Defeat the Darkness DATE!

Moving sucks. It always does. I go to school and meet a new set of faces that are just going to change next year. I've learned to stop caring about them. Dad says I need to make friends this time, or be sent to military school. He knows what happened to my brother Owen when he went, and clearly doesn't care.

I throw my books into my old backpack, a marketing piece for "The Adventures of Sir Beaumont," a tv show from my childhood that plays suspiciously often here in this rapidly-modernizing village. He's the only thing that's followed me this whole time, and maybe it'll help strike up a conversation or two when I get to North Town High...

DtD DATE! is a high-school AU spinoff of the 2014 comedy isekai webseries, Defeat the Darkness. Watching it is not required, but it may help explain an occasional joke.

A livestream of the game's development can be found here.

An entry to Otome Jam/Josei Jam 2025

How long is this thing?

~36k words total

Common route: ~12k words

Romance routes: ~8k words each

One playthrough (~20k words) works well for a 2-3 hour stream!

Content Warnings for this game are as follows:

Depression/anxiety

Trauma from moving around as a child

Bullying

Optional graphic violence against said bullies

An amount of swearing you would expect from high school students

One off-handed mention of 'weed brownies'

Two allusions to wealth inequality

Gender as related to authoritarianism

The MC and LIs hang out at a fried chicken restaurant and consume animal products

None of the characters kiss

--CREDITS--

CHARACTER DESIGN AND SPRITES

salt -  Dagon, Danish, Milia, Mr. Krimp, Ned/Beaumont, Random Kids, Waldo

starri - Chinchin

Jay - Dad

CG ART (except placeholders)

Meddie

COMPOSERS

Harmonchaos - Waltz, Encounter Music, Red Rooster

Xirahii/Undine Soundworks - Danish's Home, Castle Square, North Town High

BETA READER

zani

BETA TESTERS

aiainaine

Billy (DtD Tabletop alumni)

novaterror

vii

BG ART, WRITER, PROGRAMMER, DIRECTOR

MAHO! Cody

SPECIAL THANKS

Devtalk and Otome Dev discord servers for their assistance with random topics

The organizers of Otome/Josei Jam

Past and present members of various DtD tabletop campaigns

My teachers, who refused to quit

The original cast and crew of "Defeat the Darkness," including:

Alex Beckham, Alexandria, Deldris, Hoodagai, Jeffrey Nix, Krista Kangas, Lefuulei, mimmsyboy1995, Pixel Moon, Richard Priest, Sam Chin, Sammy, Soundless Alice, Smochi, theavaloncode, Zaven

And of course my good friends Adam and Jon, who helped with this script and have kept the DtD flame lit with various tabletop campaigns