Redemption for Jessika

Redemption for with Elsa (RfJ) is the second adult game set in the Elsaverse. It was originally released in English on January 25, 2016 in HTML format, exclusively for Tora Productions' patrons, and then made public a week later. It was officially ported to Ren'Py in 2021, and it can be found in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 (2021) compilation. As of January, 2022, RfJ is still the best rated game in the Elsaverse, and second overall, at the erotic gaming site PlayForceOne.com.

The story takes place some undetermined time after Dreaming with Elsa (2015), and is intertwined with Finding Miranda (2016) and Darkness Falls (2018) first season, as well as with some chapters of the AAA (2018) novella. During the development phase, Tlaero seriously considered releasing Finding Miranda first, and even conducted a poll in the Sharks' Lagoon forum over the topic. Users actually voted for Finding Miranda ' s scenario to be explored first, but she eventually decided against it due to narrative logic and worldbuilding reasons. In Redemption for Jessika, superpowers are explicitly mentioned for the first time in the Elsaverse, and both the non-canon path and the post-credits scene start building up to the story arc grand finale.

Premise
Players take control over Marc, a court transcriber who is infatuated with Jessika, the leader and vocalist of an uprising local rock band called Mayhem. Thanks to a lucky coincidence, he'll get to know her, but she's in a really dark place: a few weeks ago, five people died in a riot at one of her concerts, pushing Jessika towards a self-destructive spiral. While trying to help her, Marc will find out that Jessika's guilt and loss of self-esteem are surprisingly rooted in a supernatural power. And, although they can't know it yet, a chance for redemption will arise less than a week later. Will Marc be the hero she needs to get out of her misery on time?

Canon Path Summary
''Please, be aware that this is not a walkthrough, but a plot summary. To succeed in the canon path, Marc must be respectful with all the women he meets, while showing a wide range of traits by balancing fun, sexy and serious answers.''

In the introduction, Marc attends a preliminary hearing related to the riot at Mayhem's last concert, which resulted in five deaths. To his surprise, not only does he find her platonic love, Mayhem's singer Jessica Springfield (Jessika is her stage name), in the courtroom where he acts as a transcriber, but he also witnesses how the prosecutor, Gary, intends to charge her for the multitudinary brawl, under the incredible claim that she sang in anger and that caused people to get angry. The judge quickly dismisses that baseless accusation, but Marc can't help but notice that, with her attitude, a gloomy Jessica seems to agree with the prosecutor.

Back in his office, Marc is visited by Sylvia, an attractive policewoman who works with him at the court and wants to introduce him to her girlfriend. When Marc arrives at his co-worker's apartment that same evening, he finds out that Sylvia's girlfriend is actually Mayhem's drummer and Jessika's roommate, SeraB. And the day just keeps delivering: after testing Marc with her charms, SeraB admits that they have actually invited him over to experiment whether sex would be more exciting with a third person watching them. The women get at it, and Marc keeps his word and doesn't try to join in, even though he feels seriously tempted several times.

Once the hot show is over, the three of them discuss that day's events at the courthouse, and Marc states that he'd like to meet and help Jessica. Trusting him due to his remarkably good behavior during the evening, and desperate to help her friend, Sarah (that's SeraB's real name) tells Marc that Jessica spends most of her time getting drunk at a bar across the street from their home. On Saturday evening, Marc goes there and finds her beloved Jessica clearly drunk and depressed. After talking to him for a while, Jessica starts to sing an angry song to brush him off, but Marc is the only person in the bar who doesn't react negatively. Then she calls him "immune", and suddenly changes her mood, becoming extremely affectionate and inviting him home; when they get there, Jessica tells Sarah that she is going to have sex with Marc. But then the singer passes out, and Sarah and Marc put her to bed to sleep. In her bedroom, Marc sees a picture of Jessica's ex-boyfriend, Charles, and learns that he broke up with her just before the ominous Mayhem concert, upsetting Jessica before the show.

