Hearts in the Shadows
by ScavengerDev
Game Details
- Version
- v0.3
- Developer
- ScavengerDev
- Engine
- Ren'Py
- Status
- Ongoing
- Language
- English
- Censored
- No
- Updated
- 14 May 2026
About
A psychology student who never worked through his own grief starts "helping" the people around him — and the help curdles into control. Trevor doesn't set out to manipulate anyone, but the line between protecting someone and steering them without their consent gets thinner every time he crosses it.
The story follows his last year of school as he grows closer to the women in his life, each relationship pulling him between genuine affection and the quiet urge to manage people like problems to be solved. It's less a romance than a slow character study of someone convincing himself that control is care.
Day to day, you move through a school-life sandbox, talking to people, building trust, and choosing how far Trevor lets his instincts run. The RPG-style structure ties his growing influence to the choices you make with each woman, so the corruption angle isn't a switch to flip but something that accumulates.
Changelog
- Due to variable modifications, a new save file is required (sorry about that). With the changes I made, I hope this will be the last time a restart is necessary.
- Reworked character introductions.
- Reworked multiple intro events.
- Added new branching events for Amelia.
- Added new branching events for Maxine.
- Added new repeatable interactions for Amelia.
- Added 2 new Amelia animations (1 per path, 3 camera angles each).
- Added additional transition scenes for smoother progression.
- Improved notebook hints and progression guidance.
- Improved character progression and event flow.
- Improved sound effects and scene transitions.
- Added new sound effects.
- Fixed bugs and corrected typos.
- Game compression. From nearly 3GB to less than 1GB.
- General Improvements
- Overall sandbox structure polished for better stability.
- Adjustments to daily activity flow and time-based events.
- General performance improvements for scene transitions.
- A large number of old renders were remade with the new visual standard.
- Scenes & Characters
- Implemented the rotating daily event system.
- New dining room, bathroom, and bedroom dressing routines across Morning, Afternoon and Evening.
- Dialogue adjustments to make conversations feel more natural and character-accurate.
- I added some NPCs to make the university environment feel more alive, getting rid of those ugly monochrome NPCs.
- New characters introduced: Max — Trevor’s best friend, who will play an important role in the main story — as well as brief appearances from Autumn and Savannah.
- Visuals
- Better lighting, textures, and facial expressions.
- New renders created with the updated visual standard.
- Visual foundation reinforced for future updates.
- Bug Fixes
- Fixed missing scenes (including the nighttime kitchen scene).
- Corrected broken labels and event triggers.
- Adjusted duplicated or misaligned variables.
- General code cleanup.
- This update includes story progression, gameplay improvements, more life added to previously empty environments, the implementation of a hint system, relationship points and stat systems, two spicy scenes, and much more—adding roughly 1.5 to 2 extra hours of gameplay.
- Please keep in mind: you'll need to start a new game, as I've changed some variables, remade a few early renders, and due to the new choice system, old saves might not work properly.
- Initial Release
- For 0.3 you'll need to start a new game
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