The Bar on the Abyss
This tale starts with your death.
You remember only the moth, carrying you through the cosmos.
And so, the Abyss beckons you.
Now, you are a spirit, immortal. After a meeting with the Grim Reaper, Death, you were gifted with a peculiar inheritance: a bar.
This mysterious establishment and the Abyss around it serve as a nexus, connected to every realm in existence. It’s a haven where spirits and deities, devils and angels, converge to drink and revel.
Yet, beneath the surface, an unease stirs. A voice calls out in your dreams—a loneliness that echoes through the Abyss. Why does it seek you?
A motley crew of spirits and immortals, each hailing from distant corners of the realms, stands with you. Bonds are waiting to be formed, or even love that transcends death itself—perhaps even with Death themself.
Manage your bar, where serving a drink to a god or an eldritch entity is just another day’s work. Unravel a cosmic mystery, go on a date in infernal Hell, witness the universe’s creation, or unlock the arcane secrets of magic.
Your new afterlife awaits.
Tumblr | CoG forum thread | Mood Playlist
- A narrative-driven experience focused on character development and storytelling.
- Play as any gender or none.
- Shape your personality through meaningful choices.
- Engage in deep and complex relationships with a diverse cast of characters.
- Romance mortals and immortals alike - if you want poly, purely physical, or asexual - they will respond in kind.
- Explore the afterlife, visit realms of immortals and gods, and uncover the dark secrets of the bar.
M\F\NB (Poly or Monogamous paths)
Death reveals a surprising warmth beneath their eternal duty.
Is there room for love within their everlasting embrace?
M\F (Poly or Monogamous paths)
This devilish being, a powerful magnet of desire, seeks more than power in the bar’s shadows.
Who dares to pursue the heart behind the flame?
M\F (Poly or Monogamous paths)
The Witch, with their feline companion, seeks a lost soul, their magic stirring trouble and passion alike.
Can a mortal love thrive in the spirit realm?
M (Monogamous path)
A mercenary turned security guard, Hastur carries an immortal burden, guilt born of past battles and sacrifices.
Will your love heal his wounds?
NB (Monogamous path)
The spectral diva enchants with their voice, their performance a dance of beauty tinged with the sorrow of eternal life.
Can your love find a new song for them?
M\F\NB (Monogamous path)
A shade keeps the bar’s order, and his silence holds the weight of cosmic secrets and the tapestry of existence.
Will your heart fall for the being behind the shadow?
With feathers dark and wit sharp, The Raven’s history is as rich as the bar itself. He offers piercing insight beneath a layer of humor.
The stern soothsayer-turned-accountant Yaga guards the bar’s fortune while wrestling with her own spectral regrets and wisdom.
Shelly, the bar’s assistant, brings life-affirming warmth but seeks a new family to fill the void of her lost one.
Welcome to the cosmos: the tapestry of existence, a complex weave of ever-changing realms.
Each domain is a thread in the grand design.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback—big or small, everything matters. Your input is invaluable. I’ll be answering and taking each into consideration. You are very welcome to post your reviews here!
Here’s what I’m especially looking for:
- Thoughts on the plot, characters, and overall narrative experience. What’s working, and what could use more polish?
- Notes on any typos, grammar issues, or awkward phrasing that might distract from the story.
- Any continuity errors you spot—It’s a big project, so making sure the narrative makes sense in the long run is really important.
- The game explores themes of Death in various forms, including suicide.
- Alcohol indulgence and its various side effects (hangovers, vomiting, etc.)
- Sexual themes (currently only non-explicit)
Download
Development log
- TBOTA 2.5 Update coming soon!1 day ago
- Game page is done14 days ago
- Hello, Itch!15 days ago
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
It finally made it's way on here!? This is the best, y'all need to get on this ASAP. It's really good.
