
Embrace the monster within to free yourself from a curse in this dark fantasy visual novel, a standalone introduction to the characters and setting of Sigh of the Abyss.
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About
Shadow Bonds is a standalone, non-canonical introduction to the world and characters of Sigh of the Abyss that doesn't spoil the main game's story beats.

You have been chained to a stranger, a boy foolish—or brave—enough to flee the gilded cage where magi are kept docile and pliant.
The curse will kill you both unless you find a way to break it. Anyone else would already be dead, but not you—for you hear the ancient voice of the Abyss, and have been blessed—or cursed—with powers dark and terrible.

Did the Abyss bestow upon you supernatural strength and agility? Do you have the power to manipulate the shadows and see what they see? Perhaps your dark gift is prying open the minds of others only to break them and have them do your bidding.


Embrace your emotions. The four humors color the tone of your responses and your personality: will you be the carefree sanguine, the thoughtful phlegmatic, the anxious melancholic or the fiery choleric?

Will you stay friends or seek something more? Learn more about your companions, see how they react to the curse placed upon you, accept or reject their aid. Shadow Bonds will give you a glimpse into the friendship and romance system of Sigh of the Abyss.

A free, non-canonical introduction to the characters and setting of Sigh of the Abyss
Customize the protagonist's name and skills
A branching narrative with hard choices and terrible consequences
Three unique endings with several variations each
Sample what the romance interests have to offer, or stay friends
Learn more about the rich setting of Sigh of the Abyss through codex entries
Stats
Languages: English
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 40 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
While the game is still developing, this Prologue is outstanding and presents the game nicely. Sigh of the Abyss is a visual novel where you can customize the protagonist's name and skills and even shape her personality based on her responses; she can be indifferent, emotional, brute, or carefree. Before starting the game, you can choose whether you'd like to romance men or women, and if you'd like, you can choose both. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2860217005 The story starts when the heroine leaves her job late at night only to find a young boy being chased by a hooded man. It's up to you whether you want to interfere or just watch the scene. Either way, you'll be chained to this boy, and here, your story will begin about how to remove this bond. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2859542496 I can't stress how much I loved the artwork, the scenery, and the character's design. The details are so beautiful. The soundtracks are okay. Unfortunately, the VN is not voiced, but somehow, I found myself enjoying it. The characters are likable, and each one of them has a backstory. You can either dig into it or dismiss it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2859542117 Pros: +Interesting story. +Building the main character's personality and skills. +Choices and consequences. +Beautiful soundtracks. +Beautiful character design and outstanding scenery artwork. +Good character personality development. +Manual save. +Steam achievements. Cons: - Nothing I highly recommend this very well-written prologue, and can't wait for the full game to be released. [I]Other Reviews:[/i] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071375554/recommended/2025310/]Sigh of the Abyss Review[/url] [quote]𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32399565/]𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒[/url][/quote]
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Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 40 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
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Мужики, спасайте, если наберём 10 лайков и 5 наград, то жена подарит ящик пива
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️ ☁️☁️💗💗☁️💗💗☁️☁️ ☁️💗💗💗💗💗💗💗☁️ ☁️💗💗💗💗💗💗💗☁️ ☁️💗💗💗💗💗💗💗☁️ ☁️☁️💗💗💗💗💗☁️☁️ ☁️☁️☁️💗💗💗☁️☁️☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️💗☁️☁️☁️☁️ ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
Sigh of the Abyss'in karakterlerine ve ortamına giriş niteliğindeki bu karanlık fantastik görsel romanda, kendinizi bir lanetten kurtarmak için içinizdeki canavarı kucaklayın.
I want to like this, the world seems interesting, the art is better than sub-standard anime bishounen fair, but if I have to read about one more bard who likes to bang everything that breathes (especially one that induces my yick of adultery, which should have a warning, by the way), I'm going to pull out my hair. I'm sure if this world has/had half-elves, they'd all be rangers. I'm not against cliches or tropes, but one CAN use them better.
Originally I gave this a good review because I liked it as a free prologue, a taste of what's to come. However now that I've played Sigh of the Abyss I have to change my review. It says it's a prologue but it has no connection to the full game. The same characters are in the full game and they meet you for the first time. I was trying to figure out how Shadow Bonds relates to the full game but it doesn't. I bought Sigh of the Abyss based on my positive experience with Shadow Bonds but I don't think it gives a good representation as the full game is much much slower and doesn't have as interesting choices nor as interesting a story as this "prologue" does. Ultimately I can't recommend this as it fails at what it's supposed to do.
Very interesting start to the game. I really liked all the choices you get to make and how they're described according to the humors. Too many VNs are choice-starved. I also like the art, which reminds me of Ebon Light. The fact that it's going to be partially voice acted is a huge plus for me because I don't love silent VNs but find fully voiced ones make me feel guilty about skipping to the next line in my eagerness to read it. Backed on Kickstarter--can't wait!
Good art, good story, good romance options and characters. One of the best VNs I've read. Really looking forward to the full game.
I really enjoyed the art, the medievalesque setting, the characters, and the music, so much that I backed the Kickstarter immediately after trying the demo. I'm invested and want to see where the story is going! You can find my full review here: https://www.dnd.kismetrose.com/VNSighoftheAbyssShadowBondsReview.html
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.