Sarah offers Marc to sleep on the couch so that he can talk to Jess in the morning, as she'll be sober by then. When they wake up, Marc tells Jessica about last night's events, which she barely remembers, and they end up talking about what happened in court on Friday. He then asks Jessica what did she mean when she called him "immune", and she confesses that she has an unnatural ability: although it didn't work with Marc, she influences people's emotions when she sings. That's why she feels guilty for the deaths, as she's sure she caused the riot by singing in anger over her breakup with her boyfriend. In her defense, she claims that she didn't exactly know back then that she had this power: a mysterious woman tried to warn her shortly before everything happened, but Jessica just thought that woman was crazy. While keeping to himself that all of this sounds indeed crazy, Marc tries to convince his idol that, in that case, she wouldn't be guilty, but responsible, as she would have never done that, had she actually known for sure she could alter people's emotions like that.

Due to him being immune to her singing, Jessica is convinced that the love and admiration Marc feels for her are real, and she tells him that the worst thing about her power is not knowing anymore if people's love for her is sincere, as she might just be influencing them with her voice. Immediately, Marc replies that Sarah loves her for real, since she still helps her and cares about her even when she's passed out like last night. Then he suggests to Jessica to spend more time with her friend, away from the bar. After kissing goodbye and exchanging phone numbers, Marc goes home as a happy man.

On Monday, at the courthouse, and after reassuring Sylvia, who was worried sick about him thinking less of her due to last Friday's events, Marc goes to the prosecutor's office. Gary explains to him that he was at the Mayhem concert with his wife, Cynthia, a huge fan of the band, and the two of them got angry and hit each other during the mass brawl, so blaming Jessika was an easy way of evading his own guilt. But now, while checking the concert's footage, he has found a frame that shows an unidentified man throwing the first punch that started the riot; despite the tense atmosphere, the man was smiling, and could be charged as the real instigator. Although at first he can't remember who that man is, his face looks familiar to Marc, so he asks Gary to send him that frame; later, in his office, Marc realizes that the man is Jessica's ex-boyfriend, Charles.

Marc decides to check with Jessica, who confirms that the man in the picture is indeed her ex-boyfriend, Charles Reyes, and sends his contact to Marc, who forwards it to Gary. It seems that Charles knew about Jessica's power but was also immune to it, and he deliberately pissed her off before the concert to use her anger as fuel for the riot he was planning to start. Then Jess and Marc go out for a walk, and Jessica confesses that she hasn't sung nor played her guitar since the riot: not only because she feels guilty for her fans' death, but also because doing music with her power feels like cheating. Marc tries to convince her that people would love her music even without her power, as he can testify due to his immunity to her voice. Back at Jess's apartment, she offers him a striptease and a blowjob, with Sarah peeking in on them. Afterward, the three of them stay up late chatting, going over anecdotes from Mayhem concerts.

On Tuesday, Marc talks to Gary, who thanks him for the lead and says that Charles has been suspiciously missing since the riot. Then Marc gets a call from Jess, who invites him to a concert of some friends of hers. Before picking her up, Marc goes to buy a book to replace one that Charles borrowed from Jessica and never returned. That's how Marc shows up at Elysian Books, where he meets Elsa and a mysterious woman named Miranda, who right guesses everything about him. After getting the very same book Charles stole from her, Marc goes to Jess's apartment, and she shows him that she's not wearing panties to the concert.

When they arrive at the concert venue, an old church recycled into a club called "El Cuerpo", the bouncer welcomes them, quite happy to see his friend Jessica doing something music-related again. As soon as the couple gets inside, they start dancing; a little while later, they are just kissing and heavily groping each other. They quickly return to Jessica's and, still in the elevator, they have explosive sex. Afterward, Marc asks Jessica to play some music for him; in her current state of mind, for Jess that's even a more intimate act than sex, but she agrees and they go to Jessica's recording studio in her apartment, where she sings a beautiful song that he doesn't recognize but that makes Sarah cry.

