Hexes & Heartstrings
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Rise and shine, familiar! It's the start of the new year, and you've got all these tasks ahead of you before the sabbath at All Hallow's Eve towards the year's end. Tend to your master, tend to your duties, and develop a tendency for poking your nose into situations where they don't belong.
After all, a good familiar knows when to back down and when to step forward. And you're the best of them all, aren't you?
Content warnings:
Major character death, graphic depictions of violence and gore, cannibalism, mild yandere themes
This game was completed in a month for the 2025 SWAK game jam!
Expect more polishing and fleshing out, our second love interest, and a secret bonus ending to follow sometime during our next sabbath.
Currently, in this jam version of Hexes & Heartstrings:
- Play as a cat, crow, or snake familiar to your witch master, with effects on narration, choices, and even your elusive backstory.
- Make the harrowing attempt to win over your master, finding love — and true love's kiss — across a few hours of gameplay and a whopping total of 40,000 words.
- Experience the aesthetic joys of beautifully rendered sprites for the two love interests and everyone's favorite and long awaited kiss CG.
- Pluck every plant but the dreaded mandrake in the exclusive gardening minigame. Mark out where the mandrakes must be, and avoid them at all costs.
- Uncover a mounting mystery in one of three endings; one bad, one very bad, and one just somewhat acceptable.
- Seal your fate (and maybe even more) with nothing but a...kiss?!
If you're stuck, click me for the guide! (spoiler free and spoiler versions)
- Katherine Song (saiyohara): Writing, editing, marketing
- Lea Sioson (lemonink): Programming, UI/UX, backgrounds, editing
- Rae Wong (stingrae36): Sprites, CGs, backgrounds
- Maia Hernandez: Logo design
With special thanks to Feniks's EasyRenpyGUI and Inline Conditions.
Additional thank you to Kevin Macleod's music for the soundtrack! The full list is below:
Soundtrack credits
"Comfortable Mystery 2" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Windswept" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Summer Day" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Satiate" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Blue Feather" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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i just finished my first playthrough where i accidentally stumbled into the bad ending (?) and oh my god !! that was amazing!!!!!!!! the plot twists, the world building, the mystery - they're all so fantastic, especially with the gorgeous character art and brush like backgrounds, the enchanting music and sound effects, the gorgeous UI!!! i love the writing with its poetic parts that can be down right gut wrenching (ugh that bad end was perfect) to funny (SpellSwipe and Journal of a Cowardly Child got me cackling) ajsid the meta linss of Maeve's route is also so fun!! excited to play more and for the future maeve route, polyam(?) route š and izar route-- joking... or am I? which devil do i have a make a deal with to make that happen eh? /joking HAHAHA
[spoilers ahead]
but aaaaaa unlocked the other two endings and my god!! carnelians yandere tendencies especially if you push him to the edge :O jaw dropped!! I'm wondering how the deal gets resolved on that route because wow. RIP the beloved familiar- er puppet...
and oh maeve :( the "good"(?) ending with cari is really sweet (the carnelian earrings <33 ugh i loved that reveal with Ruby and Beryl like oops... but carnelian loves when our silly ass gets scammed /lh) I'm happy they're finally on even-keel with each other but fuck the devil, man. a new lease on life at the expense of someone else... it hurts.
