of Hell!

The variety of fatties was really good in this update. Not only men and wo-men, but the more vanilla feeding with Maya and Jacob, blueberry with Dina, the mindfucking of Dana, whatever shit Lily is talking about at the time… If we include the last update we got someone puking on themselves and armpit licking, that’s got to be some kind of record for most fetishes in an hour-long period

I’m curious at what technological/scientific/cultural state the world at large is in. The Apostles sometimes have to explain stuff like what a calorie is (a detail I really like, it’s interesting how knowledge which is super common in the modern world is something only near-deific beings know in a less advanced fantasy world… that, or Heather is just really stupid, which is a good possibility), but there seem to be pretty advanced labs. At first I thought it was unique to Sebastian, but Gretel’s “mother” had pretty advanced tech. Is it an elven thing? Is Auburnwoods uniquely full of hicks compared to the rest of the world? Or maybe, being a white haired elf, she’s one of the Broken Chains and had access to some of Sebastian’s shit? It would explain why she blew up at Sebastian even though he might not be directly involved… or maybe he was, old Sebastian doesn’t seem like a great guy

A couple of hopefully non-revealing lore questions, I think the game spells them out pretty clearly and I was just too fucked up from playing at 3am to get it

When they talk about the Baroness, is the implication that they “brainwashed” (for a lack of nicer, but still probably non-consensual word) into being happy to stop her from cutting her wrists? I doubt it matters too much, but when a character gets mentioned more than once I assume they’ll get some more content later lol, and the story struck a chord with me. It’s an interesting moral issue too with the whole Ad Aspera scene

I’m certain this is obvious, but Gretel was 01, “the obedient one”, right? Well, they’re both called Gretel, but you know

Most importantly… are humans just beastials with ape ears?

Glitchwise, while you’re walking around with the Apostles in the streets, you can see character models of NPCs flickering in and out of existence. At first it really fucked with me because I thought it was part of the story lol, but after reloading it happened much less frequently, but still noticeably. I reinstalled the game and it was about the same. Also, this could be intentional, but Gretel’s hair switches to red for one textbox sprite during the flashback at the end

In short, 10/10, would buy MC Rapemeat’s freestyle CD again

Ohoho! I was wondering if anyone was going to find the ol hidden dick maggots conversation! And I must agree with you, only a complete wierdo like Penny would like dick maggots, if you are normal you are on team brain fucking all the way!

Always happy to hear that the minor characters are enjoyed, they add the extra little bit of spice to the overall Apostles dish! Pig-boy is up there among the best as well. Who can resist those curves and southern accent!

I wouldn’t worry too much about Lily’s “murdered” line. In all honestly I’m thinking of retconning that line to instead read off Lily asking Sebastian the age old question, and one that is the KEY to all apostles lore.

“Do you know the muffin man?”

Once again I give thanks to CJ for those awesome sprites. Who was very understanding when I asked him to draw “A giant fucking pig with it’s throat slit.” I think he did quite good work! As for you theory on the red days, I will neither confirm or deny! (But major props for keeping a good eye on the hidden clues of the story :slight_smile: :slight_smile: )

Sauce is always good! I know the ending with Gretel might be the thing that takes the most attention, but I was quite happy to show off just how the weeks of the missionaries spending time in town has started to change the people of town. Both physically and mentally.

You pose an interesting question with the scientific state of the world. And I admit it’s one I have not put in quite as much thought as perhaps I should start doing. For now I say it’s your usual, fantasy medieval setting, with basic tech, pre-guns, but magic added in. And you make a good observation on the last. Yes the people in Auburnwoods are for lack of a better term, “In the middle of bumfuck no-where.” so they are a little more far back. However people like Sebas and Gretel’s lovely mother are far more modern.

Onto the lore questions though!

I’m more then happy to answer the first question, as I appreciate that no small detail is going unnoticed. For the baroness though I would say it was not straight brainwashing they would have done. I’d imagine Lily might give a command like, “Never hurt yourself.” Sebastian would remove all sharp objects from the room, and Gretel would be on suicide watch with her 24/7. Talking and working through the Baroness’s problems. So they’d take a very controlling position over the Baroness’s life, but they would not wipe or warp her mind, turning her into a new person.

As for the question of “Was the Gretel we see now the obedient or disobedient child” and “Where did the name Gretel come from first” I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait and see!