The next day, Marc visits Jessica again without calling her first and finds that the whole Mayhem band is there, rehearsing for the first time since the riot. Marc meets Sven and O-Kumo, the two male members of the band, who thank him for all that he's doing for Jessica. After a long rehearsal that Marc lives almost like a private concert, the musicians leave, and Marc and Jess end up making love on the piano. After that, while cuddling up on the couch, Marc tells her about the prosecutor and his wife. Feeling still a bit guilty for their fight at her concert, Jess suggests having lunch with them; that way she could also thank Gary for dropping her case and being now trying to catch Charles instead.

On Thursday, which is a local holiday in Sangrive, the two couples meet at the Delfinos restaurant. When Cynthia acts as a devoted fan and doesn't hesitate to dismiss that crazy theory of Jessica being the culprit of the riot, a huge weight is lifted from Jessica's shoulders, as she confirms that her fans still love her as before. Later that afternoon, while taking a walk, Marc and Jessica see a large crowd of people heading to a Mayor Joey Bertradino's rally. But, as they walk to the square where the rally is being held, they see Charles locking a car and running away. Surprised, they approach the vehicle and find a bomb inside. As Marc calls Emergencies, gunshots are heard coming from the rally: it seems that the terrorists plan to make people flee towards the street where the car bomb is planted and then blow it up to cause as many victims as possible.

Marc and Jess run to alert the crowd, but the gunfire has caused panic and no one listens to them. Jessica goes on stage and tries to make herself heard over the loudspeakers, but people keep running away toward the bomb. Distraught, she looks at Marc, who thinks it's the end. But then Jess starts singing a soothing melody, and her power causes the crowd to calm down and stop running, thus preventing a massacre. That evening, the news talks about the artist's redemption: after the deaths at her last concert, today she has saved hundreds of lives. Jessica thanks Marc for all that he has done for her, considering him the real responsible for her saving so many lives: without him, she would have been at the bar, getting drunk while the city suffered a dreadful attack. The couple makes love in Jessica's bed, and it is stated that they will stay together during Mayhem's rise to stardom.

Non-canon Path Summary
''Please, be aware that this is not a walkthrough, but a plot summary. To unlock this path, Marc has to show some inclination towards lewd answers, but not too much at first, in order to be invited over by Sylvia; then, he must endure the lesbian show until they change positions; and then be as straightforward as possible with Jessica.''

On this route, Marc is a bit too lewd with the people around him, although he still shows some signs of decency. After agreeing to be a mere spectator during their lesbian sex session, Sylvia and Sarah kick him out when he tries to join in, so Sarah does not tell him how to find Jessica. However, as he leaves Sylvia's apartment, he sees a car that could be Sarah's, and, knowing that she lives with Jessica, he uses the courthouse network to access the Department of Transportation's billing database and get their address. As he approaches the building to meet his idol, he realizes he doesn't have a plan that wouldn't make him look like a crazy, stalker fan, so he decides to go into the bar across the street to consider his options. Jessica happens to be there, and their meeting goes as in the canon path; this time, though, Sarah doesn't invite him to sleep on the couch, so he can't talk to Jessica the next day.

On Monday, at the courthouse, the scene with Gary varies slightly, and the conversation focuses a bit more on Cynthia, hinting that Gary's wife finds Marc attractive. With Charles' image on his phone, Marc returns to the bar where he found Jessica to see if she can confirm that the new suspect is actually her ex-boyfriend. Jess nods, but she doesn't share any further details about Charles and asks Marc to leave her alone for good. The next day, after reporting back to Gary, Marc learns that the prosecutor's wife is convinced that he has cheated on her with a red-haired intern, which is not true. A bit later, a red-haired, tattooed intern named Chloe arrives in Marc's office and asks him several questions about his work, and they flirt a bit. Marc tells her about Jessica and, once he assures her that he's not pursuing the singer anymore, Chloe leaves.

