Monstrata Fracture
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
I knew college would be a different experience, but I didn't expect it to be a different world!
I should have known something was up when the main campus burned down and I had to start attending school in a creepy haunted castle. As it turns out, the reputation is deserved - the place is full of monsters nobody else seems to be able to see.
It doesn't take long for them to notice me, either. But... not in the way you'd expect monsters to notice a human in their midst.
What do I do? Let an alkonost take me to tea? Or preserve the stability of the barrier between worlds? Even if the monster world is drawing me in, I can't help but feel like something is wrong...
And maybe I can fix it...
"Monstrata Fracture" is currently in development. We'll be updating it every couple of months with new content and characters. Thanks for playing!
Currently Features:
- 5 cute monsters to date!
14 backgrounds with 21 total variations!
35k words! More on the way!
- Blinking and speaking animation!
Questionable life choices!
- Customizable protag!
- Pronoun options!
- Phone calls with your mother!
Recommended for ages 16 and up.
Content Warnings:
Death: player character
Fantasy racism
Slavery
Unhealthy relationships
Alcohol
Language
- Sexual themes
Glasses DLC:
We now have a bonus file for anyone who'd like to support this game's development!
With it, you can add glasses to any or all of the route characters.
To install:
Download the DLC file, without unzipping/extracting it.
Open the in-game Preferences menu and select 'Load DLC' then select the DLC .zip file from wherever you have saved it-- The game will reload to add the DLC.
Please contact us if you encounter any problems, this is a beta feature!
(It has been tested on Windows and Linux but not Mac, so especially let us know if you have trouble using it on Mac!!)
If the above method doesn't work, click here for manual instructions.
If you'd prefer to receive physical items in exchange, we have a merch shop on our website:
And if you'd prefer to financially support in a more long-term sense, we also have a Patreon!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Elsie's Chapter 2 update is now live!!Dec 08, 2023
- Thank you for your patience ❤Oct 20, 2023
- Halloween Merch Sale & New Merch!!Oct 31, 2020
- Where We Are and Where We're HeadedOct 16, 2020
- Chapter 2 Update: Cailean!Dec 27, 2019
- Save Repair PatchOct 17, 2019
- Chapter 2, Part 1 Public ReleaseOct 07, 2019
- Contest Results!!May 23, 2019
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
this looked so good, hopefully they come back
i hope so tooo
Merch shop is down :-( Will it be back in future?
anyone know where you meet viviette
refuse to hang out with the bunny girl when she ask to
thanks
I'M SO EXCITED!!!
honestly… me too!!!
-v
Are you guys still working on this vn? it looks promising!
yes! The latest update went to patrons last Friday and should be up on this page in a month or so. We’ll announce the specific date in a couple of weeks!
-v
Anyone has news of the devs ? I remember that they used to make dev logs pretty frequently... I hope they are okay
Yes we are okay and alive! Thank you for thinking of us. 💕
We’ve spent the last several years caught in a vortex of client work on other indie games to stay afloat and build our game development experience and relationships— coming up on this holiday season we’ve had an early break on QA work, which is financially somewhat concerning… but has left an open space to devote time and energy to finally putting out Elsie’s chapter 2 content, then to spend NaNoWriMo on Nikolai, then Vivietta and Deka.
I’m hoping someday we can make enough from our original work to be able to devote time more regularly with more stability, but in the meantime at least one update is coming publicly at the end of November, and others will see progress! We’ll aim to make devlogs more frequently again in the future so you can hear more of what is happening with it.
-v
Hi there! I don't know if this is still being worked on actively, however I discovered a bug a while ago while playing. In the scene in chapter two where francis is talking to you about your date with Deka, when the option to say either it was or wasn't a date comes up, both of the options lead to a bug screen. I decided to investigate this on my own and I believe I found the problem!
