Not Going Back
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
Not Going Back
Not Going Back is a choice-based, story-driven adult visual novel centred around a man from an unstable background entering his first year in college with intentions of bettering his life and moving on from the past troubles he experienced.
Chapter 1: Sunrise, which contains over 1400 renders, primarily focuses on establishing the setting for the story, as well as introducing a majority of the main characters and potential love interests.
Chapter 2: The Worst Guys continues the story, with a focus on further exploring the characters established in Chapter 1. Over double the size of Chapter 1 at over 3300 renders, Chapter 2 is a big step forward in the project.
The complete game will contain 11 chapters. Chapter 3 is currently in development.
NB: The game is currently free to download, and will be throughout development. While donations are appreciated and will go solely to the continued development of the game, they are certainly not necessary. This is a passion project that will be finished regardless of financial support. It is worth noting, however, that, as a result of this, development times will fluctuate, and I am unable to commit to or promise any consistent release schedule at this time.
I have tested the release as much as reasonably possible for bugs/errors etc. but almost inevitably something will have slipped through the cracks. If you do encounter a bug/error, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to rectify.
Similarly, if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments and if I have an answer, I'll provide.
Or, just leave a comment or review! I'm always keen to see what people have to say about the project so far.
Most importantly, I hope you enjoy the game!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Dev Log 2.4: ANYWAY16 days ago
- Dev Log 2.3: Feels Like Summer46 days ago
- Dev Log 2.2: The One I Definitely Didn't Forget to Title Initially and Was Up Fo...79 days ago
- Dev Log 2.1: Two Weeks OnSep 03, 2024
- Ch2 Post Release Minor UpdateAug 23, 2024
- Chapter 2 is now available for downloadAug 20, 2024
- Dev Log 1.7: UltimateAug 18, 2024
- Dev Log 1.6: PenultimateApr 12, 2024
Comments
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So far, the plot of this AVN is interesting. I can say that I love the story and I am hooked into it. I can't wait to find out the MC's background as well.
And I'm waiting for Chapter 3!
Kudos to you Cicada. This is one of the AVNs that has substance! I enjoyed playing it :)
Thanks a lot for the comment, I'm glad you've enjoyed the game so far! It's always nice when someone says they're invested in the story, helps me know I'm on that right track with things. I hope that you'll enjoy the future releases as well!
10/10 i love mia
This is hands down one of the best written AVN's I've played to date. Your characters are amazingly well crafted and memorable (I see that I'm not the only solid Imogen fan by the comments), and choices given actually make you think about how you'd like to reply. Your art and renders are beautiful, and the entire atmosphere has a very strong 'I'm almost actually there' feel to it. Excellent work - as stated by the poster before me, if you ever run a Patreon, count me in. Stay amazing!
~S~
Hey thanks, that feels like such high praise, I really appreciate it. I like to think I've done a good job of character and world building so far, so hearing that you've enjoyed it is really gratifying. Things are still only getting started really, so hopefully the future releases will not disappoint!
I had zero expecations going in, and I was pleasantly surprised. There are a ton of AVNs set in college, but most of them are, well.... grabage. Nice to find a diamond in the rough.
I'd be happy to subscribe on patreon if you ever decide to make one, but even if you don't plan to monetize it, I'd suggest spreading the word on some forums/reddit (e.g. r/AVN_Lovers). I stumbled into it by chance, and considering how solid the first 2 chapters are, more people should know about this game.
PS. A walkthrough would be welcome - I did 2 playthroughs, but I'm pretty sure there's still some scenes I missed.
Thank you for your kind words, I'm happy you discovered the game and enjoyed it.
I had planned to launch a patreon when I released ch2, but because it ended up taking me a lot longer to make than I'd have wanted it to, I decided I couldn't justify launching a patreon and asking people to support me/the game financially when I couldn't promise a consistent release schedule or anything like that. I still hope to launch a patreon some day, and the plan now in theory would be to launch one with the release of ch3, but that'll still only be if I feel comfortable with the idea of people financially supporting the game. And if I did launch a patreon, the updates would still always be free; I'm not going to lock anything behind a paywall even if/when I start monetizing the game.
As a side note, looking way, way into the future, there is one exception, that being an eventual steam release when the game's finished. My hopeful plan is to have this itch version get updated chapter by chapter until it's complete, then I'll take some time to remaster/rework whatever needs improving in the game (not story based, just visuals and coding) to make it all look and feel consistent across the chapters, then put that on steam as a complete work. But people will still be able to play the original version here for free if they just want the story and don't care if it looks dated or whatever. But that's all just a dream at the moment, of course.
I'll look into maybe promoting the game elsewhere, especially now that ch2 is out and I've received a lot of positive feedback, and I'll also consider making a little walkthrough/guide to coincide with the release of ch3. I'm designing the game to be one that you'd want to replay to see different things, but I do agree that giving people an optional guide to help them see what they want to see would be beneficial. But I will say I'd encourage people to do at least one blind playthrough just to see what story you get organically making decisions.
Really enjoyed the second chapter. Big on Imogen and the scene with her was very nice. Hope we get to hang out with her more in the future.
Hey thanks! The chapter 2 scene with Imogen is actually my personal favorite so far in the game, so it's nice to see that other people liked it too
Wow, so many beautiful women and not having a Harem, it's almost a sacrilege and a waste of renders, With this I mean the time it will take both to see each route of each girl, this for the player and also for the DEV/s, because instead of having a Harem route, the route for each one must be tedious to implement different dialogues and more. I was going to give it a chance after seeing the girls and the possible plot that this VN could have, however choosing is not my thing, I have left aside several VNs because of that, so good luck with this and greetings DEVs
The second episode was good and now I hope for the third
Thanks for checking it out, glad you liked it! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to make this time around
I do have a question are there branching routes where you have to pick a certain love interest or can you pick as many as you want?
