Inifis (Free, Short, Multi-Ending RPG) Introduction and Review

This is an introduction and review article of "Inifis," an entry submitted by Nigeashi to the "16th WOLF RPG Editor Contest."
This is a short, multi-ending RPG where the protagonist is a priest struggling to regain his normal life after his roommate is chosen as a vessel for a saint in a ritual.

It took me about 2 to 3 hours to clear all the endings.

Game Overview

The protagonist, Keiles, is a priest who is ostracized by the villagers because his parents dabbled in a forbidden practice.
Spending peaceful days alone with her (the player enters her name), the day of the ceremony is approaching once again this year.

However, Neuro, the master of the capital who is performing the ritual, says that he will use "her," the girl they are living with, as the vessel, rather than the girl they brought as a candidate.

Unable to use "her" as a vessel, Keiles struggles to avoid it within the limited time he has.

Time passes rapidly within the story, so you must act efficiently and without wasting time.

There isn't just one way to avoid using her as a vessel.
There are various ways to escape, such as the two of you fleeing the village, killing the guru, or even killing all the villagers.
The ending will vary depending on the method you choose.

The battles are traditional turn-based command battles.
Due to the nature of the story, you can challenge almost all the characters to a fight, but if you fight recklessly, you'll be easily defeated.
Once you reach the ending, you can carry over your abilities and items to a New Game Plus, so keep playing and improving your skills.

There are 14 different endings, and you can check the conditions for each ending in a dedicated field.
Additionally, hints for potential points where you might get stuck are included in the notepad file that comes bundled with the game.
If you use these as a guide, it won't be too difficult to see all the endings.

Review (contains spoilers)

From this point onward, there are major spoilers, so it is recommended that you at least obtain the "Heart of Return" in the game before continuing.

I got so engrossed that I finished it all in one go.
As the author has explicitly stated that they respect "Shii's Gravedigger -The Good People-" and "Fanastasis," this work has an atmosphere that feels like a combination of those works.

Both works have a dark and gloomy atmosphere, and I think they blended together very well.
Thanks to the save data transfer feature, the combat difficulty wasn't too high, and after becoming somewhat strong, I was able to focus on strategizing like in an adventure game, which was great.

It's not exactly a narrative trick, but I myself had convinced myself that the person at home was my sister.
However, upon carefully reading the text during subsequent playthroughs, I realized that no one referred to "her" (who was sleeping at home) as "little sister," and I was fooled.
It is precisely because Kayles himself is aware of this that he uses the words "sister" and "girlfriend" so precisely.
I was surprised when I first found out the truth in the hidden passage in the catacombs.

For some reason, the rogue ending where you escape from the teleportation circle to the demon world is what sticks in my mind.
She ultimately dies while on the run, but I felt a sense of accomplishment in seeing it through to the end.
It seems Rogue also made a deal with a demon, so he may have had similar circumstances to Kayles.

For some reason, Ali Morsheed, who appears in Palestine towards the end of Osamu Tezuka's "Message to Adolf," came to mind (I wonder if anyone else will understand that reference?).

I think every player has their own idea of what constitutes the "true ending," but for me, the more traditional "comeback" ending was the best.
Facing one's own lies and mistakes and moving forward into the future is, in my opinion, a simple yet hopeful conclusion.