Rituals in the Dark

Released Nov 2019

A lesbian / yuri romance story with mild horror elements set in the rainy English seaside town of Scarborough. Our heroine, Aspen, meets the mysterious, beautiful Althea in the dead of night, but who is Althea really...?

85% positive · 198 reviews

Done

All announced content has been released

High confidence

Done

All announced content has been released

High confidence

Where to buy

Steam Updated 12 Oct 2026 $6.99

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Evaluation

Rituals in the Dark is a kinetic (no-choices) visual novel by ebi-hime, released on November 20, 2019. The store description presents it as a complete, self-contained story — a fixed-length narrative of approximately 50,000 words with no branching, no DLC, and no post-launch content planned or delivered for this specific title. The developer's news feed across this game's page is entirely cross-promotional: ebi-hime uses this storefront hub to announce new visual novels released under her label (such as Fragile Feelings, Clear Skye Thinking, Cage of Roses, Her Love Like Poison, Out of the Ocean, and The Demon Queen's Dire Dilemma). None of these posts reference updates, patches, or additional content for Rituals in the Dark itself. The game has received bug-fix patches consistent with basic post-launch maintenance, but no major content updates. Rituals in the Dark launched as a finished, complete product. There are no unreleased DLC listings, no roadmap, no season pass, and no developer statement suggesting further content was ever planned. The game is complete as originally shipped.

Evidence

Store description presents the game as a complete, kinetic (no-choices) visual novel with a fixed word count and a defined feature set. No DLC, expansions, or post-launch content mentioned.

description · Nov 20, 2019 source content shipped

high

Most recent developer post announces the release of a separate visual novel (The Demon Queen's Dire Dilemma). Cross-promotional in nature — no mention of updates or new content for Rituals in the Dark.

news post · Feb 26, 2026 source ambiguous

low

Media

Details

Developer

ebi-hime

Publisher

ebi-hime

Achievements

Platform

Windows, macOS, Linux

Controller

—

Steam Deck

Playable

Players

Single-player

Indie Casual LGBTQ+Visual Novel Romance Anime Female Protagonist 2D Cute Stylized Gothic Mystery Atmospheric Dark Emotional

About this game

Six months ago, Aspen Draper’s elderly neighbour, Mrs Leigh, died from a heart attack. Aspen was the last person to see Mrs Leigh alive, and she was the first person to find the old woman’s body.

After this unfortunate discovery, Aspen becomes something of a celebrity in her dreary seaside home town, Scarborough. She’s bombarded with intrusive questions about Mrs Leigh’s death every day, and her friends are insatiably curious about the incident. Despite Aspen’s best efforts, she’s unable to move on from the past, even as time passes.

The winter months segue into the summer, but Mrs Leigh’s home remains unsold. Eventually, the house is boarded up, and rumours begin to spread that it’s haunted by her restless ghost. Then, during a sleepover with her friends Pippa and Lakhi, Aspen is made to confront her fears all over again. Pippa dares Aspen to break into Mrs Leigh’s home to search for this elusive ghost, and Aspen is too weak-willed and anxious to refuse.

Under the cover of the night, Aspen returns to Mrs Leigh’s home - but she doesn’t find eerie spectres awaiting her arrival. Instead, she meets a strange girl called Althea, who seems to know more about Aspen than any stranger ought. Aspen soon finds herself enchanted by the beautiful Althea, and she resolves to discover who (or, indeed, what) she really is.