You can kind of pick whoever you want to begin with, for instance it is possible as of ch2 to be pursuing all of the LIs simultaneously. Nothing's really been closed off yet. However, doing certain things will close off certain paths as the story goes on. And you will eventually have to commit to a single girl if you're not locked into a path already. But that's quite a way in the future still
I'm asking because I really cant choose at this moment
New update is great
any news on a new episode
Yes, not far away. Currently working on the final scene of the chapter. Once I've finished rendering the images for that I'm going to release another dev log which will outline the final work I have to do, and give a release date. I'd say it's about two weeks away, roughly
just finished ch 1, hopefully this is still being developed, so far i enjoyed it
Thanks for playing! Ch2 is close to completion, will be released in July (barring anything unfortunate happening). There's going to be one more dev log update before the release which will confirm a release date, but it's probably a couple of weeks away as my best guess
Any updates on progress at all?
Hi, thanks for showing interest, and sorry for not providing a prompter reply. I'll be posting a devlog later this weekend which will provide an update on development. In short, there have been a few complications but I'm still making progress.
Thanks for the reply, look forward to it. Appreciate the communication.
No Patreon, Discord or SS?
Any news?
Just to satisfy those who are eagerly waiting for the update without pressure
I really liked your game I'm going to share it through discords since I participate in about 25 with thousands of players looking forward to ep2 I really liked the development with
tessa and Imogen great game ✌️🎮
Interesting game!
I like lucy (Quinn long hair with smile)
Steam release?
Hey, thanks! A steam release would be nice eventually, but my plan was to get a bit further into the game before considering it a viable decision. Don't especially want to put a very unfinished product up on steam. So for the time being I'm sticking to free chapter updates here on itch
Mia and Imogen stand out for me so far
This is really good so far. I like the different characters and the way the story is developing. I'll be finishing the chapter soon. 10/10
Too many slutty LI's that are garbage from other male characters ...
do u have a patreon site, if yes. it would be a good idea to put a link to it in the game. will be a patreon if the tier prize is right for me. I am right now suporting 53 games on patreon
No patreon at the moment, hopefully in the future, but I didn't feel comfortable immediately setting one up and asking for money from a first release, especially considering I have no idea when chapter 2 will come out, and probably won't be able to provide consistent updates to the game. I'll reassess after chapter 2's release as I should have a better idea by then how long to expect for the dev cycle.
TLDR: no patreon for now, hopefully in the future when I'm more comfortable with the idea, thanks for the support
So LOTS of dudes here, which is a RED FLAG imo. A lot of cute girls tho would suck if it's not a harem, which overall means no play for me... will the MC be the only one fucking the girls here? LI (LOVE INTEREST)?
Will it have a harem?
Lesbian? If yes, would lesbian be avoidable?
NTR/SHARING? Hope not tbh.
Overall good luck.
(copying comment from below with similar questions, should answer you suitably as well, albeit a bit out of order)
With the main LIs, yes, the MC will be the only one involved. Side characters may have/develop other relationships (none of this is shown; the scenes will always contain the MC)
No plans for a harem, the game will at some point break off into defined relationship paths with the main LIs
NTR/sharing - as far as I'm aware, no, but some people define this differently as far as I've seen. For instance, there will be some options for scenes with multiple girls - if you class this is sharing, then yes. But there are no plans for scenes with multiple male characters. Similarly, lesbian content goes as far as scenes with multiple girls involved, but no exclusive girl on girl content
As much as possible everything will be avoidable, as in everything is predicated on the choices made, but there will, as far as I can envision, almost always be a final, implied 'yes/no' for a scene to start. So, you can make all the 'correct' choices to lead to a scene, but there will still be an option to say no, because it will presumably be possible to accidentally make all the right choices depending on how you interact with characters without intending on actively pursuing a girl
Hope this answers your questions well enough
with thise answers from the dev. this has the potensiel to be a awsome game. already played it and I enjoyed it alot
well just played it, did not see any NTR/sharing so far. one thing this game has, is tons of pretty young girls. thats not a bad thing
will mc be the only one that sexually involved with the li ? is it harem game ?
ntr/sharing ? lesbian ?
if there's any, will it be avoidable ?
thanks, good luck
Chadinstrapjacket. u ask the Q.s most players want to know. good on u
With the main LIs, yes, the MC will be the only one involved. Side characters may have/develop other relationships (none of this is shown; the scenes will always contain the MC)
No plans for a harem, the game will at some point break off into defined relationship paths with the main LIs
NTR/sharing - as far as I'm aware, no, but some people define this differently as far as I've seen. For instance, there will be some options for scenes with multiple girls - if you class this is sharing, then yes. But there are no plans for scenes with multiple male characters. Similarly, lesbian content goes as far as scenes with multiple girls involved, but no exclusive girl on girl content
As much as possible everything will be avoidable, as in everything is predicated on the choices made, but there will, as far as I can envision, almost always be a final, implied 'yes/no' for a scene to start. So, you can make all the 'correct' choices to lead to a scene, but there will still be an option to say no, because it will presumably be possible to accidentally make all the right choices depending on how you interact with characters without intending on actively pursuing a girl
Hope this answers your questions well enough
with thise answers from the dev. this has the potensiel to be a awsome game. already played it and I enjoyed it alot