By Another Name is an adult Ren'Py visual novel from Thornwell Studios, presented with 3DCG art. You play a new college freshman at elite Trinity College, where a soccer scholarship and a father's sudden death lead you into a mystery that may reshape how you view his legacy. The game offers a sandbox style of play, letting you choose a female, male, or non-binary avatar and build relationships with teammates, classmates, and teachers while pursuing the team's success. Choices matter, and every character is romanceable.
The current build is v0.031, released February 4, 2023, and the changelog shows ongoing development. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Android, uses English, and is uncensored. The update notes quality-of-life changes, more than 200 revised dialogue lines, a Hide option for the quick menu, a Rollback Side setting, a gravity fix for Harper, an expanded hint system, and a bug fix.
Developer's description
By Another Name is an adult visual novel that answers the question "What if I was an incoming college freshman, preparing to attend an elite private school on a soccer scholarship, when my dad unexpectedly dies right before the school year begins, leaving behind a mystery for me to solve that could force me to question the legacy of the man I was raised by?"
Spoiler:
More information
What's that? That question is way too long and specific, and no one has been asking it? WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN! Explore the campus of Trinity College as you acclimate to daily life as a freshman soccer player. Forge bonds with your teammates, your classmates, heck - maybe even your teachers - and work together to take your soccer team all the way to the top! Play the Way You Want to Play Choose your avatar at the start of the game and enjoy the experience tailored just for you! You can choose to play as a female character, a male character, or a non-binary character. It's super weird to me that most VNs just...make you a dude by default. Lots of people play visual novels. Even...shudder people who are not men! :O Make Decisions That Will Change Your Relationships With Others There are no wrong choices, but there are also no choices without consequences. Choose carefully and sleep (potentially with others) in the bed you make! Keep in mind, ALL characters either currently are or eventually will be romanceable.
v0.031
v0.024
This is a general update with lots of QoL changes and 200+ lines of dialogue from throughout the game that have had changes made to them. Not that they were bad before...but now they're
definitely
not bad
"Hide" function added to quick menu so you can hide the interface during a scene if you'd like to do so
"Rollback Side" function added to settings, in case that's something you're into
Gravity re-enabled for Harper in the first event, as there was a scene in there where she was floating and being immune to gravity kinda makes her OP to be honest
Updated Hint System
There's now a hint for every event, even the ones that automatically move from one to the next, for those of y'all who want to always know you're moving in the right direction
Fixed glitch that made it impossible to access second psych classroom event
Added three new dorm-mini events (these are supposed to be added in 0.03, but they're in this build because it would've been more work to take them out, enjoy <3
Abigail
Mariah
Gabi
Reminder that not all dorm events will be accessible from the start, keep playing and you may see new ones here and there!
Added dialogue choices to early game events
Added affection bonuses for some dialogue choices to early game events that should have had them before
v0.022
58k+ Words
1100+ Images
15 Main Characters
8 Side Characters
61 Events
13 Main Events
2 Abigail
2 Caitlin Events
3 Charlie Events
3 Claire Events
1 Gabi Event
3 Harper Events
3 Mariah Events
1 Morgan Event
19 Generic Events
13 Dorm-Mini Events
3 Character Models to Choose From (male, female, and non-binary)
4+ Hours of Gameplay (disclaimer: this could be a lie, I don't know how fast you read)
v0.011
Includes:
30k+ Words
750+ Images
14 Main Characters
8 Side Characters
54 New Events
11 Main Events
2 Caitlin Events
3 Charlie Events
3 Claire Events
1 Gabi Event
2 Harper Events
2 Mariah Events
1 Morgan Event
30 Generic Events
3 Character Models to Choose From (male, female, and non-binary)
3+ Hours of Gameplay, though idk you might be a speed reader. Go off, dude
Player reviews
Player rating4.5 / 5 · 2 ratings
Written reviews2 · avg 4.5★
Positive (4–5★)100%
Latest review2022-12-23
mrdhrrflu2022-12-23★★★★★
This is a really good game, it's truly worth to try, it's important to mention it's a history based VN, although it's not tagged as such, if you are in search of only sexy times you'll be sorely disappointed. I…
Zoinkers322022-11-25★★★★★
A largely promising first release. Quite a considerable amount of content for a first release too, if that's what you're looking for. Onto the game itself: Story: You're joining a football - not soccer, sue me - team, and get…
★★★★★(2)
