Every choice comes with a loss. So what remains after something is gone?

About This Demo

This demo contains the complete first 15 weeks of Project Refactor — the entirety of Act I — including its core story and gameplay systems.

Estimated playtime: 45–60 minutes.

You will experience the protagonist’s life from freshman year to the beginning of sophomore year, along with the mental breakdown and “refactoring” systems at the heart of the game.

The full release will feature six complete acts, spanning ten years of career and personal life.

Spoiler: This Game Contains Absolutely No Viruses!

About This Game

You arrive in Shanghai with an admission letter in your hand and your entire family’s expectations on your shoulders.

You think that if you just work hard enough, you’ll be able to build a life here.

This is not a power fantasy about changing your fate.

This is the real bill for ten years of trying.

Confidence and Pride

There is no health bar.

Your shield is confidence.
Your weak point is pride.

Being broke may force you to take humiliating, low-paying jobs. But protecting the fragile dignity of a straight-A student can cost you even more.

Swallow your pride and survive, or hold on to your dignity.

There is no third option.

What Hurts More Than Being Poor

Your anxiety doesn’t come from numbers alone.

It’s the roommate who effortlessly outperforms everything you worked so hard for.

It’s getting carried away, saying one thing too many — and then having her refuse to speak to you for an entire semester.

It’s holding hands with someone for an entire afternoon, while the words “big-city residency” and “a home already owned” hang silently between you, because neither of you wants to say them out loud.

Their lives become the ruler you use to measure your own.

And the reason you wake up at three in the morning.

You Can See the Road. You Just Can’t Take It.

Some choices are right there in front of you:

Studying abroad.
Starting a company.
Choosing another career.

But they’re locked behind greyed-out options.

It’s not because you didn’t try hard enough.

Some roads simply weren’t available from where you started.

Reconciliation

You betray someone’s trust because you desperately want to prove yourself.

You leave an old friend on read because facing them feels harder than running away.

And when every escape route is gone, you finally understand—

Reconciliation is not becoming someone other people envy.

It is looking at what is still left in your hands.

I gave this game ten years of my life.
I hope it can give you a little peace with yours.

• Weekly planning system: Every choice costs you something.

• Biweekly reviews: Look back on what you gained and lost, as brutally honest pop-ups slowly shift from judgment to reconciliation.

• Anxiety system: Stress accumulates, breakdowns happen, and sometimes hitting bottom is where recovery begins.

• Event-card choices: Face defining moments in life where there is no correct answer.

• Phone notifications: Social pressure keeps invading your life through messages and alerts.

• Cognitive map: What you can see determines which paths you even know exist.