On Wednesday, Gary asks Marc to come to his office. Cynthia is there, and she tells Marc that she wants to use him for getting revenge of her husband's infidelity in front of him, right then and right there. If the player accepts, the scene ends with a threesome with the prosecutor and his wife, who reconcile afterward. In any case, on Thursday, Marc is walking alone around Sangrive and approaches the Mayor's rally, but Chloe sees him and tries to lead him away from the bomb, just before it explodes. Marc wakes up in a small apartment, naked and handcuffed to a bed, with Chloe next to him, also naked. The news on TV shows a terrible bombing that has caused a lot of victims.

Chloe tells Marc that she is not an intern at the courthouse, but kind of a secret agent for some powerful man who orders her to do dirty jobs for him. Her last mission was precisely preventing Marc from starting a relationship with Jessica, but he ruined his chances all by himself and she didn't need to do anything. After explaining that, in her job, she is often forced to have sex, she offers Marc a sex session as a way to thank him, but he convinces her to do only what she'd really want to do, the way she'd want to do it. In a sex scene that is as hot as emotional, Chloe lets her passion take over and enjoys a pleasurable and satisfying experience for the first time in a long time. But, in the end, with Marc exhausted on the bed, she injects him with something. Whether she has murdered or simply sedated him is left to the player's interpretation.

Achievements
In Redemption for Jessika, players can get up to 10 achievements. A minimum of two playthroughs are needed to unlock them all. Each achievement's title is actually a real-world song.


 * "And Justice for All": Complete the canon path.
 * "Fade to Black": Complete the non-canon path.
 * "Round and round": Get the best possible mix of answers to make Marc a "round" character.
 * "Running Blind": Complete the canon path with the score hidden.
 * "Has Anybody Seen My Baby?": Pass the checkpoint after the first date.
 * "My Little Red Book": Go to buy a present for Jessica and meet Elsa and Miranda.
 * "99 Problems": Meet up with Gary and Cynthia for lunch (canon path).
 * "Jessie's Girl": Have a threesome with Gary and Cynthia (non-canon path).
 * "Just A Game": Check a game poster in the bar before meeting Jessica.
 * "I Get Off": During breakfast, tell Jessica that Marc is a secret agent.

The "Just a Game" and "I Get Off" achievements refer to Tlaero's old games Meeting Keeley and Getting to Know Christine. Getting all the achievements unlocks a bonus scene of sexual nature.

Post-credits Scene
The post-credits scene in Redemption for Jessika takes place a few days after the end of the canon path. Jessica goes to the "Delfinos" restaurant to meet Xara, the short, blind woman who tried to warn her about her power before that Mayhem concert in which Jessica caused a riot with her angry singing. After apologizing to each other for the way they both handled that first meeting, Xara calls Jessica "Spell-singer" and tells her that there are more people with powers and that some of them use theirs for evil purposes. She's fighting a powerful opponent, who tried to get Jessica depressed by inducing the riot some weeks before so that she wouldn't be at the Mayor's rally later on. Xara wants Jessica to help her stop that opponent, by calming Xara's future recruits and making them listen to her so that they don't run away as she did. Jessica accepts, under the premise that she will just calm them, and won't force anyone to change their mind. As the waitress, Theresa, approaches their table, Xara asks Jessica to get ready to act in a moment.

Bonus Scene
After getting all 10 achievements, a bonus scene is unlocked. This scene takes place after Mayhem's charity concert for the few victims of the bombing, with Marc, Jessica, Sarah, and Sylvia going together to have a celebration lunch at Delfinos. Several comments of a sexual nature arise, related to different events depicted on the canon path. Eventually, the four of them agree to have a joint sex session, without swinging partners; however, the limits are blurred soon after they start and the whole encounter turns into a real orgy.

Sex Scenes
Although she's now dealing with lots of stress and insecurities, Jessica is a confident rockstar who's not shy about sex. Therefore, there are more sex scenes in Redemption for Jessika than in Dreaming with Elsa, and their tone is significantly different, as the characters involved are clearly sexually experienced people who know what they do and what they want from their partners.

