Stardander Revenant
Griselda and Dianthus are both students at Stardander School for Witches, but they could not be more different. When Griselda nearly dies during a fae attack and Dianthus retreats into isolation, their lives - and fates - become entwined. Can Griselda bring Dianthus back to the “living world?”
As Griselda, a playful young witch, you can:
- Choose which classes to take each week
- Learn new spells
- Battle (or befriend) wild fae creatures
- Try not to fail your Connection magic class
- Do your best to participate in the Hallow’s Eve Bout - a spellcasting competition that could excuse you from final exams!
- Choose how to interact with your frenemy Dianthus - your choices will determine how things play out between them.
Want to chat? Join our Discord Server!
Having trouble with the battles? Take a look at the Battle Guide!
Content Warning
Themes: Death, Grief.
Creepy / grotesque imagery (mainly during final battle).
Play Time
1-2 hours
Controls
Mouse click or space key to continue/select.
Mouse or arrow keys to move selection.
Hold space/Z key to fast forward.
History is available in the menu (lower right tab), or by using the mouse wheel.
This is a Halloween-themed Spinoff of the upcoming game: Stardander School for Witches Coming Fall 2022!
Credits
A game by Fancy Fish Games
Story, Art Direction, CG Illustrations - Natalie Maletz
Code, Game Design, Directing - David Maletz
Music - Chase Bethea
Character & Creature Art - ToriYaki
Background Art - Laura Onderwater
Title Screen Art - Ire Ao
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Update 0.3.8 - Quality of Life UpdatesOct 16, 2023
- Stardander School for Witches has Released!Oct 04, 2023
- Stardander: School for Witches releasing October 2nd!Sep 19, 2023
- Update 0.3.6Nov 03, 2021
- Battle GuideOct 08, 2021
Comments
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thank you for this awesome game
the subtle storytelling in this game is so ❤️❤️❤️❤️ amazing job!!
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. ^_^
looks like when i played this uh.... however long ago, i forgot to give it 5 stars. but then i stumbled upon it once more and realized that i forgot to rate it. but now i've rated it 5 stars!
i played 4 months ago. i looked down in the other comments to check.
Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it and remembered it all this time later!
Ok, finished the game, and it's wonderful, it's everything I love most in games, i just wish there was more. More grotesque monsters, more adorable witch romance, more time to get good at magic and create my ideal build. Also i really wish I'd started making potions earlier, didn't realize it was a thing until the last day. They were helpful in the last battle though.
Glad you enjoyed it! Revenant was a one month game jam project, so there was a limit to how big a game we could make it, but Stardander School for Witches will definitely have a lot more time to learn spells, experiment with builds, and obviously more enemies.
just looking at the at the stats button makes me insatiably curious about the magic system, I'm already getting super hyped to learn more about this world in the upcoming Stardander School game.
Fun game! Looking forward to playing/buying Stardander School for Witches when it comes out on Steam!
Only complaint: It would be fantastic if you added a load option in the main menu and if saves loaded to exactly when they were made (such as at a choice) as opposed to the start of a scene.
Thanks again for the game! :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! The start button lets you load games, or start new games, so I don't think a separate load button is needed. You can delete saves (the red button next to each slot) if you want to start a new game in one of the old slots.
I did want to load exactly where you left off, but because of the way scenes are handled, it's a lot more complicated than it sounds (simple for some scenes, but some scenes have battles, events, and variables that are tough to store/load). So, I just tried to make sure there were lots of save points, and you can skip pretty quickly to choices by holding the skip button.
Good to know about the save points starting at the beginning of scenes - I’ll make good use of the skip button! :D
I get how to use the start button when you open the game to start a new game or load a game file, but is there a load option when you open up the in-game menu when you’re playing? I see History, Help, Save Game, Options, Quit to Title, and Return to Game. It would be fantastic to have load as an option there imo!
Oh, I see what you mean - you have to quit to title and then load. I could add a load option to the in game pause menu.
I would appreciate it if you did! :)
(Though I will be playing/buying the full game either way.)
there was nothin , no food , no potions, nothin, story to short, it felt like a child book that you flip one page and your at the end, truly the best troll game, i was aspecting legendary skills the whole time i was playing, alas this was just a demo will not accept or forgive you if this was the entire game it's like here's your present and then you say sike it ain't yours it's mine
dramatic much? how much did you pay? 😉
you know how much i paid for this game, but if you do not here's a list of my of payment's:
1.My Time.
2.My Love.
3.My Attention.
4.My Hope.
5.My Dreams.
6.My Nightmares.
7.My unyielding Loyalty towards the continuous of the story.
8.My Freedom
you can't be serious. 😂😂😂
Short but fun game. A question though, how do you use potions in this game? I tried to use items but nothing happened.
You can only use them in battle - select the use item option, then select the potion you want to use and it'll ask for a target and count like spells.
I could select the potion and select the enemy to use it on, but when I press confirm nothing happened.
Just tried it in game, and it's throwing an error - I guess I never actually tried to use potions XD. I've made a bunch of changes to the original game (and the potions are already fixed there) - so I'll transfer those over and update revenant once I'm done with the Stardander demo (have to get it ready for the Steam Next Festival).
deciding to replay the game because fun :>
bootiful and fun and funny game. if an extended version of this existed (for browser, i play on chromebook and cannot download games ;-;) i would play it without hesitation.
this game so good but i personally felt that it is so short. i really love this game from the combat, the story, the dialogue, so good yet so limited. so much more i want to do, to found, to experience. i know that this is just a little spin off and there's a larger and grander game coming up soon, but that also mean we hit the real end for this story which makes me kind of sad.
