The Butterfly Sign

The Butterfly Sign is a first-person detective story about Jack, the only survivor and witness of an attack on Memority hospital. After an explosion leaves him with only fragments of his memory, Jack takes Rammex, an experimental drug developed at the hospital to restore memories. With help from Dr. Romanov, Memority’s chief scientist and the mastermind behind Rammex, Jack explores his reconstructed memories to uncover who was responsible for the attack.

Memority and its memories

The hospital was attacked, its staff and patients were killed, and part of the building was destroyed by an explosion and fire. Jack was found nearby and remains confined to a hospital bed in the present. Most of the gameplay takes place in his memories, where past and present events unfold alongside each other. You explore Memority hospital and its grounds, uncover secrets, investigate murders, solve puzzles, find clues, compare facts and overcome obstacles. You can also enter memories that were previously inaccessible.

Investigate and decide

The game has non-linear dialogues, whose progress depends on your location. Your choices affect the story and its ending, and you must draw conclusions and choose routes as you investigate. Difficulty options include an easiest level focused on the story, as well as a hardest level where a single death restarts the game.

Three chapters

The story is divided into three chapters:

• Necessary Evil: Using Rammex, Jack walks through an alley in his memories and becomes Dr. Romanov’s eyes and ears. He tries to recover his memories and identify those responsible for the attack, but begins to see what happened as a necessary evil.
• Human Error: Memority developed Rammex to help patients recover lost memories by quickly restoring nerve cells. As Jack investigates the attack and searches through his mind, he begins to question how real his world is and whether it is a beautiful lie.
• Wreck of my Warship: Jack gathers the pieces of his memory and goes to the dam, where he last saw the mercenaries. He finds someone attempting suicide by jumping from the dam. Realizing he has been there before and that the answer is in his mind, Jack follows by jumping in an effort to remember.

Sound and visuals

The game uses photogrammetry and high-resolution textures to create its world. Its sound design gives individual effects, such as lamps and water drops falling from the ceiling, their own sounds, while each room has an ambience suited to its style and mood.