It said ""plot/ch2/ch2_03_frances_doubt.rpyc", line 116, in script" had an issue defining name "d". It seems that in the file "characters.rpyc" you defined a lot of charaters, such as nikolai, as a letter like "n" however it seems like Deka was left out of that list, meaning there wasn't a line defining Deka as "d". I could be completely wrong with this, as I don't actually make games and I was using an online tool to view the files, but it was just something I wanted to check out.
Thank you for letting us know about this! Your investigation did properly identify the source of the problem: Because Deka doesn’t speak verbally, no character was defined ‘d’ for just ‘deka’, and instead there are two; ‘dw’ for ‘deka writing’ and ‘dt’ for ‘deka typewriter’. So, when we went to track the character in the romance/friend list, it was too easy to pick the wrong one.
Thanks to your comment, the issue is fixed internally as of today! It didn’t make it into the most recent Patreon build (from last Friday, 10/27), but will be in the public release of Elsie’s chapter 2 content- which should be coming out around the end of November.
WOOOOOOO! I am so excited! I was starting to think this would be an abandoned project, but I am so glad it isn't! I am also very happy that I was able to help, I have always wanted to do something to help with a video game, so thats one item off my bucket list.
I really love this game and I think about it 24/7 lol. I'm madly in love with Cailean I wanna smooch da handsome man- I wonder if the next update will come this year
It will! Elsie’s second date was released on Patreon last Friday, so should be publicly available around the end of November. There isn’t much new in it for Cailean- but Tremaine has a full sprite with expressions, which makes a big difference to the experience of every scene he’s in. Feel threatened by an overprotective elder brother figure… now in HD color ✨
I’m also excited to hear it’s made such an impact for you! If you’re ever looking for more content/info or feel like you’d like to chat with other people who are thinking about it A Lot, Discord is our most active community— and I know there’s at least one 24/7 Cailean Treasurer there who might enjoy some additional camaraderie against the red-feathered flock. 🐦
-v
I played this game around when it first came out and kept track of all the early updates, I was a little disappointed to see that updates haven't made in awhile after revisiting it but I joined the discord and it looks like they are still working on the game and it hasn't been abandoned! They have just been focusing on other work and are resuming working on Monstrata as of a few months ago
Thank you so much for vouching for us! I know it’s disappointing for everyone that things have been silent for so long. I promise, it won’t be forever!
Thank you for your continued support. ❤❤❤
- Ren
So glad to know you are still working on it!!! It's an amazing project!
I remember this game in 2018 before my old laptop croaked. I have a new one now and there doesn't appear to be any updates? The discord and merch links no longer work and the patreon hasn't been updated since June 2021. Very sad to see such a great project being abandoned.
Oh dear- I saw that the merch link had broken when we updated the website, but I had no idea the discord link was also having issues. When I click it it takes me to the server, and it seems to be listed as an active invite. What do you see? The discord server is still active and the location we check most frequently.
I’m really glad you consider our work to be a great project, and although there has been a long break we plan to soon have more content for you to play on your new laptop. 🙂
- Val
Is this game completed already?? :(
No, sorry!! :( It will still be a while yet. - Val
I remember playing the game for the first time months ago, possibly even year, and (like a fool) I am still waiting for the next release, though I know that I'll probably never see the full game... T_T
So many projects are abandoned, it really does feel hopeless to hold out on a dream that one that has been left for years could keep going…
We’ll do our best to be the exception and prove that you—and everyone with the same feeling—personally don’t have any reason to feel foolish.
Thank you for believing in us!
- Val
OMG YALL REPLIED TO ME AAAA I'll wait till I'm old and grey if I have to!! love your game!!
It takes a while but we try to eventually respond at least once to each of the comments here! Reading such immense love and support for the game (and so many interesting and thoughtful reactions!) is what really inspires us to keep going and working to figure out how to rearrange our lives to make space for this large project.
