The River Bride
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
"I die for a family that never wanted a daughter, for a village that needed a scapegoat, and for a community that never cared about her."
"The River Bride" is a visual novel based on the events of the bridal sacrifices in Ancient China. Players play as Fu Suyu, the current year's bridal sacrifice. Experience how Fu Suyu deals with her fate through accepting her duty, fighting for her life, or even experiencing love for the last time.
Features:
- 20,000 + words
- 4+ endings
- 2 CGs
- Developed by 2 Chinese Descendants who are bad at being Chinese
- Historical accuracy and inaccuracy
- Apparently, lesbians did not exist in Ancient Chinese text. So, we can not prove that this did not happen
- But we also can't prove it did happen -- like everything in this visual novel
- Apparently, lesbians did not exist in Ancient Chinese text. So, we can not prove that this did not happen
Glossary:
Fu Suyu (富素鈺): The daughter of a poor farmer and the bride.
JiuJiuWo (九九五): The ghost of the previous bridal sacrifice.
Fang Yuxian (芳毓嫻): Fu Suyu's friend who left the village for marriage.
Hebo (河伯): Lord of the Yellow River
This game contains references and implied suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.
Download
Development log
- [Art] Extras and thank you for 400 downloads!Oct 27, 2024
- The River Bride Walkthrough- True EndOct 01, 2024
Comments
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Nice sprites for the main characters. The ghost is especially beautiful. I am fond of JiuJiuWo, but I can’t help but feeling that Fu Suyu is very brash and insensitive. This is especially infuriating in the True Ending, as her refusal to listen to JiuJiuWo was coupled with her apparent blindness, because in that route it was very clear who JiuJiuWo was.
I do like the direction of the True End, but I think pacewise the raging JiuJiuWo end is done better.
The script is rather on the nose at times, but there are powerful lines.
Thanks for playing multiple routes!
I’m glad you liked the sprites. Suyu is definitely meant to be a flawed and conflicted, in contrast to 995 who’s designed to be ideal.
We really appreciate the feedback on script and pacing, definitely something we’ll keep refining!💪
Good luck!
I am deeply disappointed that you never get to see the river god himself.
As far as I can tell, this is a pure yuri story.
And the river god has nothing to do with anything, beyond being symbol of duty.
I do not understand why you must either accept or reject someone you know nothing about, instead of taking a wait-and-see attitude.
(Obviously after fighting to the bitter end to flee, because...that's just what I'd do. But mostly out of spite, since there is no telling if I'd like him or not.)
Even IF you choose to go through with everything you STILL don't get to see him.
And the ONLY reason you're allowed to go through with it is duty, for some bizarre reason.
Why not allow it because you consider it a better option than what your village and family offer?
Why not opt to wait and see what he's like before running?
The worst that can happen if you refuse at the treshold is that you die and be rejected.
And either die or become immortal in ghost form. (probably)
Which is quite frankly still better than the alternative.
And maybe you'll like him. Who knows?
I wish there was more choices for that.
(And I also kinda kept hoping that if he was someone you would like, then you could do your best to be a good wife, and see if you could convince him to wipe out the entire village that sold you off to begin with. ^_^ )
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Objectively this game is well-written with beautiful artwork.
And I DO appreciate you have the choice to fight till the very end, and possibly doom every idiot who tried to force you into this.
But I feel a little bit cheated that you never get to actually meet the mentioned river-god.
The reasons why the River God didn't appear was intentional and this disapointment you feel is part of the experience. This feeling of unfairness may have to do with the way you have tried your best, and everything you could, to meet him; but he never came and the reason why he didn't appear will always be a mystery.Some forces are beyond your control, and you get to choose how you want to take from this experience. But listen to that feeling and hold it close, for only you can find out why this emotion came so strongly when you played : )
I feel a strong sense of irritation, that is very true. >_>
This game is absolutely amazing. I am astounded by all the choices, by all the possibilities to get to the true ending. The game manages to feel both desperate and hopeful, and I like that it provides an outlet for feeling rage and withstanding the opression and those who don't give a shit about you.
This game made my awful day better. Thank you
Thank you <3 <3! I’m so happy that this game made your day better, and your comment brightened my day : D
At first I thought the name JiuJiuWo means 救救我 (plz save me). I got confused by the line "Your name is literally a number" and then realized it actually means 995 (or does it mean she's the No.995 girl married to Hebo?)
JiuJiuWo’s name is literally 995 and can be inferred as being the 995th bride! We actually chose the name/number because how JiuJiuWo can sound like “help me” when spoken in Chinese (which you figured out!) and adds a dark mystery to her identity : )
beautiful VN :)
Thank you : DD!
I ended up streaming this game yesterday while playing through a few of the Spooktober Game Jam games live, and I had a really, really wonderful time with this! Thank you for the lovely story. I only ended up playing through the true end due to time commitments, but the dynamic between A-Su and Xian-Xian really stuck with me, particularly the scene with lifting the veil and the descriptions of the river at the end, and I've recommended it directly to a few people who I thought would like it.
If you want to see my live reactions/see chat's nice comments, I've got the VOD up at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2265021118 around 4:02:00. (If you do, I'm so sorry for my clumsy read-through, I'm mostly an art streamer and don't often do voice-overs for games.) Chat really loved Xian-Xian especially though!
The stream was amazing! Thank you so much for playing through it. I laugh whenever you two and the chat scream they’re gay lmaoo. Really enjoyed the reaction, yes that’s how lesbian flirts Gio nailed it!
I’m glad you like the dynamic between Suyu and Xianxian, we spent a lot of time discussing how they would see each other. Suyu had a feeling about who the ghost is but she was denial.
Xianxian is the ideal wife character and it shows.
The feedbacks are very valid. Gio is 100% aware of how lengthy her writing is lol. I honestly planned to do more cgs initially. Sadly time limit but hey time for head cannon fan art.
Aww, I'm glad you liked it! ♥
I definitely 100% wanna say, the pacing complaints are small and the art as it is is great. Once again, you guys did great, especially in a month-long timespan!
Lovely art, and it was fun to get all the endings! We definitely need more yuri in this kind of setting!
Thankyouuu, yuri in a confined/ oppressed world is melancholic and charming💔
always down for some ahistoric/not ahistoric lesbianism
We can’t prove there were lesbians in history, but sometimes ’very close friends’ isn’t enough
this was awesome!!
Thank you!! <3
how do you get the one where she becomes a ghost? I have tried.
We’re working on setting up a walkthrough soon! But I’ll give a tip in the meantime:
there are multiple ways to get the ghost ending, but it is easier to be a ghost after reflecting on past miseries, mistakes, and what ifs; choose the right subject to talk about and maybe sadness can become anger.
Hope this helps and good luck, future ghost!
Nice, thank you.
Hey thanks for waiting! We've published a walkthrough to the true end if you're still struggling
https://giogiogzg.itch.io/the-river-bride/devlog/808295/the-river-bride-walkthro...
Nice, thank you
Lovely game!! it was fun learning the fate of these brides :3!
Thank you so much <3 We’re happy that you enjoyed the game : D!!