The Stars Under Lockehurst
This game contains elements and topics that may be disturbing to some players, including:
- Mild Language
- Drowning
- Blood
- Gore
- Death
- Body Horror
There are some images that may trigger trypophobia (infrequent) or a fear of needles (one-off, tattoo gun).
*To ensure for a smooth gameplay experience, we highly recommend downloading the windows platform version below. If you choose to still play the game in-browser, it's best if you view the game in fullscreen. Thank you!
*When playing new updates for TSUL, we advise against loading saves from previous builds into future updates, as this may cause errors. Please finish a route in an existing build, and begin new saves for respective future builds!
For streamers and content creators, access the TSUL Presskit here!
The Stars Under Lockehurst is a romantic supernatural mystery visual novel about a grad student visiting their friend in the small coastal town, Cape Lockehurst. Here, they unravel the mysteries behind recent disappearances and peculiar happenings around town.
Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu and similar works, this game explores fear of the unknown and the unknowable, featuring a cast of unique, romanceable characters (who just might be a little... fishy).
- ~ 40k Words
- 4 Love Interests
- 3 Unique Minigames , with Accessibility Feature to Skip
- 4 Endings with Epilogues based on Love Interest
- Nonbinary Main Character with customizable name
- Partial Voice Acting
- Original OST
Pauline Reinacher – Character Design, CGs, BGs, Sprites, UI, Prop Art
Rex – Monster Design, Sprites, Prop Art
Toffl– Background Art, UI Art
Dominik Figlhuber – Background Art
Charlie – Background Art
m3t4lp0w3r – Composition
Ryan Sherlock (discord: sherlock1998) – Audio Design
Molli Shuker– Project Management, Writing
Vit– Programming/ Unity Development
Yaygun– Minigame Programming
Cast
Garret Ward – Maliki LaForce
Angélique LeBeau – Lena Garcia
Ophelia Panchal – Lauren Pak
Mikel Javier Ordóñez – Danny S.
Sanraya Bahande – Jonna-Lynn Alonso
External Assets
Odin Inspector - Sirenix
Naninovel - Elringus
UniRx - Neuecc
Extenject - Mathijs Bakker
MEC Pro - Trinary Software
DOTween Pro - Demigiant
The Stars Under Lockehurst was developed in one month for Spooktober VN Jam 2024. It was made with old and new friends of Null Jam Games, but is not under ownership of the studio.
Thank you so much for playing, and Happy Halloween! 🐟
Download
Development log
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: Receives Honorable Mention for 2024 Spooktober VN Ja...22 days ago
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: 800+ Plays, Developer Interview, Let's Plays & More!32 days ago
- Live Q&A with MisterShins: Full Transcript33 days ago
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: Love Interest Poll, A Sea of Let's Plays and 1.5 Now...39 days ago
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: 600+ Plays, Let's Plays Galore, and Live Q&A with th...43 days ago
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: 400+ Plays, More Let's Plays and 1.4 Now Available!46 days ago
- The Stars Under Lockehurst: Congrats on Release!49 days ago
Comments
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Seeing the that there is already a predetermined appearance for the mc is really disappointing.. it leaves little room for immersion and serves no purpose to the plot.
Hi Waltzforveenus,
Thanks for your feedback! We hope you're able to enjoy TSUL for what it does have to offer in storytelling, and will take note of your comment for future projects. Cheers!
i need mikel pls give him his own game
Made the last video
Made a video that's before the last
Made a video with lots of Garret
Made another video
Finally a new video
YAHOO! Can't wait to watch!
I LOOOOOOOOOVE MIKEL
his designs, the effect on his voice, his personality!! I love him ; v ;
Thank you Xepheris for playing TSUL! Mikel says you're certainly not bad for a mere mortal! 💚🦑
Really amazing designs! :D
mistling, thank you very much for the lovely compliment and for checking out TSUL! 💙
One of my favorites from this years jam! Loved all the characters, the over all vibe and the lovecraftian is LOVEcrafting! 💜
Thank you so much again MissKatonik, we had so much fun catching your livestream and we're happy you loved the lovecraftian lovers! ^-^ <3
I genuinely think TSUL did a great job at combining mystery, romance, and cosmic horror- making it more than just a visual novel but an absolute experience that had me on the edge of my seat until the end! The overall plot, scoring, voice acting, and character art had me completely immersed in the story. Each character had their own unique charm, making it soooo difficuly for me to choose who to romance (despite knowing I was gonna play the rest of the routes after my first playthrough lol), but Garret caught my heart first- WHAT A SWEETHEART HE IS!
I was also really surprised about the length of the game, considering the time it took for it to be made. As I said on my stream, the TSUL team did an amazing job and I hope they get more love and recognition in the days, weeks, and years to come!
Can't recommend this enough!
Rhee, thank you once more for taking the time to play TSUL and now for leaving us with the absolute sweetest review. Our team had so much fun tagging along during your livestreams and we were super happy to see you have just as much fun playing our VN. It means the world to us!
Cheers from the TSUL dev team, xoxo from Garret, and Happy Spooktober!
And the cast, too, despite certain obvious factors, I really found myself just wanting to get to know all of them. They're really endearing all in all. I think there's something to be said for the cast (if you know you know) wanting normalcy, while the crux of the plot cues off of certain others reaching for the unknown, the forbidden, the dangerous-
Delightful work, thank you for sharing!