Even if we release updates regularly it might take at least until I’m old and grey….! But, it will be worth it to get to share how the story unfolds— with everyone who has waited, and everyone who has yet to play. 🙂
-v
Content warnings:
- Unhealthy relationships
... *is running like crazy to download the game* :))
p.s. love you, guys!
same here :)
Haha—I can relate some, sometimes it really is just nice to find a story where the writers actually know the relationships they’re writing aren’t healthy.
love you too! :)
- Val
Can't wait for Nikolai's route!
I'm cheering for you, guys!
After Elsie, Nikolai comes next! His chapter 2 content is already partially written, so we should be able to put some previews of it on Patreon soon.
When it comes out I hope you will be able to rest easily, knowing for certain that any and all of his continued toxicity is acknowledged and intentional 😌✨
-v
I'm enjoying this and playing through all the available content. the story so far and all the characters are compelling and interesting but I have to say a few aspects feel a bit too much to me... the fantasy racism is so everpresent in every single plot thread and very, very real and heavy to the point where it takes me out of the game. it feels like it clashes a bit with the premise and artstyle and tone, like every corner I turn I'm being hit out of nowhere with a stop sign labelled "BIGOTRY"... Vivietta's route in particular - and everything about her I see outside of her route - it just feels like something I can't just pick myself up and continue on after. it's supposed to be upsetting and unfair, but for what purpose? what part of the fantasy is it supposed to be playing into? as I said they're interesting storylines and dynamics but it just gets to a point where it's a bit crushing, how all the characters have concepts/traits/dialogue that are either reflections of extreme privilege, reflections of extreme prejudice, or reflections of extreme oppression
edit: also having now played through Cailean's full route... there's a pretty thorough and uncomfortable linkage of the kelpies with african americans. the main character even remarks that "tremaine" is a strange name but it's very popular in that demographic... they're at odds with/in danger of the police and incarceration, they're used as manual labor paid less, they're ex and current slaves... and then they're also giant, dangerous shark-toothed carnivores that eat people...
Oh dear, the 'dangerous people eating' group being the black stand in is... unfortunate. I was really excited to play this after waiting a few yrs for more progress to be made but I'm going to have to consider the mental strain of the possibly poorly handled isms within the game.
Hopefully some will be redeemed over time, but any time a dangerous or predatory fantasy race is linked with slavery, even if it's attempting to be sympathetic, it really speaks to the number real internalised racism has done to most people.
With all honesty, I think it was to show that the "higher" class despised and demonized them, whereas most of them are peaceful and nice and calm, you know? (at least thats how I remember Cailean's route to be)
Cailean makes it clear his brother could, and might, kill and eat you. And then Tremaine also makes that clear
There are a few in-world options to explain this. Although a stereotype isn't true generally, there can still be individuals who fit it the same way someone of another group could, who are then held up to justify the perception. Systemic oppression can also drive some to the stereotypical actions, raising a statistic. Someone could also lean into the perception if it bonds them with others or seems beneficial in another way; or, regular internalized prejudice. Or any combination of these.
- Val
Yes, this is how it is meant to be interpreted! Some players don't read it this way, and for the people who are unfamiliar with how those perceptions spread, they may have to figure it out over a longer period of time—that’s ok too. For the people who are anxious from having been burned by poor handling of the subject, I hope that we can provide information to reduce that feeling, and get more of an idea of what would assuage their doubts in-narrative.
- Val
I hope my comment above can make this feel a little better— but, if you're ever looking for more detailed content warnings or have questions about what sorts of things you would run into in a given route, we're always available to answer, especially on Discord. 💕
- Val
I’m really glad you enjoyed at least the beginning, and also that you like the characters and dynamics!
