History VisualNovel / ItLivesWithin

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Throughout the book, Rowan can commit various acts that are dubious at best and downright horrible at worst, all of which [[spoiler: their ghost]] calls them out on in Chapter 22. They can:
** Encourage Devon to dump their partner for Noah.
** Screw around with multiple love interests without remorse.
** Pursue both Lincoln and Matthias (who are ''father and son'').
** Choose not to fix [[spoiler: Amalia's college records, despite being responsible for erasing them in the first place]]. Even if you do, it's still possible to [[spoiler: be such a bad friend to Amalia that she leaves anyway]], though doing so requires you to go out of your way to [[spoiler: be mean to Amalia, since she has a much higher relationship score at the start of the book]].
** [[spoiler: Side with Matthias, despite knowing all he's done]].
** [[spoiler: Beat Jocelyn to death for her (well-intentioned, but misguided) betrayal]].
** [[spoiler: Kill Connor if his Nerve is too low]].
** Refuse to save [[spoiler: a dead love interest with Lincoln's watch (which allows the user to go back in time 15 minutes, which would be perfect for saving them)]].

** There's quite a bit of unique dialogue if Rowan romances [[spoiler:both Lincoln and Matthias [=McQuoid=]]], due to [[spoiler:A) [[LoveFatherLoveSon them being father and son]], and B) the fact that the relationship between the two is rockier than the cave that Rowan and friends travel to (and fall into) at the end of Chapter 4]]. Multiple achievements are given for [[spoiler: flirting with them both, sleeping with them both, and kissing one in front of the other]]. Rowan also muses how [[spoiler: dirty they feel for sleeping with them both, especially since Lincoln would be livid if he found out what Rowan did (and ''boy, is he'' when he does find out)]]. The consequences will be fully realised in [[spoiler: either Chapter 21 or Chapter 22, depending on whether Rowan joined Matthias' side or not]].

*** [[gold:Union Walkout]]: [[spoiler: Refuse to choose a love interest after romancing more than one of them by picking the "It's not my fault people fall in love with me" choice. Rowan will be exposed for cheating and their love interests will dump them]].

*** Jocelyn's FriendsWithBenefits route requires an exact combination of choices to unlock. In Chapter 5, you have to follow her, call her a "sexy mystery", then sleep with her when the choice appears. Doing ''anything else'' locks you into the slow burn route for the rest of the story. Also, you are given the option to break up with her in an optional scene in Chapter 7, after finding out about her past. Doing so will lock you out of ''any'' romance with her for the rest of the book, some of her optional scenes won't be available, and flirting with her will cause her to react negatively, resulting in her ''losing'' relationship points, rather than gaining them.

* SexyDiscretionShot: All of the hookup scenes (except one[[note]]the one where you seduce a woman to steal her phone, and you can't fade to black because the objective is to steal her phone during sex without succumbing to pleasure and forgetting about the phone until it's too late[[/note]]) have a "fade to black" option, which cuts from the two characters getting steamy to them lying in bed afterwards with the mature content skipped over.

*** [[gold:Uni-lateral]]: [[spoiler: Refuse to fix Amalia's college records in Chapter 17, even after finding out that Rowan was responsible for deleting them]].
*** [[spoiler: [[red:Future [=McQuoid=]]]]]: [[spoiler: Have sex with both Lincoln and Matthias]].

*** '''Siren Song''': [[spoiler: Stay in the LotusEaterMachine instead of resisting temptation in Chapter 16.]]

** Chapter 21, in which [[spoiler: the "moment of truth" arrives, and the love interests can die if their Nerve score is too low, or if they make the wrong choices (the only way to guarantee their survival is to have a Nerve score of over 90, in which case, the only available choices will ensure they survive). Also, Rowan can lose an eye if they're not careful, and Matthias reveals that Rowan's been screwing him if they have, causing the love interests (especially Lincoln) to turn on them]].

** Power state ([[spoiler: Contained, Healed, or Healed And Separated, depending on which path you chose]])

** Rowan state (Alive, [[TheHeroDies Dead]], or [[spoiler: [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended]]]])

** Unlike most Choices stories where you can flirt with your love interests all you want with no repercussions, It Lives Within takes a more realistic approach. If you flirt with a love interest in front of another love interest you've flirted with before, they will get jealous, and you may even lose relationship points with them. Additionally, in Chapter 19, Luis can call out Rowan for romancing several of their friends at once if they've done so. If they admit that they are deliberately playing their love interests without remorse, Joycelyn will record their confession to Luis and play it to their love interests, who will be disgusted and abandon Rowan (even those Rowan didn't romance), with the relationship and Nerve scores of anyone Rowan did romance, along with Rowan themself's nerve decreasing, also earning Rowan the "Union Walkout" achievement[[note]]It is still possible to romance multiple love interests and get away with it, as long as Rowan admits to Luis that it's time to make a decision before anyone gets hurt. The love interests that weren't chosen will lose ''some'' relationship points, but nowhere near as many (about half as many) as the previous scenario[[/note]].

** Unlike most Choices stories where you can flirt with your love interests all you want with no repercussions, It Lives Within takes a more realistic approach. If you flirt with a love interest in front of another love interest you've flirted with before, they will get jealous, and you may even lose relationship points with them. Additionally, in Chapter 19, Luis can call out Rowan for romancing several of their friends at once if they've done so. If they admit that they are deliberately playing their love interests without remorse, Joycelyn will record their confession to Luis and play it to their love interests, who will be disgusted and abandon Rowan (even those Rowan didn't romance), with the relationship and Nerve scores of anyone Rowan did romance, along with Rowan themself's nerve decreasing, also earning Rowan the "Union Walkout" achievement[[note]]It is still possible to romance multiple love interests and get away with it, as long as Rowan admits to Luis that it's time to make a decision before anyone gets hurt. The love interests that weren't chosen will lose ''some'' relationship points, but nowhere near as many as the previous scenario[[/note]].

* {{Polyamory}}: Defied with extreme prejudice. Unlike most canon Choices books, this story not only prevents you from being polyamorous with your love interests in the end, it outright punishes you for leading multiple people on. Flirting with a love interest in front of another can cause you to lose relationship points, [[spoiler: Connor]] calls Rowan a slut if they pursued two or more interests enough, Luis encourages Rowan to commit to a single love interest because not doing so wouldn't be fair to them, once official with a love interest, the love interest(s) that you didn't pick will lose relationship points if you previously romanced them enough, and refusing to pick a love interest will result in Rowan getting busted for cheating, meaning their friends are all pissed with them, Nerve and relationship points are lost all round, and Rowan is locked out of all of their romance routes for the rest of the book.