Esper: Fugitive
You always knew about catalysts. Of course you did, who wouldn't know about the people blessed (or cursed) with superpowers?
But you were just a regular person — a primary. Albeit one with incredibly overbearing parents that barely let you leave the house, but hey, we've all got issues. You were overall completely normal.
Until you weren't.
"This will change everything."
That's what your mother said when she told you about your flair, psionic inundation: your ability to mentally overload people. And she couldn't have been more right. Being a Rank Six — an unregistered Rank Six — puts a target on your back. The sheer amount of power you hold makes you a liability. You're dang erous. A weapon.
So you ran. And you kept running. With nothing — no one — left to call home, you had no reason to look back. You accepted your life as a criminal. After all, isn't that what you were? Forever doomed to play the part of the fugitive.
Years have passed since your true nature was revealed to you. You've evaded the Triad's efforts to find you thus far, but how long till your luck runs out? Many towns and almost as many identities later, you haven't managed to get anywhere. Everything you do just lands you back in the same place you've always been. Tired, afraid and utterly alone.
The things you run away from have an odd tendency to catch up to you. And that's exactly what happens to you when four agents from the very organisation you're attempting to evade find you. Faced with an ultimatum, you end up joining the force that sought to imprison you.
With your world flipped upside down for the second time, how will you navigate? Will you learn to control your flair or strengthen it? Will you attempt to destroy the Triad from the inside out, or become one of the top Organisation agents?
- Customizable main character; play as male female or nonbinary, with customisable pronouns, appearance, personality, views and more
- Select choices that will shape characters, the story and more
- Develop your abilities as an Esper, either learning to control them or letting them run free.
- Make the most of the freedom your new position with the Organisation offers you; either aiding or plotting against them
- Uncover secrets, dismantle (groups?) and more as the newest recruit for Team E
- Romance or befriend the four (gender customisable) agents who arrested you and are now your coworkers
Leith/Lena Payne (M/F) RO
With their unwavering professionalism and devotion to their work, L is the ideal leader for Team E. Nothing seems to shift their ever-present stoicism. But the sadness in their eyes hints that they may not be the picture-perfect agent they appear to be. Just what are their true motivations?
Sean/Saoirse/Shea Kennedy (M/F/NB) RO
S seems nice enough, with plenty of friendly smiles and kind words to go around. Yet they effortlessly perform their role as the combat specialist in Team E without batting an eye at the violence they must commit. Do they genuinely care or is their amicable persona just a lie?
Ilijah/Imani Hoang (M/F) RO
Prickly and reserved, I fills their position as tech specialist with a bitterness that rivals their attitude towards people. It's undeniably hard to get along with them, and they show no signs of caring. Still, there's something about the way they behave that indicates something lurking below the surface. Is there more than meets the eye to their anger?
Veran/Valerie Hart (M/F) RO
V prefers to tackle their position in the team with a much more laid back attitude. They hardly take anything seriously, for better or worse. Despite their attitude, they are intelligent and a true asset to the teem. But at times their playful nonchalance slips into a lack of care. How far does their recklessness go?
Development log
- IMPORTANT NEWS19 hours ago
- Still alive4 days ago
- Chapter 2 Part OneJan 28, 2025
- Update soonOct 05, 2024
- Chapter One RewriteJan 19, 2024
- Progress UpdateJan 15, 2024
- Bug FixNov 28, 2022
- Chapter 2.1Nov 05, 2022
Comments
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I love this if dearly so far I'm looking forward to more of it! :]
I like it
An interesting IF, i think making mc being more numb would be good, as if they give up on not being made a weapon after they get caught, the thought of LIs worrying for them make me happy
Can not wait for the next update! I'm currently in a dark period of my life and sort of attached myself to this story. Take your time with the next update and try not to overwhelm or tire yourself out. I will however, be replaying this with different personas and seeing the different responses in the meantime. Stay safe, I wish you the best!
Can we kill them?
Nah. I can already see the answer to this question, and it's basically a 'No' with a string of excuses on how that's not possible, and how it's ridiculous to even ask for such a choice in an Interactive Fiction.
No taking account of why some readers want some characters to die whatsoever, we're just bloodthirsty powerfantasy loving simpletons and we should shut up and be grateful that this IF exists and continue giving our support.
I know this is all negative assumptions on my part, but I couldn't help it with how many times I've seen an ask like this getting answered the same way, and the asker being lowkey shamed.
IF has shifted more and more into exclusively dating sims, with the only choices presented are the different ways we can fawn over LIs and it sucks. It seems the only valid opinion to have are the ones that gush over the LIs.
