Academy High is a Game Mod of Yandere Simulator, created by SoulPetrov. Like the game it's based on, the story focuses on a character deeply in love with someone, and willing to take out romantic rivals by any means necessary. This mod however, has a different set up, and takes place in a college in New York instead of a high school in a fictional Japanese town.
Just like Yandere Simulator, the game has two modes, 2024, and 1988, which tell different stories.
- 2024 Mode: Stars Naomi Wright, who about a year ago, got involved in an incident which lead to a falling out with her friends, including Sean Heistburg, who she had strong feelings for. During her feelings of depression, she becomes curious how her father, Edward, met her mother, Destiny, to which Edward reveals that he murdered several people in his early adulthood to ensure nobody could claim Destiny, and suggests Naomi kill those who betrayed her, leading to her going on a quest of vengence.
- 1988 Mode: Stars Edward Wright, Naomi's father, in his young adult years when he went by the nickname Eddie. Eddie met his romantic interest, Destiny Folger, at the bakery she works at, and developed strong feelings for her. When the college year starts, others become interested in her, which leads to Eddie deciding to remove them from Destiny's life in hopes of claiming her heart as the last one standing.
Both modes are completed, with ten rivals each, and six endings based on how you deal with your rivals. The mod first released on September 4th 2022, at this point it solely had the 2024 mode. On April 3rd, 2023, an update came out which added 1988 mode. On September 4th 2023, in commemoration of the one year anniversary, another update came outm with new routines for the 2024 rivals, unique friendship tasks for all rivals across both modes, and an unlockable Gender Flip system.
For those interested in the mod, the September 2023 version has a trailer on SoulPetrov's YouTube channel, with a download link in the description
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While there were originally plans for further updates and patches, the developer of the original game was implicated in a grooming scandal, leading to SoulPetrov choosing not to mod the game any longer.
Academy High contains examples of:
- Asset Actor: The Buraza Town map is still in the game, now standing in for Manhatten.
- Continuity Nod: Yandere Dev has mentioned that Chigusa, a 1989 rival in Yandere Simulator, got married to Etsuji Odaka, who was canonically matchmade with. The couple appear in 2024 mode, keeping an eye on their daughter, Sasha Nyuki, who is the first rival of the mode.
- Gender Flip: After a mode is completed, subsequent playthroughs of it will allow any rival, along with the protagonist and love interest, to have their gender swapped, with any combination of this possible, including presets to showcase the idea.
- Multiple Endings: There are six endings to both modes, depending on how the protagonist handles their rivals. Five endings are shared between both modes, and there is one unique ending for each mode as well.
- The bad ending occurs should the first nine rivals be killed, but the final rival survives.
- The pacifist ending requires all rivals to survive.
- The normal ending occurs if no other endings in particular are achieved.
- The cupid ending happens if all rivals are matchmade.
- The true ending happens if each rival is defeated in their canon way, which is explained in a monologue at the start of each week.
- 2024's unique ending is vengeful, where all rivals are killed.
- 1988 has an extra requirement for some of the endings, where Eddie needs to leave a gift on Destiny's desk every two weeks. Fail this, and the mode's unique heartbroken ending will be achieved.
- No Fair Cheating: A setting is given at the start of a mode, where it can be played in story or debug. Debug gives access to cheats and such, but the Gender Flip option will not unlock unless the mode is cleared on story, which disables cheats.
- Tamer and Chaster: The sexual content of Yandere Simulator is toned down. The lingerie store is now a store selling different sodas and water, with these replacing panties for bonuses. Similarly, while you can still take photos of panties, this won't get you info points, and the info broker will instead reply with a What the Hell, Player? text.
