Sylvan Disappearance is the largest visual novel I released to date! It came out in June 2018.
It’s an epistolary mystery set in a fictionalised Victorian setting. It relates the correspondence of 2 friends who start writing to each other again after a fallout, and the strange events occurring back home during this time. You can download it on itch.io.
Among other influences, it was inspired by Emily Carroll’s horror comics, the Dream Pop music genre, tabletop role-playing, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Daphne du Maurier’s Monte Verità and the seaside city from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Besides the mystery, the story features psychological and folk horror, strange, persistent dreams, mysterious woods, and light yuri romance.
It’s about 50 000 words long. It doesn’t have a very high production value, and I didn’t promote it much at the time of release so it’s not well-known… but it’s still very dear to me all the same!
Full Synopsis
Mirabelle and Célia have always loved inventing stories, and acting on stage too. They used to entertain their friends by running story nights for them, in the woods near their village. Not anymore, though.
Three months have past since the incident which shattered their friendship, and Mirabelle has begun a new life far away, in a bustling city by the sea.
One day, Mirabelle receives a letter from Martin, another friend of hers:
This is none of my concern, surely, but I fear I must ask…
Has Célia written to you yet?
If I may hazard a guess —she has not at all, has she?
I do not believe that she has spent a very pleasant summer, but I would like to believe that very soon, life will turn out all the better for her.
If you ever find the time, do not hesitate to write to her.
Could this mark the beginning of a renewed friendship? Perhaps.
But not all secrets can be told truthfully, even to one’s closest friend.
Screenshots