Hi Don, thank you so so much for taking the time to play through TSUL! I absolutely loved watching, and I admired your persistence with achieving minigames (though I will admit it ails me this was an older build, I wish we could have pushed our updates faster so you could perhaps have a bit more ease in your gameplay experience! Haha), and really, really enjoyed your commentary and reactions for Sanraya's Route (with a glimmer of Garret, too). Your thoughtful reflection at the end was a treat and truly warmed my heart to hear. Thank you so much. Cheers, and have a Happy Spooktober!
There is a very particular, special kind of oddness that permeates certain small seaside towns, and this is honestly the first time I think I've seen that represented so well! Absolutely adored this start to finish; the character and monster designs are both phenomenal, the story is strong, well-written, and intriguing, the music melodic and whimsical--and I practically shed tears of joy when I found I could skip the fishing mini-game, because for reasons unknown fishing mechanics are my perennial bane, hahaha.
(Additionally: I see that Pan's Labyrinth easter-egg! Or rather, heard it! 💚)
My only--admittedly greedy--complaint is that after falling in love with all the cast of characters, I was left wanting more of the ensemble interactions at the end; though then again, I still wouldn't be ready to let them go. ✨ Such wonderful work, team--one of my favorites of the jam by far!
I absolutely loved this game’s story, characters, and overall vibe. It’s incredible what this talented team accomplished in just a month. Everything worked so well together, from the music to the art direction to the writing. The lovely (partial) voice acting added a lot to the characters, too. Great job!
It took me about 5 hours to finish one playthrough (reading everything out loud and spending lots of time theorizing what would happen next), which is an impressive length for a jam game. I went into my playthrough expecting to go for Garret, but I found all the characters so charming that I wanted to romance them all (including best girl Ophelia). I ended up with Mikel and was grinning like an idiot through the whole last act of the game. So fun!
The game provides the option to skip mini-games entirely through the Settings menu in addition to a hybrid approach where you can choose to move on if you fail a particular mini-game. I appreciated both options. While playing through the first time, I wanted to at least try the mini-games to get a feel for the experience the developers intended, but was relieved when they didn’t block progress. Then it was useful to turn off the mini-games entirely when skipping through large chunks of the game to get to certain choices and endings.
The game already felt pretty complete and high-quality with v1.3. With a little more polish, it’ll really feel professional. I’m glad to see some of the issues I noticed were fixed in v1.4. If there’s one more thing I’d like to see… Gallery, pretty please? 🥺 The CGs were so cool, I’d love to be able to revisit them easily (and also see how many I missed). Just a quality-of-life thing.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this game and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery and/or romance!
Hi Cera, thank you SO much for your outstanding review of TSUL and once more, for streaming your super fun playthrough!!! We were so happy to watch it and I for one, very giddy about your own reactions for our dear Ophelia! 😆
It's funny you mention a CG Gallery- It's currently in our discussions for further polish. We heard from a few other players for a desire to revisit CGs they encountered, and our team is floating the idea of even including concept/process work in the Gallery! If we happen to greenlight any of this, it'll certainly be announced in a future dev log. ☺️
Thank you again, our dev team is super grateful! Cheers and have a very spooky Spooktober. 💙
The next video
Made another video
[Spoilers]
I absolutely adored playing this!!! It was so polished and impressive, especially for something done in a month - a massive props to the entire team for this incredible undertaking!!!
The aesthetic of the game was fantastic, the art was such a delightful tone setter, and the music added some really nice ambience. The voice acting was also such a good touch, and really added an extra layer of delightfulness to the characters. And the MONSTER DESIGNS!! I was blown away by them, and really loved the incredible variety of creepy-beautiful critters in this game. Sanraya’s true form was definitely a highlight for me. I also really appreciated the little artistic details, like the fish animation in the loading screen and the decal around the text box!!
Also an honorable mention to Garret's little eye-stalk tears <3 I never thought I would see a crustacean monster cry!!
The story and characters were really lovely, I was really impressed by how much content you all were able to weave in, and how rich the story was even when working within a limited amount of time. The murder mystery aspect was really enjoyable, and I loved how the interactions with the romance-able cast were interspersed very nicely between the plot beats. I also was really struck by the dynamics between the eldritch horrors, the relationships they had with each other were such a nice touch and added some extra dimension of the world for me. I loved watching them banter and interact.
I ended up romancing Angélique for my first playthrough, and was so charmed by her. Honestly I was toast after the first "darling". I also really loved Mikel, and am planning to romance him in my next playthrough <3 I also have to mention our morally...questionable best friend. Ophelia was very compelling, I adore a mad scientist archetype sm.
I also adored the little very feesh-hungery critter...I love him...he's so cute.
There was clearly so much love and care put into every part of this, and it made the game such a treat to play through. Thank you all for the super fun game, and I hope you can get some rest this month after completing this amazing accomplishment!
Made a video
You've seen me yapping everywhere now but it cannot be said enough, thank you so much for playing TSUL! We are looking forward to the next two episodes, I will be patiently waiting with my bowl of popcorn, and my polished, framed photo of GOAT DAD.
[Spoilers]
Okay...it should be a crime that this game has been out for 2 days with me being the first comment on this page, I can't believe this game hasn't been played 100x more.
The art was so nice, and the overall vibe - even though I was solving a murder - was actually quite pleasant. I loved the little fish animation while everything was loading and the music. Tbh, I wish this crew of "monsters" could be my friends IRL.
I chose to romance Sanraya which undoubtedly was a great choice. She was so sweet and I 100 percent would visit the cosmos with her. Garret was also such a loveable character, he was the absolute best and I loved his goats.
The skill checks during important scenes was a nice touch and I actually liked this. The fishing minigame wasn't my favorite, however, the concept overall was super cool. This game really is well polished. I'm absolutely blown away by the level of effort and care that went into this game for a jam.