Waterborne: Immersion
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
A group of friends looking to have the best of days find themselves in the middle the worst
SYNOPSIS
Alex finds themselves standing in an 18th century styled grand salon, enraptured by the lavish decoration and atmosphere. Which would be a wondrous and welcome situation if not for the fact they have no memory of how they came to be there. As Alex begins to question everything, they discover that the answers are more and more sinister.
NOTE
This game was formerly titled 'Waterborne2' but has been renamed to 'Waterborne:Immersion' to better set the players expectation for story content. A full explanation can be found in the related devlog. It isn't essential to have played the first Waterborne game to play this sequel. However it is recommended to have done so in order to get the most out of this experience. It can be found here.
This visual novel contains a number of puzzles. If you're only wanting to play for the story or find the puzzles too hard to solve, the solutions can be found at the bottom of the 'About' page in the game menu which can be accessed at any time.
MAC USERS: You may have to 'right click' on the app and click 'Open' from the menu and choose 'Open' from the warning notification to get the game running. Because Apple like making things hard.
ABOUT
This game was created as a submission for the Spooktober 4th Annual Visual Novel Jam . This wasn't the original plan, though. The plan was to take my time and spend the whole of 2022 developing the game for a Halloween release. But unfortunately, after eight months, the only progress made was a very vague story outline and a folder full of background image reference scoured from the internet. Fortunately though, this meant the pre-preparation restrictions for the Spooktober hadn't been breached. When I realised this, motivation kicked in and I got to work.
The previous game, Waterborne was entered in the 2021 jam and was shortlisted among 35 other entries with highly positive reviews from those that played it. Hopefully this sequel will be equally well received.
Comments and feedback regarding the game are welcomed. Feel free to link any lets plays or reviews etc. Very interested to see/hear/read reactions to the game. If you'd like updates to this game or other lazytiger projects, you can follow here or on twitter.
FEATURES
- Mysterious and thought provoking storyline
- Unique watercolour/mixed media art style
- Multiple puzzles to solve
- 10k word count
- Estimated 60 mins of playtime
CREDITS
Made by lazytiger using Ren'Py
Full credits can be found in game.
VERSION HISTORY
- 0.1 Beta testing build
- 0.2 Beta testing build
- 0.3 Beta testing build
- 0.4 Spooktober 2022 release
- 0.5 Made Black Door puzzle easier to solve and other minor updates
- 0.6 Changed game title and made other minor updates
- 0.7 Added point and click exploration to hub area and Spooktober easter eggs
- 0.8 Added achievement system and made other minor updates
- 0.9 Added more easter eggs and removed most of the infinite pauses
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Spooktober shortlisting and 0.9 UpdateOct 31, 2022
- 0.8 UpdateOct 07, 2022
- 0.7 UpdateOct 06, 2022
- Name change and 0.6 updateOct 05, 2022
- Waterborne2 0.5 updateOct 01, 2022
Comments
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i loved it even tho i'm not a fan of horror at all! thank youuu!
I'm already a superfan of lazytiger and the first Waterborne game but - I have been waiting ALL YEAR for this game and once again lazytiger has delivered and then some.
This is a horror game with very cool puzzle-and-gameplay integration, an intriguing mystery, AND A REALLY CUTE ROMANCE OPTION. It was awesome being able to step back into the Waterborne universe and also not have to worry about my sieve of a memory to complete this game. The characters are lovable, but if anything I wanted more time with all of them - the game does a great job at delivering horror through isolation.
I also love how invested lazytiger is in updating and improving the game (like the achievements and titles) after its release - thank you for your commitment to Waterborne: Immersion!
It's Diary Hero Spae! <3
Thank you my friend! You are lovely and awesome and wonderful.
I am going to make a extended enhanced edition eventually just for you so you and Amica can go out on a date :D
NO U
Also,
Oh my gooooddd this game is so good!! I love escape rooms a whole lot and the way this one was integrated with the story was amazing, it had a lot of suspense and mystery and I was so on board with it!! The art for the sprites, backgrounds and overall objects was beautiful and charming, the flashlight effect is also something I've never seen before in a VN and I loved it!!
I feel proud that I could actually solve all the puzzles without cheating lol, they were super fun to play and gave me some Zero Escape vibes.
The ending... oh boy, I was NOT expecting that and now I'm desperate to know how the story continues!! I'm definitely going to try out Waterborne 1, survival horror VNs with puzzles are my jam!!
What else is there to say, the sound effects made everything even spookier and immersive, the moving title screen was very cool and I loved the detail of the Lazytiger logo being soaked by water.
