Lunchtime at St. Expeditus
Platform: Javascript
In Aetheria's cute, short visual novel puzzle adventure Lunchtime at St. Expeditus, Emma (or Erik, if you prefer) is just your average high school student who's mildly psychic, able to tell the right time to say the right thing. Their friends have come to rely on them to solve their problems, and one lunch hour they find themselves faced with a whole bunch... they need to find missing notes, help a friend with a prank, secure a bite of a delicious dessert, and more, all within a single lunch hour, and the students keep moving around depending on what time it is. To play, just click "Next" to advance the story, and click the choice you want to make when available. Most of your time is spent moving from location to location, and each time you interact with someone, time advances by ten minutes, so you need to not only figure out where everybody will be, and when, but the most efficient order to talk to everyone in order to accomplish all of Emma's tasks in the time you have available. If you're lucky, you may be able to find something that'll help you know where everybody will be at any given time. Created in just two weeks, Lunchtime at St. Expeditus is very much a slice-of-life game, with a lighthearted, whimsical tone and a healthy dollop of high school comedy antics. Emma/Erik and their friends are all fun and likable, and the time-based puzzle concept is solid, even if Emma/Erik's "psychic" abilities feels like an odd element that's just sort of tacked on. You might not necessarily call the ending all that satisfying, regardless of what you get done, but St. Expeditus is a great setting for some carefree visual novel stories, and we'd love another chance to visit it again for an even bigger adventure.
Walkthrough for perfect completion:
As Emma:
12:00: Stairs. Ask Elijah about Elisa's notebook.
12:10: Classroom. Talk to Edward about notes and ask if he's okay.
12:20: Outside. Tell Elisa about the notebook, say you found something else out too, and ask to trade desserts.
12:30: Outside. Tell Elijah about Elisa's notebook, and ask about Edward. Say you should go back.
12:40: Hallway. Tell Evelyn about the cake and ask her about the prank.
12:50: Classroom. Tell Edward about the prank, taking whichever side you want. Suggest we try "asking me out" again.
As Erik:
12:00: Stairs. Ask Elijah about Elisa's notebook.
12:10: Hallway. Talk to Evelyn about practicing, and help her practice from now on.
12:20: Outside. Tell Elisa about the notebook, say you found something else out too, and ask to trade desserts.
12:30: Outside. Tell Elijah about Elisa's notebook, and ask about Evelyn. Say you've got to go back there.
12:40: Hallway. Tell Evelyn about the cake, ask her about the prank, and ask her out.
12:50: Classroom. Tell Edward about the prank, taking whichever side you want.
Oh! cool little thing I found:
cheatsheet for the times and locations for everyone is in the bathroom if you linger there... I'm wondering if it changes locations each playthrough, though...
Nope, no moving around between playthroughs! I wanted it to be solvable for people who didn't want to use the cheatsheet. :)
Game broke every time I got to Evelyn. :/
Update