Arthur Hope is a spirit photographer, able to capture images of the departed with his camera.

At least, that's what he'd like you to believe. After all, any price is worth paying to see a loved one's face again, isn't it?

Unfortunately for him, ghosts just might be more real than he realised.


Note: Web build may be laggy or have other glitches. Downloading the game is recommended for the best experience.



This game contains themes of death and grief, body horror, mentions of being burned and buried alive, mild jumpscares and potentially unsettling images.

  • 5k words
  • Four endings
  • Some light pointing and clicking
  • Original soundtrack
  • Hand drawn artwork and an old timey photo aesthetic
  • An awful protagonist
  • An adorable ghost



Photography, art, story, programming, UI, design by ENDYSIS

Music & Sound by Calamanser

RESOURCES USED:

Easy Ren'py GUI - Feniks

Public Domain Images from Wikipedia Commons




Click here for the Ending Guide

Created in one week for SCREAM JAM 2024.


Looking for another ghost story? Try haunting a suit of armour...


Relationships between the living and the undead aren't always wise, like in this monstrous romance...





Updated 13 days ago
StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux
Rating
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
(33 total ratings)
AuthorENDYSIS
GenreVisual Novel
Made withRen'Py
TagsAtmospheric, Dark, Ghosts, Gothic, Historical, Horror, Male protagonist, Point & Click, Romance, Story Rich
Average sessionA few minutes

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

portraitofaghost-1.2-market.zip 164 MB

Development log

Comments

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(1 edit) (+1)

Amazing! Got the ending 4 on first try and refused to get the other endings in fear of a bad ending lmao

LOL absolutely valid, thank you for playing!

(+1)

I absolutley love this game (The same with the others ENDYSIS created). But I have a question! Does anyone know where I can get music which can be heared in this game? I couldn't find it on ENDYSIS sound cloud :c. 

Hi! The soundtrack was created by my friend this time instead of me, you can get it on bandcamp! https://calamanser.bandcamp.com/album/portrait-of-a-ghost-original-soundtrack

Thank you <3 

(+1)

omg endy, you did it again!

was excited to play this one since i received your newsletter about it and — once again — i wasn't disappointed! thank you very much for sharing this gem with us. i was able to get ending number four on my first try, and although i'm very tempted to get the other ones, i was so fond of it that i almost feel bad trying to get the others lol. 

once again, thanks for this amazing game

(+1)

Aw, thank you so much for playing another of my games! I'm glad you were able to enjoy it and get an ending you liked (ending 4 is also my favourite, haha).

(+2)

I love and appreciate this game so far!! Can't wait to play all the different endings!

Thank you for playing! ^^

(+4)

This game was right up my alley, I really waited until i was truly free to fully immerse myself into the story, and WOW was it worth it. Hooked right from the start, Arthur is such an interestingly written character, it was so fun trailing along with him as we uncovered more of the story. (that reveal by part 5- goosebumps) I'm happy we also got a little glimpse into what happened afterwards, was really bittersweet!

The photography element / mini game you added worked so well to draw up the suspense I did kinda stress out hoping not to see a sudden face in a corner LMAO.  Was really effective!

Truly well executed! I adore your art and writing, excited to jump right into the next entry when I'm free!!  (ง ื▿ ื)ว

(+2)

Aw, thank you so much! I'm really glad all the elements worked for you (it really made me smile to see this comment since I'm such a big fan of your art and writing!!) ;w;

(+1)

Big fan of this game (also, big thank you for having an ending guide because Ending 4 is my favourite!). Incredible talent from the music to audio to story and characters!

Thank you so much for playing it, I'm glad you enjoyed it!!

I tried downloadign this on my Mac and it says:

“portraitofaghost” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.

is there any way to fix this? I want to play so bad but it was very laggy on web T^T

Hello! itch.io's recommended solution for mac games is to download and play them via their app ( http://itch.io/app ) which should fix the issue! You may be able to find other ways of running the game depending on which mac os you use, but I'm unfortunately not able to test them out myself. ;^;

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, apple's really not friendly to small developers at all haha ^^;

(1 edit)

I don't usually play visual novels but that may change after this one. Really enjoyed the detail towards the scenery and torture that Arthur experiences. Before I realized it, I was pretty absorbed by the characters and story. It also helped me brush up on my English ( I only speak English but I do NOT read anymore lol).

Looking forward to more

Here's the gameplay if anyone's interested: 

Do you have a way to play the game in Arabic, or is there no? I need games like it, but in Arabic.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much for playing!

