Ib (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.09.0 Update

Ib, a young girl, accompanies her parents to an art gallery. Amidst the displays, she suddenly finds herself alone, prompting a search for others. However, the museum undergoes a mysterious transformation as she explores… Embark on a 2D adventure within an eerie, enigmatic art gallery. Explore your surroundings, uncovering objects and thwarting traps to navigate this peculiar space.

GAMEPLAY

Ib is a single-player adventure horror game. Players control Ib, the title character of the game, from a top-down perspective as she navigates and tries to escape a surreal art gallery. The gameplay consists of examining and interacting with objects in the world, collecting items, and solving puzzles. There are enemies, but no combat. Instead of fighting, players must evade enemies by escaping into other sections of the gallery.

Getting caught depletes the player character’s health, represented in the form of petals of a red rose. Once health reaches zero, the player loses. It is a silent protagonist, and dialogue between characters is sparse. The gameplay is non-linear; players can achieve different endings depending on the choices made and actions taken throughout the game.

PLOT

A young girl, Ib, is visiting an art gallery with her parents. While examining a strange painting, a sudden power outage ensues, the gallery’s doors lock, and other visitors disappear. Guided by a trail of paint splatters, she is lured inside another painting and finds herself within a surreal painting-like “fabricated world”.

Making her way through the otherworldy realm, she comes across a collapsed figure on the ground. After successfully reviving him, the figure introduces himself as Garry. Like her, he is also trapped inside the gallery, and the two resolve to escape together.

Later on, they encounter Mary, an eccentric girl around Ib’s age, who joins the group. Soon after, the group gets separated by an emerging wall of vines, leaving Garry isolated. The player’s perspective alternates between Garry and the duo, and the former uncovers the true nature of Mary as a painting and the game’s antagonist. As Garry finally catches up with the pair, Mary turns hostile but is fought off, and the other two escape.

From there, the plot diverges depending on the player’s actions. As Ib and Garry continue to explore, Garry may die or become insane, with the latter triggering an immediate game over and the former forcing Ib to continue alone. The player will discover Mary’s painting that they must then burn, effectively killing her. Failure to do so causes Mary to follow Ib back to the real world and be recognized by Ib’s parents as their second child. Successfully burning the painting allows Ib to escape back to the real world. If Garry is alive, he will be either stripped of his memory and leave, or retain it and promise to meet Ib again before parting ways.

GAME FEATURES

This game serves as a remake of Ib, the 2D exploration-adventure game set in a sinister art gallery, originally launched in February 2012. Nearly all visuals have been revamped, featuring enhanced effects and significantly improved resolution for a fresh take on a classic.

• Explore a mysterious art gallery rife with puzzles to unravel.
• Marvel at intricately crafted pixel art masterpieces.
• Simple controls encompass movement and interaction, catering to players of all skill levels.
• Unlock seven distinct endings based on player decisions and actions.
• Completion grants access to the True Guertena exhibit, where collected artwork awaits, along with an exclusive dungeon inaccessible during the initial playthrough.
• Revamped graphics for maps, characters, and static images.
• Introduction of redesigned and entirely new pieces of artwork.
• Refinements to puzzles ensure accessibility for players of all levels.
• Inclusion of fresh puzzles, effects, and surprises absent from the original.
• “Zoom Mode” enhances visibility, aiding in the detection of small items and offering closer inspection of artwork.
• A revamped conversation system enables companions to provide hints and engage in dialogue.
• The original soundtrack was replaced with newly composed music tailored for the remake.