Symphony of Seven Souls
A downloadable gothic horror tale for Windows
Sleepless nights staring at a blank score page as you try to write your latest symphony have taken their toll.
Your creative well has all but dried up!
If you are to still the unrelenting pressure to create, then you will have to take a more drastic approach...
Rosin up your bow and take to the streets, searching for the willing dead to join your unholy orchestra. Perhaps then you can finally write the Symphony of Seven Souls!
CONTROLS:
WASD / Left Stick - Move
Mouse / Right Stick - Look
Right Click / R1 / R2 - Ready up your bow on your strings
Hold Left Click / L1 / L2 - Play your violin
2 / DPad Up - Brightness Up
1 / DPad Down - Brightness Down
Esc - Quit Game
RESTRUNG EDITION:
The restrung edition has some advanced rendering features enabled (listed below). You do not require an NVidia RTX card to run this version, but it will be a lot more demanding on your system. I had a day off work so thought it would be fun to implement.
- Dynamic Raytraced Global Illumination
- Volumetric Fog
- Raytraced Reflections
- Normal, Roughness and Ambient Occlusion Maps (adds dynamic light and shadow details to textures)
DETUNED EDITION:
This version is a lot closer to the PSX standards with unlit materials, lower resolution, vertex colour painted lights instead of dynamic lights. Colour scheme was worked more towards LOK: Soul Reaver because that has some of my favourite vertex colouring on the PS1.
Theme song now available to listen to over on my Youtube channel:
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Restrung Edition - UE5 RaytracingAug 21, 2021
- Quality of Life Improvements 1.0.1Aug 17, 2021
- Theme Song Now AvailableAug 13, 2021
Comments
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I ran it up!
Very unique concept and gameplay, never thought I'd be the one chasing the ghosts for once. Also loved the graphics, very pleasant to look at. Scariest thing was that wheelchair in what I think was an abandoned asylum or something, that absolutely terrified me (my face in the thumbnail shows my horror pretty well XD). Not sure exactly what the ending was but I liked it nonetheless.
completely unique and stunning graphics, it has to be one of my new favorite games on itch visually.. but i wish i could say the same about gameplay! i loved exploring the environment but found myself wishing there was more to do.
i read that there's more plans for the game but it's currently on hold, so i will eagerly await more development!
Thanks for playing and glad you loved the environments!
I've started and stopped several iterations trying to find an interesting direction I could expand the concept into. Latest version has some much upgraded visuals and Fatal Frame style mechanics for dealing with ghosts:
Not entirely happy with the concept of fighting the ghosts tho so I want to finish up a much smaller sci-fi project I have first and come back to it again with a fresh pair of eyes.
Very well done!
S.o.S.S. is one of the best games I've ever seen. And, I'm not exaggerating. The premise of the game, although simple, is extremely original. It's Gothic undertones will remind you of Poe and Byron, albeit being different medias. The dark and moody atmosphere are on par with some of the big budget games outhere and maybe some more, since the dev was constrained by the shackles of big money publishers and was able to fully realise his vision. If you haven't notice, I more than recommend you to try it. I just wish there were more games like outhere... It runs perfectly on Steam Deck as you can see by pressing the link below
I've had this saved in my library to play for ages but only just got around to it, so glad I finally did because this is one of the most beautifully haunting experiences I've ever had in a game. My finger is actually a bit numb because I almost always had the play the violin button down, that song is utterly beautiful and there's something so hypnotising about walking around these environments while constantly playing (plus the atmosphere is kind of terrifying when you don't have the music). The maze-like design of the environments had me wandering around in circles a bit but I didn't mind, in fact I quite enjoyed just being able to walk around and get lost in the music. The ending definitely caught me off guard, but this was an incredible game that I absolutely adored. I will definitely be trying the different versions to see what they're like, but honestly I think I'll be replaying it again just because it's that good. Would love to see more of this concept.
Thank you very much and so glad to hear you had such an experience with it! There were plans to expand it into a more fleshed out experience but they are on hold for the moment. A toggle for playing rather than holding it would be one of the first things to add! The song is free to download on here and on Youtube if you want to listen to it without straining your finger :)
Great video and thanks very much for playing!
Incredibly spooky atmosphere, and a great concept!
https://www.indiegamesjam.com/symphony-of-seven-souls/
Thanks very much and thanks for the write up on your site!
I could imagine an epic video of a rendered orchestra of your ghost playing violins and other instruments with the MC at the end. Just an infinite loop of epic music :D
this was such a nice game i loved the music in it
heres the vid¨
::spoiler warning::
My highlight video. Buy this game and buy the soundtrack.
The game has a very good vibe, especially its sound, the end of the game matches the character's objective proposal, as it's a short game, I really liked it
it's asm idea!!!!!
Was such a wonderful feeling of bliss during the finale symphony
(SPOILERS FOR ENDING SEQUENCE)
My interpretation was that a you were attempting to soothe the dead with music but a malevolent spirit towards the end took away your ability to make beautiful music and cursed to keep playing notes of pain and suffering, was a real kick to the mood from how beautiful that symphony was with the spirits, hope to see more
WOW love your game :):):):):):):)
A really unique concept :D
From an audio standpoint this is a 10/10 game. From a graphics standpoint it is an 11/10.