the writing is so damn lovely!!!!!! I found myself rereading phrases multiple times (especially the gore rip HAHA) because of how poetic and heartwrenching it was. bravo <3
what the hell? this was too good and delicious. thank you for the scrumptious meal. like, i am genuinely mindf*cked, lemme reiterate, THIS WAS JUST TOO GOOD OMGš! it's been a while since i found a VN that captured me to this extent, i'm just happy. the art is gorgeous, the storytelling, story progression and plot twists-chef's kissš. thank you so much for creating and sharing this beautiful piece of art ā¤ļø
Wow, love this story so much! Stunning artwork, polished ui and amazing writing. I want to thank everyone who worked on this story. Replayed three times as cat, crow, and snake familiar, and the difference in details (the concept of familiar's hierarchy, which brings unique flavor of tragedy for each MC) is so delicious... my personal favorite was the snake, but I might be biased here, haha, because I have three dearly loved pet snakes. I will eagerly await for Maeve's route š
THis game is so good!!!! like oh my god qioHDUJHWJAKNJNJANJ
but also, there isn't even a full on happy endingššš,
please please please if it's possible can there be a route where we love the both of them and save them both!?!?!(maybe even more yan scenes š) thankyouu
also, great job to you and the team, because holy damn are the sprites and writing and literally everything so good!!! I hope all of you go to sleep with a cold pillow and have a fulfilled rest at night and wake up feeling fresh :>
AUGHHHHHHH MY HEARTTTT
i'm a boykisser but maeve AUGHHHH MY GIRL
This game is SO GOOD!! Everything about from art style, storytelling, characters is PEAK. Even though it's still only februaryi I'm sure that this game will be one of the best otomes of this year. It was a magical experience, thank you and keep it up! Cari is embedded in my heart forever <3
This was fun! The character designs are really pretty and I loved the writing style! It felt kind of like a fantasy novel. I will say the bad ending snuck up on me, I wasn't expecting it. And even the better end was still kinda sad, but definitely preferable. The guide made me curious about the worst ending, so I tried it, and... it was certainly something (will not look at cari the same way lol). Even if the yandere-ness was a little much for me, I'm sure others would appreciate it. This felt like a really high quality game, nice work!
This game actually?? what even?? the plot twists everywhere? the suspicious highly intriguing characters?? the way the choices are so plentiful and creative you cant even tell what path you're going down on? truly i thought i was doing amazing until i got the bad end on the first run..made me very emotional so i had to write this out immediately. My heart burns. (haha get it because- *include spoilers*)
edit: MIGHT I ADD. GOD THE DESIGNS?? spent a whole HOUR admiring the details?? i hope the good end doesn't leave me feeling too empty afterwards haha..
Hi..i thought the devils end was bad..uhm. dont provoke cari too much š
Just polished off the entire game, wow. uhm. definitely feeling empty, 10/10. Looking forward to updates!!
okay overall rating with spoilers because i love yapping and from my extensive research i saw that the dear creator likes being critiqued. Im a diehard fan of romantic horror/romance with gore elements/symbolism and i'd love if there was more so it leads up to the very surprisingly gore-y ending, i also feel that there wasn't enough character or rather personality per se from mc when cari was being an absolute asshole. (though very justified after learning of the lore) Personally, i would've lovvveedddd a angsty little "im sadly retreating to my room instead of/after trying to argue because im just a little familiar to him after all" scene only for cari to (somehow) swallow his endless pride and come apologize..or pull an asian mom and atleast bring fruits or something godamn.. ALSO CAN I JUST SAY as soon as i came across izar i knew he was suspicious as hell. I love the irony of picking out a dove for his familiar form and the way he argues with mc in their head i gigglledd..its highly impressive how you managed to cook and serve that lengthy near perfection game in just a month. Thank you for your numerous efforts! now onto experiencing the rest of your games..
I LOVE UUUU YOU ARE THE BEST!! youāre correct i love comments and i love critique and i love yapping so this is like the best present ever YAYY!!! thank you so much for taking the time to write not just one, but FOUR comments. i feel like not many people gaf too much about this game (sad) so you have made my day!
the bad ending is, well. quite bad. which is hopefully incentive to get the good ending! and i am SO in love with our artistās designs too like long haired cariā¦. oooohā¦.
and thank you so much for all the feedback!!! let me go over them all
OH MY GOD HI I JUST SAW THIS??? Im beyond happy you appreciated the comment so much!! i had alot of fun writing it, i've recd this game to every soul i know. ok let me yap more bare with me. IM SOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE HORROR BUILD UP EHEEE i love games that are comfy yet send a shiver up your spine..like yes girl confuse me to my core!! Cant wait to see how the elements will influence caris personality even further.. thank u for agreeing cari asian mom canon NEVER have a child with that man (its okay i can fix him trust) need the cari angst. THOUGH i feel that izar was MOSTLYY subtle.. i just read into things too much, I SWEAR I READ HE WAS DOVE INSPIRED..somewhere?? or maybe it was like..white crow.. sum like that..i loved the irony!! You did an amazing job writing him. (GETOUTMYHEADGETOUTMYHEADETOTUMEYEGAD) ok on a final note this game did NOT flopmax failcore in my heart. Im soso happy you stuck through with it!! Truly in love with this game i need to get a brain aneurysm and have it cause dementia so i can play hit game hexes and heartstrings blindly again bro. Love this, Love you, hope you and your team get all you have ever desired in life :33 šš
!!Spoilers~!!