This is not hate. Reading IFs — or reading in general — is my hobby and this story (though still bare of contents) has got me invested. I simply love it enough to speak up about it when I'm usually absent from commenting. I want this one to do better than the other shallow IFs that seems to forget the Interactive part on Interactive Fiction. That's all.
Sorry if i sounds hateful but i really want to hurt them like they hurt mc and they annoying me because what the fuck do you mean you just minds control me and act like you are the victim for me to want you to die after you minde control me into doing something i didn't want to do it and the ring thing is annoying me because why the fuck will we pakup a stupid ring from the floor and not go to sale it fast to get some money and they fucking kill mom and dad so yeah I'm angry at them and i want them to die it's not exactly a crime because they deserve it after what they did no hate tho
It's ok, I share your sentiments completely. I am angry at them and the very clear plothole that will possibly be forgotten by the author too.
I was merely telling you how your first ask above would be answered, since authors tend to correlate readers' hate towards the characters as hate for the author or the story itself when that's not the case.
Hopefully the author will consider your ask, and not dismiss it as other authors have done to similar asks.
Sorry for the late reply but first yay i find someone who understands and second i don't hate the story author and you are nice very so thank you for replying to my commit ☺️
No worries, I'm also glad to find someone who shares the same opinion! (^ワ^)
Hope you're doing well! No rush to get the next part of the chapter out, but I am so excited to see where the rest of this story goes!!
Can't wait for an update! I think I might have found myself a new special interest, and that's quite an impressive feat! I love it so much, thank you :]
great demo so far! wish there were more choices to piss them off in the car tho lmao. can't wait for the next update!
hi! so glad to hear you enjoyed the demo. I’d love to hear more about specifically what options you’d like to see either here, on tumblr or in the feedback form. I want people to feel like there’s always options (within reason) that they feel fit their character and what they want to do! :)
Welcome back and I will say this again I am the most pettiest person I will fucking find a way out!!!*looking at my kidnappers with a firm look*
Love this already and I absolutely cannot wait for more! (Though obviously no rush or ill eat your walls ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ)
Personally i need I to kiss me on my hot mouth right now too 😼
A very good start. I'm really glad I stumbled upon your IF on Tumblr. Cant wait for more.
i'm so happy that this game got an update :D
there's so many itch games who get abandoned sadly.
seeing 'sam riker' as my fake name when my real name IS sam made me laugh.
I'm glad that I just found about this work, as the second chapter totally sold me on it. I'm so eager for more!
Update was great! Can't wait for more!
hi more please!begs and sobs
:3
gets on my knees and crreis
I like the sound of this. It reminds me A LOT of Gilded Shadows.
Unfortunately I’ve never heard of that but I’ll take it as a compliment!!
Had no idea either and looked it up, it's another itch.io game that costs 30 bucks, I'm not rich enough to play it and compare lol
Glad this is still being worked on! Can't wait for the next chapter
hope you enjoy!!!
aaaahh,this is sooo good. amazing work, please tell me there's more coming
How long until chapter 2, give or take?
Pretty good potential.
The plot is really intriguing! I hope our MC get the chance to be really strong in the future, I see the potential. Can't wait to play the next chapter!
this is amazing!
saving it
I reallllyyyy want to be here when it finishes, it looks SOOOOOOOOOO funnn!!
LOVING THE 1ST CHAPTERRRR OMGMG cant wait for the next updtae :333
So happy to hear that!!! :)))
I really like this so far! I can't wait for more to come out. It minda reminds me of the Fallen Hero series by Malin Rydén in a way. Great work!
Thanks so much! While I've never personally played that series, I've heard great things so will take that as high praise!
While I like the premise, player choices are poorly accounted for, you have a fairly specific character in mind for the MC and won’t really let the player change anything about it.
Choosing something along the lines of “I like this life” shouldn’t lead to “I wouldn’t do it if I had the choice but it could be worse”, and I’ve noticed many similar instances. Maybe I just picked the choices aligning with traits/stances you really don’t want the MC to have, but extenuating the player’s decisions to fit into what’s basically a fixed character, making the choice nothing but flavour, isn’t the right way to handle this.
It’s just very obvious that you either feel uncomfortable with certain reactions and unconsciously try to diminish them, or simply want to write about a specific kind of MC.
None of this is bad, just a normal reaction from a writer who isn’t used to letting go of their characters, but maybe you should think about what you really want to do with this story.
A fixed MC? Leave out choices that would influence the characterisation and focus on observation and action, just state in the description that it’s a fixed MC and choices limited to actions and/or story progression.
Account for personality shaping? Then try to let go of the character you have in mind and treat it as roleplaying or an alternative universe, so you can stay in-character according to the player’s choice.
