'Bearer of Sin' is an adventure drama story that deals with nearly the ultimate list of heavy topics with no easy answers. It presents itself with several questions, "Are all people worthy of forgiveness? When is it okay to take another being's life? Where is the line of morality and ethics when the world is indifferent to such concepts?" It then starts to present several scenarios and characters that test the limits of this priest's understanding of his faith and his purpose as a healer.
To go over the story is to frame it in these scenarios that test Julius's faith and stances on morality. He's sent on a mission to help a village with a curse, the village of wolves has a history/folktale that they were originally savage beasts that then eventually were saved by a white wolf and that wolf's tears then blessed the well of water to help keep everyone healthy. The first test of Julius is the village chief, who has undergone a terrible monstrous transformation by either an illness or a curse. Fearful that there is no known cure, and that it could possibly spread, Julius has to determine if it's the right thing to do to kill the chief to put him out of his agony and to prevent the spread of the illness, or keep him painfully alive in hopes that he can be cured without knowing if it is possible. It's then revealed that Julius's former mentor had killed himself, and he has to grapple with whether or not his mentor should be forgiven for taking his own life. Then in one of the routes, his templar companion Solis, guides Julius to his former home to reveal that he was horribly beaten and disfigured as a child by his father, and whether it was right to forgive his father but not to forgive himself for killing him when he was older. Then in the other route, the flower shop lady wolf, Lillia, (who is also the chieftains daughter) reveals that as a woman, it was her job to groom young girls to prepare them to be used as prostitutes/sex slaves to the men in the village (as that's what the culture considered fine to do), and if it was right for her to kill her drunk fiancé who was about to force himself upon a young girl. Then it turns out that the village shaman, Engil, was purposefully about to spread the curse through the well water because the village was so corrupt allowing all these atrocities to happen and not do anything, that it all needed to be purged and he see to it personally. Engil was stopped, they cleaned the well water, and then there's a small epilogue where Lillia goes to help out with the church, and Solis and Julius have an option to be together. Let's just say, that this plot had big ambitions, and the scope and story seemed to get wildly out of hand.
Let's go to some lighter moments, the UI is really cute, and the sprites and character designs are adorable. Each one is bursting with personality, and each one just helped add to the intensity of the story subject matter. Solis is best boy, such a sub to Julius's dom, and you can tell there's a real intention with their dynamic in the story. Lillia is great as a complex and well rounded woman character, with so many facets to her, and the way her character is revealed is great. Engil comes on a little bit too strong, like, you immediately know he's got something up his non-existent sleeve and is just so smarmy and antagonistic (talk about unsubtle). Gonna say it, and yeah, time limit got to ya, and it shows, with the second half of the VN not fully coded, and a lot of missing editing passes. But, hey, at least you know you just need editing passes to fix the grammar stuff.
The folklore aspect is also a little bit on the lighter end, but it is there, just not as strongly developed or implemented into the story. It seems there might've been something of a pagan vs established religion angle that wasn't fully explored, but I did enjoy the mythology around the village itself. This story is really creative, and I will say, you took a big swing in tackling so many heavy topics all in one VN. The drawback is that there's not really a good discussion to be had, or to let each of the scenarios breathe for the actions or inactions that the characters made. I'd imagine that one of the plans was to give options to the reader for making these hard choices, thus being the 'bearer of sin'. Perhaps the true test of morality is less in picking the 'most correct' option, but to pick an option in the first place and then stick to your convictions. Even so, to have the visual novel then try to land on a 'this is the right choice, here's a good ending', does feel like it starts to lead to so equally difficult writing.
So, nice to see that SpesBringer is back again with a story that deals with intense heavy topics. And even if it is a bit sloppy around the set up and resolution of these scenarios, the fact that it's being tackled so openly and bluntly is commendable for the gumption it takes to do so. You probably bit off more than you could chew, and so time management and scope creep is something to be aware of in future projects. You do have some really good ideas in here though, all three is a bit much for a game jam game, especially one that branches out so early, that the Lillia and Solis story lines almost feel like two different VNs. I would say to keep in mind your narrative structure, that all the elements are helping support the theme of your story. Valiant effort, there's a lot put in here, scope just got away from you. That being said, it's still full of interesting ideas, and just needed more time to cook. Don't take this as a discouragement, I still loved a lot about this.