A good portion of the story is fairly heavy, especially Vivietta's content. To do justice to such serious subjects some level of despair is probably inevitable, but the goal is to balance it with moments of levity—I really prefer dark subjects and dark fantasy, but I also don't like feeling too drained in the long term. In a lot of places I'm happy with that balance, but a lot of the writing is also quite old and hasn't been reviewed recently to avoid delaying new content any further—Ren improves all the time, so we could get in a long loop of fixing everything repeatedly. 😅
I can tell you liked a lot of aspects of it, so if it does seem like the kind of story you're interested in, I would be very interested to hear if there were particular segments that felt too down for too long—but if it doesn't and the setting is too generally depressing, I'd also be interested in thoughts on what would have conveyed that to you in the content warnings.
about the edit: It makes sense to draw this connection, because in present-day America that is how we primarily associate these stereotypes and issues. However, this is actually not the intent. Kelpies are creatures from Celtic mythology, and Cailean and Tremaine are both names of Celtic origin- Sawyer mentions Cailean’s name while commenting on Tremaine’s, trying to place them (and not getting there). In older times and especially in England, these violent stereotypes were also applied to Irish immigrants, who faced some similar issues. Eating people specifically is associated with both kelpies and negative perceptions of the Irish during famine. These were all partial inspirations, although it isn't a strict parallel and is altered for the rest of the setting.
The story doesn’t and won’t prominently feature prejudice against black or black-coded people, as an intentional decision based on the fact that there is too much of that in the real world. Part of Sawyer’s dilemma is the choice between a world that judges them unfairly, and stepping into a new world free of that— that isn’t at all free of many other things.
- Val
"One guy is wearing what might honestly be the bottom half of a fursuit, even in the ebbing heat of summer. Furries sure are dedicated"
Damn right, that's how I got a heat stroke in my first outing of my fullsuit in the dead center of June... I uh... don't recommend it.
Jokes aside, this game is just- *happy gay noises*
I’ve always had some admiration for those who show up to a midsummer convention in a full fursuit. It’s bad enough in normal cosplay, I can’t imagine how bad it is inside all that fur and foam! There’s a foot of snow outside and yet I’m sweating just thinking about it. XD
- RenI’m so glad that this game has been able to supply you with some happy gay noises ❤ I know the feeling c:
I’ve just finished playing and I’m in love ????? I need more, can’t wait to see how it goes, unfortunately I can’t support the creators with money, but I will do what I can and give my own kind of support <3
That is completely okay! You are beloved for supporting us with your appreciation for the game and your patience as we work on it very slowly haha. ❤
- Ren
i absolutely love this so far!!! i've always liked fantasy related games, and this was an indulging experience. the story is well-written and each of the characters are captivating, both because of the stunning artstyle and how different they all are! :D my fave has to be Cailean for now, he's really nice! i wish the developers the best of luck and i hope this gets continued. <33
Thank you!! For both your compliments and the luck. 😊
We’ll use it to make sure it gets continued, so you can spend more time with Cailean. 💜
- Val
Just put in 4 hours into this game. Just finished 2 routes so far. I persnoaly feel the newtral route should have more then a non monster ending. It would be neet if the Nekromancher started killing humans like your roomate who starts seeing them and chooses not to stop like you did. Also I can not find the 5th doll character you show in your art? I hope you get the time to finish this. I LOVE MONSTER GIRLS.
Honestly, you’re right. That would be so cool! I have some concepts for what a neutral route looks like while staying in the monster world, but we haven’t been able to add them yet to prevent the project from getting larger than it already is. Maybe someday…!
The fifth character is actually a little hard to find- you have to follow Elsie instead of Cailean, and then turn her down or you won’t get the Vivietta intro events. We still need to review that so it will probably change to become easier, but for now that will find her.
Monster girls are really great. :)
- Val
Is this game still going? I really enjoyed it when I played it years ago.
I was kind of dissapointed to see virtually nothing has been added in over a year.
It might sound kind of stupid, but honestly I am too. We’ve never been incredible at keeping track of time, but the last few years have escaped very quickly and for the most part without us resolving the issues that were getting in the way of releasing the next update… which was fully written very soon after the last release, almost exactly three years ago.