Thank you!!! ♥
hi quick question: what are the book titles that you can put in for the Pseudioum(idk how to spell it) also when can we romance He Without Name cause i rlly wanna do that.
otherwise, amazing game i love playing it over and over again
I’m going to add little flirting options for HWN on the next update, but the official romance path will start on chapter 5, which will be the following update :)
The current version allows you to see all the books from Pseudonium in the menu under “The Archive”, the next update will incorporate them into the library, and I’ll also add a list of the keywords for them :)
And thank you so much!!! Ugh wish I could write it fasterrrrr
oh ok thank you!! a question-what platform did you write this on?
I use choicescript to write the game (and their IDE)
created an account just to let everyone know (especially the author, since their mind is brilliant!) i adore this game and it has filled my soul with such warmth, so excited for its future <3
Omg thank you so much!!! 🙇
Teeny tiny question; do you eventually have to romance someone, or can you go through the entire game fully platonically with everyone without any romantic/NSFW encounters? :O Just curious! (Because if the answer is you can't go through platonically, I'm definitely okay with ace-romancing Death, just saying xD)
I will say, I am very pleasantly surprised by all the options you can take in a relationship, and how to go about that relationship! It's super inclusive and I am loving it :D
You absolutely can! The next update will separate the friendship and romance routes more clearly but even now you can have a non-romantic playthrough without missing any important (non romantic) content.
Thanks for reading and for your kind words!
Oooh, friendship routes :O I look forward to that :D I'm really liking the options so far, especially the mental health representation ^^ At times, I just have to stop and take a deep breath and hold back tears, it's that well done! Looking forward to future content :)
Thank you 💙
No no, thank YOU for making it this great ^^ /gen
This game is pretty cool! It's hard to find a long & free IF. I mean, I'd pay if I had money.. Is it possible to export/import saves by the way? Sometimes I run into glitches with my data being reset while playing the browser
Thank you! First of all, I recommend checking the Choice of Games forums. They have many free demos, some of which are quite lengthy as well. I couldn't replicate the save-resetting bug on my end but found a guide here to export saves from the browser:
Open the developer console in the browser (Shift+Ctrl+I) and then to Local Storage on the Application tab. You'll likely see a mess of files left by choicescript games and others. The save files from choicescript plugin come in pairs: a file named game_name_savemod_name_X (the name of save in the save drop-down menu in the game) and game_name_savemod_data_X (actual game state data) Note, game_name_ is a string defined by particular game, e.g. "auraclash_" or "college_tennis_")
Since both of these files contain text data, you can copy/paste/save their content to files on your hard drive, and then restore them in similar manner, if needed.
Might be easier to try the demo at CoGDemos though, it has it’s own save system. You can find the link on Tumblr (not sure If itch.io allows posting external links yet so check the link there)
Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. And I normally run into issues like this as I use VPNs and such sometimes and lose website data, nothing that isn't my own fault.
I'm definitely going to play this, it looks very interesting.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the experience and I’d love to hear your thoughts afterwards.
Hello, I’m having trouble with saves. Whenever I try to save nothing happens.
Hi there! I had similar problems while testing the game. I realized that I was clicking too quickly, which caused the issues lol.
Try saving your progress and then wait a few seconds before moving on. This should help the game register your actions properly. I tested this on both a PC and an iPhone, and it worked.
Thanks, its worked
Happy to hear! Have fun in the Abyss :)
oh, how i love this game. i am so glad you brought it to itch! everything about this story is so, so wonderful and i'm excited for what's to come. take care, author and readers <3
Thank you so much! I wanted to do it for a while now, the death of Dash was the push I needed hehe. Working on the update double time!
I am so excited to see this here! I didn’t even know DashingDon was ending but my first thought was “OH NO WHAT ABOUT TBOTA!?” And so I popped onto the tumblr page and saw the itch.io link and I was overjoyed! I can’t wait to play over all the routes, again, and see how the story continues to progress! I love all your characters, romantic or otherwise! = D
Thank you! Very fitting for this project to start a new afterlife, I think :)