Thank you so much for making this game, I had a lot of fun and I'm definitely adding it to my list of recommended!! ❤
I legit thought I had replied to this, I'm so sorry!
Thank you for all your kind words and taking the time to play the game in the first place! It means so much! As I'm sure you know.
I'm glad you liked it! I'm also a big fan of the escape room concept and I thought it'd be cool to have something that could be exactly that but then with more story and intrigue going on around and behind the scenes.
I am proud that you feel proud! That's exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for with the puzzles. Not so hard as to frustrate the player, but enough to create a sense of accomplishment. Funny you mention Zero Escape too. I'm currently playing through it. I'm really liking it, but I also really hate maths... soooo... it's a bit of a chore at times :D
Survival horror VNs with puzzles are my jam too! Would love to know what you think of the first game if you get a chance to check it out. It's very different to this one, but it is in the same vein.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment! Very much appreciated!
I genuinely had such a blast playing this! 😄
The story was so interesting! I was so intrigued the entire time. In general, I was just blown away by how much I loved the game. The art, the sound effects, and even the puzzles were so good!! I'm not usually a fan of puzzles in games, but I really loved these! They were challenging enough to feel rewarding when solved while not feeling impossible.
Seriously, cannot express enough how much I enjoyed playing!! 💖
Thank you thank you thank you so much for this! Had an absolutely awesome time watching. Super appreciate you taking the time the play, record and share. So very appreciated and am really glad you liked it!
And again... sorry for all the maths :D
Well, this is officially my favourite of all the games from the jam that I've played so far ^-^ Honestly, it's almost as though someone who knows me way too well made this for me as a gift xD That's how much it hit the spot, haha. I figured I'd like it a lot. Well, that's an understatement because I adore it <3
Having those sorts of escape room vibes in this story combined with the beautiful art and atmospheric SFX was just *chef's kiss* :3 And while I usually can't stand puzzles, I thought the ones here were pretty fun and not tooooo difficult! Plus having the solutions within the game is a great idea as well for anyone struggling, so that's appreciated too.
Also, loved the bits of humour and all the references here and there :D
As much as I would love to gush about the story, I don't want to accidentally spoil anything by saying something clumsy >.<
:O
More than just telling stories, I want to create experiences with my narrative stuff. As such, your comment is about as good as it gets for me. I'm so glad it was something that you could connect with. Thank you so much for playing and for your feedback. It has made my day.
I'm glad you still liked it even while not being a big puzzle fan. I'm also glad you didn't play the 0.4 version which had no in game solution list and the Black Gate puzzle had no way of being solved outside of Googling the reference if you didn't know it. My original playtester was stuck on it for an hour. Oops :D
Anyways, thanks again! So appreciated!
Well, you certainly succeeded there in my books! :3 I was just completely in my element playing through it. You'll have to forgive the pun, but I was well and truly immersed :D (Huge thumbs up on the decision to rename by the way!)
I guess it's not so much that I'm not a puzzle fan, more so that I'm just really crap at puzzles, and so tend to get frustrated quite quickly when I encounter them and generally can't solve them x3 I so desperately wanted to play the Zero Escape games without guides, but I stood no chance xD
Oooh, I see! Well, the knowledge was there in my brain to be able to solve it by myself, buuut, whether or not I would've actually made the connection without Googling is impossible to say now because I didn't really give my brain a chance to kick in on that one, I did just go straight to Google xD (Sorry, I'm terrible >.<) But damn, an hour :o That's some playtester dedication :D I think I would've maybe given it max 10 mins before begging for help x3
Puns NEVER need forgiving! :D
I get what you mean about puzzles. They can actually be pretty fun destroying if too hard. I've only been making visual novels for a year but I remember reading somewhere in my travels that the demographic is less likely to want puzzles in their media so I've tried to find a good balance between simple and rewarding. And yeah, in game solutions are a must I think :D AND oh yeah, Zero Escape... so much maths! WHY!
And absolutely no need to apologise, you are not terrible, the puzzle was WAY too obscure. I have no idea why I thought anyone would get it. The playtester in question is actually a huge Michael Jackson fan and especially loves Thriller. So when he didn't get it, I knew I was in trouble :D
x3 My brother would approve of you saying that since his favourite comedian is Tim Vine!
That's interesting that the demographic is less likely to want puzzles :o I definitely fall into that category of player, haha. I don't really like to be forced into doing any sorta additional gameplay with VNs x3 I like to just read and relax without having to worry about fancy gameplay mechanics or using my brain too much xD But that's because I play other kinds of games when I'm looking for that sorta fix. For me, I treat VNs like books still. So I generally only play them at night in bed, with my little potato laptop on my belly x3 Means if they have stuff like quick time events or anything requiring a lot of key pressing, I'm screwed >.< I make exceptions when playing games from jams I've participated in cos I count that as part of my recovery break/reward so I'll play em on my actual PC during the day as well as at night on the potato!