- ValHowever, our development and QA contracting business that has been taking most of our attention for that time is a little more stable now, and we’re finally getting some time back to address the blockers- so, more than a promise of progress, we actually have some progress to post about. :)
Do you know what the price will be when this is finished by chance? I'd like to add it to the correct category in my collections. It looks so fantastic, so definitely keeping an eye on this one!
The completed game on itch will be free c: (which is why it takes us so long to make, it doesn't generate much money)
but we work with a lot of console games for our "day job, pays-the-bills" work, so after the game is complete we might consider re-releasing on console, and that version would cost money. That's very far in the future though, and I don't have a figure for it.
Thank you for your support! :D
is this game still made ? I don´t see any news on twitter or patreon and i am wondering what´s going with developement? Is everyone doing ok?
Yes, the game is still being made and everyone is doing okay c: Still juggling it between contract work and life obligations, but we’ve made significant progress over the last two or three months.
Thanks for checking in on us ❤
- Ren
I
love
this game so far.
I got to the end of the content talking with Elsie, and the only complaint I can have is that there isn't more of it. I Absolutely look forward to the future updates, and if I have the spare cash around, I'll certainly fund this project
Thank you so much, we really appreciate it!! Elsie will be the next character to receive a content update, we just haven't had time/bandwidth to make it happen. (It exists, it's written, it's just not in the game yet)
Looks fun! Although I'll be waiting for the full game's release
Totally reasonable. Thank you for your support! c:
7/10, can't wait to see the finished game!
Thank you so much! :D
I was having so much fun with this! The art is amazing, the characters are fun the story keeps me wanting more and the music is amazing! Looking forward to updates!
Thank you so much! We appreciate your support ❤
is the project still going
It absolutely is c:
thank god it is! I love you(❤´艸｀❤) thank you so much!
I'm so glad
I love this game so much! There are so few fantasy dating sim games that actually stick to fantasy characters instead of making them look like regular humans. I'm in love with Nikolai's design, by the way. So excited for the rest of the game. You guys a doing a great job!
Thank you so much for saying so!! Sometimes I look at the designs and stress over, "but are they monstrous enough?" and then the other dev has to set me back on track and tell me to stop worrying over stuff like that haha! Thank you so much for enjoying our work! Nikolai really is eye-catching; I also love looking at him, haha!
Oh my god i loved this so much! the art is gorgeous and i love the added detail by the animation. The character design is so far my favorite and i swear to god I'd lose my mind if i dont see this getting more attention! this is so well made and the storyline is juicy!
Thank you so much, your enthusiasm is infectious! *:･ﾟ✧ ❤ Your favorite character design?? Aaa, thank you so much!! Who do you like most? ❤
Ahhh this game is amazing! The art is wonderful, and the music fits the scenes so well! Not to mention the captivating story :} I can't wait to see where it goes in the future <3
Thank you so much! I hope that it will only get better and that you will love seeing it progress!
honestly this game is great and the art is gorgeous. very excited to see more :)
Thank you so much for this sweet comment! I hope you will enjoy the future content; we are working hard on it! *:･ﾟ✧❤
Nice, looking forward for updates and what you will do with game in the future. I'm curious, have you thought about letting people 3d print some of the stuff from the game?
Thank you!! I hope you will enjoy the future content!!
I think I need a little more context on what you mean by 3D printing stuff from the game, but I'd love to hear what you're thinking! Can you tell me more? *:･ﾟ✧
Well, basically any 3d model can be 3d printed. And with 3d printers becoming cheaper every day. You could have some of your characters available to 3d print.
That's true! It's something we have considered, but unfortunately we don't have 3D models of our characters, which means somebody would first have to create the models.
Aww, thank you so much!! With only two of us, it's hard for us to keep working on it outside our regular jobs (which are also in making videogames haha) and I'm really happy and grateful that you still enjoy the old content enough that it doesn't disappoint! I hope we can make a lot of great progress in 2021. ❤
Thanks a lot for this amazing piece of art.