Hi hi! I loved this game so much?!?! The art was beautiful and the plot twist was certainly fun to see! And Cari is LOVE! I will say though, I was in LOVE with Izar ever since he was introduced and then the ending happened š¶
Is it bad that my red flag-loving heart still finds Izar hot-
Overall, one of the best otomes I've played in 2025! I was starved for interesting otomes and this one definitely scratched the itch haha <3Izar route when jk-oh my gosh, thank you so much!!! such high praise is very much appreciated <3 and honestlyyy i wrote izar in a way where i wanted him too youāre not alone. no matter how bad he gets thereās just something about that sort of golden retriever (plus a certain something else) personality >_< very very happy we could scratch that itch (haha itch like the website) for you!
Thank GOD I'm not alone in simping for Izar haha! Also yes, pun intended~!
this is PEAAAK
if the itch.io GOAT cd-rrom says so, it must be true. THANK YOU!!
Cute game!
(for the most part LOL)
love cariyay, thank you so much!! super happy you enjoyed (for the most part) :D
Thank you for replying! I enjoyed the game, fully indeed!! Also, I'm not sure if I'll follow through with it but I just wanted to know if you're okay with content of this game? Like on tiktok etc!!
wahh, that would be awesome (if you do decide to post)!!! weāre totally fine with people posting/making content about the game, it helps give us more exposure too. but no pressure obviously; iām just happy that you had fun playing :D
Lovely game, beautiful sprite art, and delightful characters, but how for the love of everything holy do you get the "somewhat acceptable" ending? I feel like I've tried every reasonable combination and am losing my mind. Please. Pleeeease add a guide. Some of us are apparently very dense.
(I do really like the game though!)
Show post...
fr
oh my gosh i didnāt realize the intricacies of my mind were, in fact, not intricate and more annoying haha. iāll make & submit a guide as soon as i can!
and thank you very much, happy to hear you like the game despite my confusing choice requirements! i will get that fixed asap :)
Thank you! I'm sure as soon as I see it, it'll be super obvious and I'll feel very silly, lol!
Also, really looking forward to the Maeve route and ~hopefully~ a secret bonus ending where [vaguely wording this to avoid spoilers] everyone gets a happy ending!
sorry it took a hot second, but i made a guide here which iāll just link here for easy access and update the game page to show. hope it helps!!
Ahhh Cari you beautiful mannnnThank you for creating such a beautiful game, and kudos to the little aesthetic sound details! I can't wait to finish Maeve's route!
and thank you so much for all the kind words!!! it looks like iāll need to get started soon on maeveās route haha >_< but super happy you enjoyed cariās!
First off, the sound design is *chef's kiss* I won't lie, I was hoverin over the buttons for a good few minutes because if felt like listening to those ASMR keyboard videos. āŗ
Second, the world, the character, the aesthetic and atmosphere of the game! It's all so wonderfully put together I felt like I was wandering around inside of this world.
Im loving Cari and Maeve so much rn. They're so asohfseiheg. SUCH GOOBERS.
The ending tho ššš
oh my gosh, thank you so much!! super happy to hear you enjoyed the sound design hehe our programmer lemonink was just so fantastic with the ui AND the sounds :D and i have nothing but praises to sing about our artist rae, i think the atmosphere manages to be so successful thanks to them!
also very grateful to hear you liked cari and maeve! i wanted them both to come off as very successful but have their own little cute sides :P and the endings are, well, certainly something hehe ^_^ thank you again for playing our humble entry!! looking forward to playing yours too <3