I liked the gameplay as well but if this game ever gets expanded I'd love to see more to the music playing than play or not play music with a minimal movement speed difference.
And I'd love to see the game expanded :)
Thank you so much! I'm currently prototyping a new version of it with more interesting mechanics around the violin, maybe something along the lines of Fatal Frame. I'm also pushing the visuals as far as I can and you can see an example of that over on my Youtube channel:
Looks like the 25th anniversary remake ;)
Yeah, I just hope it doesn't take me the next 24 years to finish XD
I really enjoyed this! The music was great, the atmosphere was great...spooky and oddly soothing at the same time. Definitely a good experience, thank you for sharing this!
This Game be like:
But really, beautiful concept~
Ha! Pretty much sums it up XD
will there be a linux port soon?
Unfortunately not, it was just a short game made for a jam and I deleted the working files. Sorry about that.
Musique magnifique et concept original
l idee est tres bonne!
This was a fun concept! The music was beautiful, and I had a fun time walking around the spooky town summoning ghosts for the symphony.
What a delightfully charming experience. A somber, gothic setting on a stormy night accompanied by the dulcet tones of your violin as it plays a melancholy tune.
Such a fantastic and simple concept that I hope gets expanded upon in a future title.
Definitely going to check out other titles by this dev.
Atmospheric horror without jump scares combined with excellent music. That was quite a lot of fun. I love old-style graphics, but I have to say Restrung is my favorite version. The lighting is just...right. Also, love the rain. Excellent job!
such a cool game and concept
thanks for the experience bud
Thank you for your very kind words!
Downloaded the Restrung version and wow. I'm definitely biased because I could listen to violin all day and walking around a dark abandoned cemetary is basically my ideal first date, but I loved this. I wasn't expecting the ghosts to be so diverse either! I only wish it were longer <3
So glad you liked it and thanks for sharing! Couldn't agree more, my girlfriend and I are having our Halloween date seeing some cathedrals and graveyards and it's nice to know we're not the only weirdos out that that do this! XD There's a longer version of this in the works, but I'm sidetracked with another project right now.
omg yes! kindred spirits ~~ i'm so pumped to hear there will be a full version! i honestly wasn't expecting that. i feel like (especially on itch) gems like this are doomed to be small forever😭 lol but im also really excited to see what else you've got brewing... 👀
I was absolutely speechless during most of this game... the environment and music were so eerie yet beautiful! I am no one special but I did play your game and just wanted you to know I loved it and you did such a wonderful job creating this.. would love to see more of your work!
Thank you so much for playing and sharing your video! It's really great to see people appreciate the beautiful side of horror. If you liked that then I'd also recommend my game Daemonologie - it's a 2D folk horror about the witch trials in Scotland and great for streamers as it encourages you to talk through your thoughts about the characters and who you trust.
That sounds wonderful.. I will definitely check that out! Thank you💜
Beautiful and haunting, and shows that horror needn't be visceral or startling to be effective.
Loved the atmosphere and overall visual design. Also liked the idea of going around and playing music. And music is beautiful! I recorded a playthrough in Russian language.
Игра очень понравилась, атмосферная и жуткая. Прохождение на русском:
una pequeña historia con una banda sonora pulida y una belleza impresionante. sin suda alguna un juego que puedes terminar en poco tiempo y que se disfruta con su ambiente crudo y lúgubre
I saw Alpha Beta Gamer play this, i really liked it ! Amazing work!
A little horror gem. I played the normal version and it is graphically satisfying as it gives a nice atmosphere. The gameplay is original but also very basic. The music and sounds though are AMAZING.
As someone already mentioned it would have been nicer to have a main menu with some settings but I understand that creating it takes too much time for a Jam.
Hope to see more of your creations soon!
Had a lot of fun with this! It was very charming and definitely had my nerves going at times, especially in the abandoned ward with all the chairs hahah- And the music was lovely! Wonderful game~ <:
the music was so sick :)
This was fucking amazing! The model and environment work was outstanding! Loved the concept!
Ha, thanks very much!
The gothic aesthetic is so satisfying! I appreciated the variety of creative environments and ghosts. And having such an easy lighting control option. The violin sounded pretty good in my opinion! I'm curious if it's a VST instrument and if so which one? Thanks for sharing the music on YouTube too, so we can enjoy it outside of the game.
Thanks very much! The violin is a VST instrument as I can't handle playing real stringed instruments without frets XD. It's Spitfire Solo Violin. I have the Cello as well and they are both fantastic sounding and very easy to play, switching between longs, shorts, trem and legato notes depending on how you press on the keys instead of clunky keyswitches.
Um, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. It is using the new Lumen GI, which as far as I understand is a software combination of raytraced and screenspace dynamic GI, but not using Nvidia RTX raytracing hardware so you don't require an RTX card to run it.
Oh, I loved this, the smooth gameplay was very immersive, the visuals drop dead gorgeous and I love love love the ending. Honestly, my only criticism would be that I could not spend more time in this little world that you created, I have so many questions!