But yeah, I feel like you got the balance down really well here because I didn't get frustrated at any of the puzzles :3 And knowing that if I couldn't figure them out, the answers were there in the game I think actually made me try harder to solve them without looking just because I knew that I wouldn't need to spend time searching for the solutions = extra time I could use to actually try and work em out, haha. And they definitely hit the sweet spot for me on being not too difficult, not too easy, so they felt rewarding :D
Yeah, eww, maths, dirty word x3 I just cannot maths to save my life T_T
Okay, maybe not terrible, but definitely lazy xD Cos I'm sure if I'd actually sat for a few minutes and thought it all over properly, I would've stood a chance at coming up with the right answer, haha. I don't know why I impatiently charged to Google either because that's hardly any better than just looking it up in-game x3 Somehow it just felt more like I was still solving it by doing it that way, haha. That is pretty funny though about the playtester being a fan and still not getting it x3
I had to look up who Tim Vine was. But he and your brother sound like they have amazing senses of humour!
Yeah, I think you probably represent the vast majority of the VN demographic. They mostly want books with pictures and choices. And here's me wanting to make adventure games without all the tedious walking around :D I'm glad to hear you feel I achieved a good balance though. Including the solutions in game is a small price to pay if it means people may be more inclined to try it out.
Yup, maths is gross all right.
Amazing game!
Thank you for playing and commenting! Appreciate it.
HOLY.
..........
WHAT DID I JUST EXPERIENCE.
Excuse me while I just sit here a moment, oh gosh.
UMMMMM.
THIS WAS REALLY REALLY GOOD.
OK, now going to try and put some of my thoughts into actually comprehensible words LOL GOD DANG. This thing sucked me in hard. EVERYTHING about it is so well done. The haunting style of the BGs with the faint red and blue cloudy tinges added. The classical music that literally chilled the honest-to-god crap out of me at all times and made me feel SO VERY ISOLATED AND ALONE. All the different effects!! Like the flashlight! And... and... all the different things you have to interact with! AND THE PUZZLES!!! I had so much fun working through all the little puzzles. I felt like they were the perfect level of difficulty tbh—easy enough that I never got frustrated by them, but challenging enough that I felt quite accomplished and smart about myself for having figured them out lol.
YE GODS. This was honestly such an experience. I still have like... residual chills and can't stop thinking about it. AND THE ENDING. I don't know why, but for some reason in the final convo with Amica after being reunited, I got all teary-eyed. Maybe it was because I was also relieved to finally be out of the strange experience, I don't know. But I feel like that was evidence enough as to how immersed I got in everything as it was happening. This was truly such a creepy and well-done experience that's going to be haunting my thoughts for the next few days at least. Sorry, I'm probably really rambling now and my thoughts are no longer organized LOL Just so so so good. An absolutely fantastic spooky experience for the spooky season heheh. Plus I loved the little bits of romance/sweetness there at the end. AND THEN I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE VERY VERY LAST ENDING SCENE WAS AKDFJALSKDFJAD
Anyway. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Loved it so much. Thank you so much for this hauntingly wonderful experience!
Oh, and I didn't know if you'd be interested in my score at the end just for kicks and giggles hehe:
Oh Carrot, why oh why would you drink water in a spooky game called waterborne? :D
Joking aside though, that was one of the best reviews I've ever received. Thank you for going into so much detail about your experience. That was a pure joy to read and I'm very glad you liked it so much. Thank you!
And incidentally, it just so happens that a certain "Our Fantastic Wonderland" is sitting in my downloads folder and was going to be the next entry I was going to get stuck into. Keen to see what you've cooked up!
Thanks again for your kind words though! Very much appreciated!
Edit: Only just noticed the clear time! Check out the speed runner over here :D
LOOK I WAS THIRSTY OK.
And ahhhhh! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it! I really had such a blast with it! I have the first one now on my list to play heheh I will be excited to see if it makes some of my lingering questions more clear 🤭
LOL I READ FAIRLY QUICKLY. And it probably helped that your lines were all fairly short rather than paragraph-type. The parts that took me the longest were all related to the puzzles (you should have seen me painstakingly calculating the locker combination on my fingers so I wouldn't forget kadljfaksdf).
Haha :D I made the locker one easy to do by just making all the numbers one less :D But oh did I struggle with the black doors password. Pretty much only managed to memorise it on my FINAL play test :D
Cheers for downloading the first game!