At the end it’s about you having fun working on this and if you actually want to write a fixed MC, then don't hesitate.
It’s better than railroading characterisation and spares you complains that would trickle in once the game becomes really popular, which I have no doubt will be the case.
I wish you all the best and hope this IF will become something you look back on fondly, proudly, and with a smile.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to give me feedback, it's always appreciated. sorry for the super late response, I've been super inactive on here.
I do understand what you're saying and you make some valid points (I'll have to check out that choice you mentioned and make sure my point is clearer.)
However, I do know what I'm doing with this story and MC. While MC is customisable/influencable, at the end of the day they're still a character. They have a set backstory, things will happen to them that are outside of the player's control and simply put I can't feasibly write a different version of every paragraph based on the MC's stats.
Additionally, this is chapter one. There is one choice in the demo that affects personality stats, and it's at the very end. There hasn't been an opportunity to really manipulate stats to be checked so far. I
Thanks for playing and letting me know your thoughts :)
this is awesome :O!!!!!!
you're awesome!!! but thank you! :)
holy shit this was amazing
thank you <3
Excited to see how the story continues. I like how much freedom we have with our character's personality/choices !
thank you! i'm glad you enjoyed it and feel that way! :)
I don't see why the first chapter was rewritten, it felt the same to me since the story was largely the same.
The writing was solid, pacing was good for the first chapter, I will say that the plot needs work. Having a power and running away is interesting but weak.
If you had someone evil hunting you down who killed your parents and wants to kill you or enslave you then I can understand, but having a power that's not been explained to be dangerous isn't memorable, being chased by an organization is interesting but the threat of just being put in a facility doesn't have high stakes or emotional impact.
That being said I'm looking forward to the next update, I hope more action, thrill and drama happens.
Well, I first wrote Chapter One nearly three years ago, and many core aspects of the worldbuilding changed. Additionally, Chapter Two is going to look very different so it made sense to start with Chapter One. :)
The plot hasn't really had a chance to get off the ground considering it's the first chapter. Hopefully you find it a bit stronger with future updates.
Thanks for playing and taking the time to let me know your thoughts!
ESPER REWRITE!!! We are so in it right now!!
I love enemies to lovers tropes, LEts GOOOOOOO
So I really doubt this game is going to see much more progress given the fact that its been a whole yeah at this point. My main issue with the story is that its definitely trying to get you to like these agents, but at no point is it justified. As far you, the player, are aware they work for the same people that murdered your family. And they each apparently have 'Flairs' like you, making them even more detestable since they are essentially hunting down people like them to protect their own skin.
Just so I don't seem overly negative I do like this game. It's an interesting premise and world that I would have loved to see it expanded upon.
Hi, the rewrite of chapter is coming as soon as possible, so while it might not be true progress it's still being worked on.
I understand why you take issue with that aspect of the game, though it's difficult to work around considering the significance of the agents as the main characters in the game. (excluding MC of course.)
I am working on rewriting chapter 2 at the moment, and will take your feedback into account as I do so.
If you play again once the rewrite of chapter 2 is out (which will hopefully not take as long), feel free to give me further feedback, it is always appreciated.
Thank you for playing and taking the time out of your day to comment and I really do appreciate constructive criticism. :)
Still no update?
soon! though unfortunately its just a rewrite of chapter one, it should be out before the end of the year <3
Hope the story gets continued, also I hope poly/harem romance will be available
hi!!! thank you for playing! the game is still being worked on. and while i make no promises, a v/i poly is definitely possible :)
This was really good can't wait for more but take your time
Thank you so much! I appreciate it <3
Really good so far, but i cans choose my name for some reason.
Thank you! I'm really sorry for how long it's taken for me to get to this, could you provide screenshots or otherwise provide more detail about the problem?
Alr, so like, whenever I start the game my name is Sam and throughout the game, it never asks me for my name. Tbh, its probably just me TwT.
Did you play through the entirety of chapter one? Sam is the MC's fake name, but near the end of chapter one (after meeting V) you should be asked to choose their real name. I know it's pretty late so it's easy to miss but it should be there!!!
I did, but it didn't show me it.
Pretty good but short, is this still updated?
Hello, thank you for playing! Esper has not been abandoned, and will hopefully be updated soon :)
This is really good! At first I was aiming for Lena when I read the descriptions of the LIs but when I actually played the game, I ended up liking Saorise more.
Looking forward to the the continuation!
Thank you so much!!! <333
Is this still being continued??
hey!!! it is currently being worked on again but development has been slow. for monthly updates you can check out my tumblr.
thank you for your interest :)