Love u all, make sure to prioritize your healthy, kissus from Brazil to wherever you are.(○｀ 3′○)
You're very welcome, thank you for saying such nice things about it!
We'll do our best to prioritize our health and still make the game happen. ( •̀_•́)ง ✧
is the game still being made
It is! Thanks for checking in on us so regularly. It means a lot to us that you keep coming back to ask ❤
My skeleton likes another skeleton officially haha I love Deka they are too cute and I love how in depth the characters are its really refreshing and sweet.
Official skeleton love!! What a good match.
Thanks so much!! I'm really glad you like the story- and Deka ❤✧
Hi! So I just wanted to ask how far along you are, and maybe when a final release might be foreseeable? I loved the game back when I bought it in 2017 and also after I bought the glasses content when that came out, but I held off from playing it after that when I realized the content was quite short and the routes would end quickly. There were also huge gaps in updates between 2017-presently, so I figured this was a build at your own pace game, due to outside factors like school or work. With that in mind I figure the game still won't be finished just yet, especially since it looks like 2 more characters were added since I last played, but could you elaborate vaguely even on when you think all the routes will be finished or when there's another update? Thx so much and thank-you for your hard work!
yeah, i was wondering that too ,,,
I hope the response can answer your questions as well! If there are other things you are wondering, let me know. c:
Thanks so much for this really sweet comment, and for being there for us from the beginning, over such a long time. That means a lot to us 😭
We'd really like to finish it soon but it's not very possible mostly because of the size, and because of the other factors you mentioned. We both have full time jobs and our financial situation has for a long while not been stable enough to handle much turbulence, so when things go wrong we end up losing all our time to fixing it.
However, usually during that time there is still some work getting done on Monstrata even as we lose track of social media. In this case, we have the writing and new sprite ready for the next update, and it needs to be implemented with expressions and backgrounds. (We also need to make more backgrounds and silhouettes.) Usually that would be a couple of weeks of work, but it's unsure because of the training for a separate team member on implementation who we have brought on to get the updates out faster in the future.
It should safely be within a month, and then crossed fingers that the next one could be within another 2 months. We'd really like to keep up that rate if possible, but unfortunately it would still take six more months to finish chapter 2, and a year for each chapter after that. :(
Because of that, we resigned ourselves that finishing is not as urgent a goal as making regular updates and increasing their size and frequency over time. Size, we have, as the next one is 13,000 words! Frequency, we are always working on- We're hoping the latest process changes (and a little life stabilization) will make a big difference.
I hope that info is helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions. c:
No prob! Thanks for the reply and this is completely understandable. Tbh I figured the game had prob lacked somewhat in progress due to outside factors (which no offense hopefully, since there is nothing wrong with that! We have to take care of ourselves right? Plus life is life, so it's cool). I'm just glad you responded to let me know, I appreciate that. I love playing visual novels in general, so since it'd been a while since I last played your game and I just wanted to know where you guys were at. Once again thanks so much for the reply! Have a good week, and stay happy and healthy!
You too! ❤ Thanks for being so understanding, and once again thanks for checking in! ✧
AAA god this game is so far amazing , i played trough every route ;-; ,,NIKO BEST BOII
Wow I'm so glad you liked it so much!! And that Nikolai is so loved as well! About his being the best... I think he would agree with you. ;) ✧
Hope this gets updated soon! Really loved the setting and plot so far, and the characters are interesting!
Thank you!! We're changing how we do things so this update took a very long time, but it should be ready to be updated soon! We'll know when in the next couple of weeks. ✧
This game is super cute! I can't wait until it's finished.
Thanks!! We'll work hard to finish it as fast as we can. ( •̀ _ •́ )ง ✧
I LOVE this VN! I will support for the full game.
I'm really glad you love it so much- Thanks for your support! 💕
Of course!:)