if not us

Details

Playtime Not Played
Last Activity Never
Added 30/06/2024 7:10:36
Modified 22/12/2024 1:07:08
Completion Status Not Played
Library Itch.io
Source itch.io
Platform PC (Windows)
Release Date 27/01/2018
Community Score
Critic Score
User Score
Genre Adventure
Indie
Developer ub4q
Publisher ub4q
Feature Single Player
Links Store Page
PCGamingWiki
Tag [EMT] Video Micro missing
[EMT] Video missing
[Ludusavi] Unknown save data
Fantasy
inform-7
Interactive Fiction
Narrative
parser
sad
Story Rich
Text-Based
tragedy
Twine

Description

Seven years ago, five heroes were brought together to save the world. Their success came at the cost of their leader's life; the secret behind it cost them their friendship.

Now they've been summoned for a new heroic quest.

if not us is about the moment when they realise everything isn't going to be okay.

The demo above includes two of the five vignettes.


Included on the Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List 2018

if not us [is] sort of like if you made Watchmen a D&D party of fantasy world saviours instead of superheroes...one of the best text-based games I found in the Itch.io Racial Justice Bundle - First Five

if not us is splendid; wonderful...it's five eulogies and five broken hearts, and again, and again. I cannot recommend it enough. Damon Reece, lead writer of Necrobarista

if not us is a must-play for anyone who tells people's stories. It's sort of about what happens after destiny is done with you, and it plays with format phenomenally, and I love it. - Nissa Campbell

A collection of heartbreaking vignettes...obscure at times, but deliberately and productively so. - Cat Manning

It'll ruin your week! - Ben Schroder


  • Five short stories from five alternate timelines, each from the perspective of a different character and with new insight into the overarching narrative.
  • Each story has its own style of interaction: watch your life flash before your eyes, write a letter to your loved ones, plead your case, or just stand still and think for a while.
  • Some of our heroes may yet turn away from their deadly fates, some may succumb, and some may need convincing.
  • Nearly 30,000 words of branching narratives.
  • The stories in the anthology can be played in (nearly) any order, but you might find yourself revisiting one or two later with new insight.
  • I hope you like dramatic irony.
  • And big women with horns.


Director/writer/programmer: ruqiyah @pettyantics

Character design & art: @hiimshiny

Editing: saf @wanderlustin

Trailer music is "Requiem of the radboy" by Memphre.