Gave this a quick playthrough, fun times. I really enjoyed the management elements and the relatively large impact they had on the RPG gameplay in terms of ability gating etc, and the RPG combat has an interesting balance between being 'able to predict what will happen next' versus 'not sure how many attacks etc'. Pacting an enemy seemed nearly impossible and even on normal it took a few goes to figure out how to go about taking down some of them.
My feeling was despite the various choices I couldn't tell how much was going on under the hood in terms of changing of the story, or even if there was any (besides getting a hug CG or a kiss CG at the end), though it's more excusable in a short story form like this. I suppose the stat raising will be more Fire Emblem 3H, with a full cast and crew, in the full game?
I really liked the two leads, though not having any other character portraits for the students was a bit jarring, and I feel like there were timing elements with delivery (very click-click-click with no dramatic impact caused by pauses, screenshake, etc). But it was a good run nonetheless.
Wow! Great combat system, it integrates nicely with the vn parts. The difficulty was okay for me, though I didn't make it through the double night mares. :D I really liked the pact ability and that you could attempt to communicate with the enemies.
Just like the last commenter, really impressed with the polish in the game systems. The combat system isn't too hard as to be frustrating at the normal level and isn't so easy as to be boring. Kudos!
I loved seeing the relationship develop between our two leads- the pet names are a personal favourite. I really loved Dianthus' design as well
Really impressed at the polish for the systems in this game and loved how bittersweet it is, the ending was really satisfying to me! I'll definitely keep my eye out for the main game!
Just looking at it I thought the main characters were both dudes, until I saw the 'More info tags'. Anime has skewed my view on all animated characters.
It was such a fun game and the character design is absolutely gorgeous. I'm excited for the upcoming game. The Phoebe farewell at the end of the credits was heartbreaking though :( RIP <3
Honestly, this was an amazing game! I loved the characters and the world, and I really had a blast playing this!
It really makes me consider getting the main game when it comes out, although that seems to be a lot more focused on the management part, which I'm not as huge a fan of, so I'll have to wait and see.
But, if you ever make a full game in this style that was more character focused like this one, I'd buy it in a heart beat!
I'm glad you enjoyed Stardander Revenant! Definitely keep an eye on Stardander - it does have more characters and witch management, but each of the characters has a story arc, with the main story centering around Dare (the headmaster cat).
I noticed that one of the devs on Steam mentioned that they're worried constantly changing perspectives year to year would be jarring. So what if you introduce the characters that'll be playable in the future in the previous chapter(s)? That way the player would get to know the characters are like before they play them, which would make the transition smoother. Kind of like in stories that use third person limited? Is that the right term? Like here, the player experiences the story from Griselda's POV, and we get to know Dianthus through her. So it would be a lot less jarring for the player if the game switched to Dianthus's POV in a post-October storyline, versus switching to Dianthus's POV when she wasn't introduced in Griselda's storyline at all. Sorry if this all sounds really convoluted, I've been told I skip a lot of details when explaining.
That's already the plan - you can talk to and befriend other characters that become perspective characters in future years, and they affect the plotlines of all years even if they aren't the perspective character that year!
if there was a way to vote you for the best game maker, i think you'd win.
Awww, that's super sweet of you to say! Thank you! ^_^
This game is amazing. I really like the gameplay and the characters. Their designs were amazing. I also like the persona schedule type gameplay where the player can only choose up to 2 subjects to learn per week so it makes for an interesting combat combination. I think the fights were not difficult except for the specter and the last boss. I love this game and I hope to be able to play the main game soon!!
Thank you, we're so glad to hear you enjoyed the gameplay and characters!! And thanks for sharing you playthrough. ^_^ Hope you enjoy the main game, too.
I just played your game. Really amazed on how you blended in the turn based battle system within your visual novel. The art style gave me a jrpg vibes which you can never go wrong with if execute it right, and you executed it right. Even as a fellow competitor, you have my vote to win this jam.
Wow, I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! And so pleased that you liked the battle system and the art style. ^_^ Thank you for the vote of confidence, that is so uplifting for us. Good luck to you, too!
I really enjoyed this game. The story was well written and I liked the combat system. Keep up the good work!
So glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for sharing your play through. ^_^
This was a really great and heartfelt story! Usually I'm not much for battle systems, but the way characterization and strategy were connected in this one actually captured my attention all the way through. Amazing work <3
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I really like this battle system, although originally it was much harder (and I ended up making that hard mode haha). I saw your game Frightwood in the jam and played it because the art looked so good - and it was fun! I kind of suspected what the "treasure" would be, but the pumpkin dude was hilarious!
Heh, I can see what you mean about the hard mode. I played it on Normal and already found it pretty challenging, while still being fun!
What I like most about it is the little flavor lines and subtext we get from the attacks - Like how Dianthus protests over using her Pact, argues with the fae when she tries to communicate and how Griselda says "Awww so you do care!" when she is healed. Just great stuff that really fits their plot and characterization.
And I'm glad you got a kick out of playing Frightwood! :D
I wanted to blend the battles and the story so that they felt a part of the game and not just random battles, and I think I got the balancing of normal just right now - I'm glad that came across!
For Farspeak, as a small easter egg, if you get Griselda to learn Farspeak (level 3 telepathy), she gets a choice of dialogue with interesting effects, instead of just being grumpy like Dianthus XD.