(+1)

thank you, endysis for scaring me out of my wits with this game, my coward heart will try to get the other endings next time when it isn't past midnight <33  your writing is beautiful as always and of course, you've created a perfectly haunting atmosphere not only with your writing but with the visuals. honestly i just adore how you do the gothic fiction genre so well; you're extremely talented and if ever you put out a short story collection know that i will eat it up. again, thanks for the game!!

(+2)

Ahh, thank you for the kind words! I'm so glad that you enjoyed this one and my other stories! ;v;

(+1)

Amazing story and a good way to pass the time. Beautiful visuals!

Thank you for playing it! ^^

(+1)

Beautiful game! Just, wow. A really neat twist on the "ghost in photographs" idea. Absolutely amazing, from art, to sound, to story

Thank you so much!

(+2)

I finally had the time to sit down and play this. I know I always get absorbed in your games so I waited until I'd be able to give it full attention.

Honestly I think the biggest compliment I can possibly give is that I was trying to keep track of all the things I wanted to praise in it but I kept losing track of them because I would just get so absorbed in the story. You are so masterful at combining pieces to make an incredibly cohesive whole.

What I do remember wanting to mention, in particular:

* ohhhhh I am OBSESSED with how the soundtrack faded between a heavily filtered grammophone-y mix into a very full mix in that one scene, that was SO good
* I LOVE that the cursor is designed like a viewfinder! That's so clever. Only minor note is that at least on the WebGL build it seemed like the active part of the cursor was not actually the center of the viewfinder, but once I realized where the active part is it was no problem.
* I really love what you did with the UI in general. Using the photo frames as text boxes... It's so elegant.
* I mean, I just love ghosts, a lot, so it's no surprise I loved this. Every time you depict ghosts it resonates with me. I ALSO love works that explore how ghosts interact with changing times and new emerging technologies, so of course a work about ghosts and the invention of the camera is 10000% my shit.
* I REALLY loved the fucked up horror sound-based tracks for particularly gruesome moments.

Honestly it feels wrong to just talk about the pieces that I loved because what makes it so good is how they all come together and make a really powerful experience. I also love it when the protagonist is awful.

10000/10 a million stars I only got ending 2 so far but want to come back for the others soon

(+2)

Seeing a comment from you always feels like getting a big hug, I super appreciate you not only playing my games but leaving a message that 100% brightens my day! (I passed on your comments to my friend who did the sound design, also YES you get me, terrible protagonists hell yeah)

(+1)

I totally missed until I saw this reply that you didn't do the sound this time! You guys make a really great team, the sound and visuals and story and everything were so cohesive. A++++ tier work from both of you.

[handshake emoji] terrible protagonists appreciation

(+1)

Short, but very well contained story, especially considering jam limitations. Loved how the photography theme was carried throught the UI and everything.

Thank you! I had a lot of fun designing the UI so I'm glad you noticed!

So I have a question. I notice this is free at the moment and I was wondering if I downloaded it on Chromebook, would I be able to redownload it onto my new computer when it arrives?

(+1)

I was sooo excited to the news of this release! Incredible game! Such a good story. The design was so creative and worked so well. Atmosphere was spot on, and I was genuinely creeped out. I loved the characters, and the ghost was indeed very adorable:) The mention of Samuel made me feel a lot of thing

(+1)

Thank you so much! I'm glad that all the elements worked well for you! :) I was wondering if anyone would get the reference to Sam, haha. :')

Loved it 💕💕

Deleted 26 days ago

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, thank you for playing! :D

(+1)

I haven’t played it yet, but the concept sounds so intriguing! The idea of capturing images of the departed and the twist of ghosts being more real than Arthur Hope expected has definitely piqued my interest. I'll come back after playing it <3

(1 edit) (+6)

Woke up to this being announced today, and I couldn't be more excited.

Idk if anyone else have this feeling but, other people's artworks had me kicking my feet and wanting to swallow it all, however Endysis, yours made me wanna be consumed by them.

I had always find something so amusing, so captivating in your writting and illustrations. Your paintings aren't just for the human eye -my soul enjoys their taste, too. My heart beats more rapidly whenever I think about your artworks; I suppose it's not the thrill, more like love. 

I have big feeling for your talent, Endysis.

(+1)

Thank you for leaving such a kind message. I really can't tell you how much it means; I'm grateful you've taken the time to play them and that you've gotten so immersed in them as well! ;v;