I’d say all three of the races, Beastials, humans, and Elves are more or less pretty similar. With some small variations of course. Beastials are capable of living to about 80, humans to about 100, and Elves to around 1,000 years. Human’s control most of the known globe. The elven courts are small but very prosperous (free slave labor of Beastials will do that.) Most Beastials fall into categories of “Free” like the pig boy and Heather who live in human lands. But there are also the mentioned “Slaves” who are in the elven kingdom. And the “Wild” beastials who live in tribes in the uncharted Savage lands of the far north on the other side of the world to Auburnwoods.

Oh and lastly, the races can not mix races to have kids normally. Why did I mark this a spoiler? You’ll have to wait and see!

As for bugs, I’m afraid you were right the first time :slight_smile: those flashes of people jumping in are the same people Gretel sees at the end. They are the hallucinations creeping into Gretel’s mind throughout the update. (Behind the scenes they only appear when standing on certain tiles, so you might see less if you just miss them by mistake.) Same with the hair, also intentional!

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart for such an in depth review, I’m always happy to read it and answer questions on the LOOOOOORE!

And get ready, Lily will be dropping her full diss track soon.

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Maybe 20 minutes in and I am fuckin with this one hard
Great premise, love the main cast and set up so far
Definitely watchin for updates

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IMO one of the best paced and well written wg rpg games there is. Is there anyway for us to show support towards this project?

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Comments like these are all the support I ever need! Thank you for the kind words and I hope to impress with the next update. :slight_smile:

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Progress report for the month!

Muffins!

That is all.

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who could say no to muffins? :yum: looking forward to it!

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Somebody eat me. I just want to die! :grinning:

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BUT WHAT COULD THIS MEAN

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So just finished the new update. And I am once again just stunned by the amazing world building in this game. Most people have said already what I would say, and honestly I don’t feel like I could live up to their talents but I’ll try a bit.

  • The darkness within: I always had thought there was something deep lurking underneath the surface of the trio. I just couldn’t tell what it was or from whom. It’s been hinted at before in previous updates about Gretel. But I don’t think I could have foreseen just how bad it was. Seeing her slip into her anger state in earlier updates when dealing with Violet, I always thought of it as an act. But now? It seems maybe the normal sweet Gretel might be the facade over the more aggressive side. My mind does race trying to figure out all of these amazing mystery pieces to these characters.
  • The Horror: My goodness did this update have a lot of horror to it. I am usually not a big fan of horror. Just not my thing, but I liked how it was done here. From the subtle hints at the beginning with the fake memory of Violet and Gretel, to the characters flashing in and out of reality as the trio walked around town. Then the final sequence. Oh my. Gretel sure does have some inner demons, doesn’t she?
  • The outfits: Loved seeing the new outfits on the townsfolk. From Pamela’s bigger outfit to Steph’s outfit as well. It’s a nice way of showing change in the characters and the outfits look really good as well.
  • The Blueberry: Honestly was not expecting the blueberry section with Dana. It wasn’t until Lily started freaking out that I had remembered that she had done something to Dana’s drinks. Loved this sequence and how Dana seemed to be rather happy about the whole thing as well.
  • The Mayor: While I will add I am not into male weight gain as I am with female weight gain. Sorry just my preference. I will say that I thought it was very neat to see how the wife was acting around her larger husband. I think she’s discovered something about her self in the last few months.
  • The Sophia: Sophia is one of my favorite characters in this, so it’s been nice seeing her confidence grow as much as she has. Her new outfit looked good on her as well.
  • Choices: For the whole game in general it is truly wonderful how some of the choices you make in this game affect major story plots down the line and can come back to bite you if you didn’t choose wisely. It really adds a lot of replay-ability and makes for an amazing interactive story. And I think that phrase fits this game perfectly. “Interactive story”.

So those are my general thoughts on the update. Sorry if my ramblings didn’t make much sense as I wanted them too. As I write this it is very late for me and I am just overall stunned on this game and it’s updates. I honestly feel like I should be taking notes for this game because of how good it is. I will try to make a better post in the future, but I wanted to get my first thoughts down while I could.

Oh and as far as I can remember I never encountered any major glitches or typos.

Thanks for great story!

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Thank you so much for such detailed feedback. Honestly I was having some writers block on the next section of content, so reading such a encouraging comment was just what was needed to get the creative juices flowing once more! :slight_smile:

The Darkness within: I’m glad the hints of darkness were felt even before playing the latest update. I was a bit worried Gretel’s sudden turn would be a bit TOO sudden! Though of course the coming update will provide greater context to what happened to put Gretel in this state, as well as reveal some of the other pieces of the puzzle!

The Horror: YAY! I’m happy the horror was well liked, as always I worry that certain elements of Apostles will scare away more players then it brings in. (I’m looking at you Lady Cynthia content.) So I’m more then happy to hear that even if horror isn’t your thing, it was still liked. And of course massive props to CJ who does all the art of Apostles, I couldn’t have done it without him!

The Outfits: Another place to thank CJ! And if you liked the outfits in this update, boy howdy get ready for the update after the muffin update!

The Blueberry: Whew. To be honest blueberry isn’t really a fetish I’m that into, but I love trying new stuff out to expand my writing chops! So I’m more then happy to hear that me writing blind wasn’t a disaster and turned out well!

The Mayor: No worries, I fully understand those who have a preference. While I enjoy both male and female WG, I fully accept audience expectations. It’s why so many men are “off in the war” and the town is 80% females. But even if Jacob isn’t your preference I’m glad Maya worked, as she is one of the most fun to write for. I won’t spoil anything but those suspicions of yours for her new ‘preferences’…

The Sophia: Sophia is another favorite of mine to write for! And she has been waiting in the wings far to long for some good quality content, so that’s something I aim to correct with the next update!

Choices: Interesting! Glad the choices are an element you enjoy! Personally I feel like something I use that kind of thing well…and other times not so much. The “Using Well” versions would be for the split path sections early in the game where you could choose from the main trio who to play to search for Dina/trick the adventurers. I really need to get back to doing them!
But for the bad use of “choice” I think of the “Cummflation” couple from broken road. I think of them as a bad choice because it’s either “Play the content” or “Don’t”
Any kind of choice of that nature I feel like is a flaw because it’s not so much of a choice and more of just a bad way to lock people out of content.
(Sorry, that might have been slightly out of context, it’s just something that has been on my mind as I make the next section! We can both apologize for ramblings!)

One last time, thank you so much for your comment. You don’t need to feel the need for apologizing, as all your feedback out a smile on my face! While I do love making Apostles for its own sake, It’s always good to know when I’m making something others can find enjoyment from!

Thank you again for playing!

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The Mayor is my favorite part of the Apostle series so far and I hope he and Maya will go big places!

Also, it was really nice seeing the story go forward this time, and the future lurking ahead.

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A bit late to the party, but the new update was great. It changed the game from helping out a small town to a novel of hardship, sin and overall more grander in the large scale of things. I enjoyed every aspect of this game, especially learning about the characters, with their stories, memories and so on and so forth, really adds to the engagement and makes each character unforgettable. The choices and hidden content is always great to see, because a bit of an issue I’ve seen with a lot of visual novels, including in this site, is that they often try to show everything they’ve made so far without giving the player much of a choice in the matter. And often finding these tidbits of content makes these moments feel more deserved and really incentives me to look around and interact with everything I see.
For the foreseeable future, I see the replaying of the game to be a bit of an issue. With an expanding story and its branching, it will feel like a chore replaying the parts you’ve already played while just trying to reach the new content, though having these branching stories and the ability to try out the choices you didn’t make previously whilst trying to experience the added content definitely eases the issue.
I’m still a bit disappointed that there isn’t a way to donate at least a few bucks, since I’d love to buy you a beer or two for all the enjoyment I’ve had from the hours I spent on each iteration of the series.

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Never to late to say something so nice, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the upping of the scales from just one town, to events perhaps far deeper that’s affecting more of the world! And it’s no greater relief to hear each character felt unique in its own way, as telling each individual story is always fun for me!

One thing I just want to make sure of (and perhaps I misunderstood your post.) but you don’t ever need to replay the game, even when the new versions come out. For 0.7 for example, you can just copy and paste your save folder from 0.6 and be ale to continue right off from wherever you were! And even still I always provide some saves at the beginning of new content, in case anyone lost their own.

Sorry about donations, but Apostles has always just been a weekend hobby for me and it’d just feel wrong taking money from others, even if they are happy for it! :slight_smile: Trust me, the occasional nice comment, or bits of feedback is all the reward I ever need!

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