Redemption for Jessika has no gallery of scenes, so there's no way of replaying those sex scenes outside the actual game. The only replayable scene is the bonus scene, which can be accessed from the Achievements screen.

Characters
''This section tries to explain the characters' involvement in the game's plot. For a full profile on them, please check Category:Elsaverse Characters.''

Redemption for Jessika offers a more complex narrative than Dreaming with Elsa, and this translates to the number of characters involved.

Main Characters

 * Marc is the player's character (PC). Very few details about his life and personality are provided, but he is still a bit more shaped out than Jason was in DwE. It's stated that Marc works as a court transcriber at the Sangrive Courthouse, that he is a rock fan and, more specifically, a superfan of the local band Mayhem; and that his parents even paid for some piano lessons when he was a child. His known friends are a couple of co-workers: Gary, the prosecutor, and Sylvia, a policewoman who acts as bailiff in the court. He's infatuated with Mayhem's singer, Jessika, and is immune to the influencing power of her voice, which helps him to connect with her, as she can trust that his feelings for her are real. Marc is also a kind person, quite respectful with women; throughout the story, players must keep that respectful trait intact to continue on the canon path, but must also prove that Marc is not too one-dimensional: he must provide as many funny and sexy remarks as sensitive and supportive ideas, to not be dismissed by Jessica as a partner.


 * Jessica Springfield is the main love interest (LI) of the game. She is the singer and leading guitarist of Mayhem, a local rock band that is already quite famous in Sangrive and seems about to make it big nationally. Jessica, also known as Jessika (her stage name) or Jess (by her friends), has an unnatural power to influence people with her singing. The game introduces her in a depressive and self-destructive state after a riot at her last concert, which resulted in five deaths: Jessica feels guilty about them, as she sang in anger after being dumped by her boyfriend Charles just before going on stage, and she conveyed that anger to the audience, causing the riot. Marc will help her to get over it, convincing her that she is not to blame for those deaths, as she wasn't fully aware of her power back then and was actually framed by her ex-boyfriend, all while making her realize that she is talented enough to succeed even without her power. Jessica will then reveal herself as a cheerful, positive, sensible, loving, and daring person, whose happiness comes from music, and will find a new strength to resume her musical career. She lives with her childhood friend, Sarah, who is also Mayhem's drummer and has a long crush on her, in a big apartment that takes an entire floor and that has a professional recording studio in it. In the game, it's stated that she dated the now Mayor Joey Bertradino once, back in their school days, but she quickly dumped him as he kissed like a fish. For that date, she practiced kisses with her friend Sarah.

Also starring

 * Charles is Jessica's ex-boyfriend, and also the game's main villain, although he barely appears physically on it. Five and a half weeks before the game's initial scene, he broke up with Jess when she was about to go on stage, pissing her off and making her sing in anger, which, due to her power, caused the audience to get angry too; then, he was seen throwing the first punch that started the mortal riot. The fact that he was smiling at that moment leads Marc to think that he knew about Jessica's power and did that on purpose to make her feel guilty for those deaths; a theory that Xara will confirm in the post-credits scene, adding that the final goal was to prevent her being at the Mayoral rally. It's precisely on that Mayoral rally, on Thursday, when Charles appears again, after being missing for all those weeks: Marc and Jess see him planting a car bomb and running away, which basically converts him into a terrorist, which seems too much of a stretch even for the people who knew him before that event. However, he never was a really nice guy: when talking about him, Jess states that he's a self-centered man; Sarah didn't like him at all; and Elsa, who bought a book from him (a book he had borrowed from Jessica and never returned), says that she got a bad feeling about Charles, as he reminded her of someone she met once. This last comment will be explained in future titles, when it's revealed that Charles is actually Chloe's brother.


 * Chloe appears briefly in the canon path, during the informal meeting between Marc and Gary in which the prosecutor shows Marc the frame of the suspect of the riot. She seems to be spying on them from the hallway, and when she's caught she asks them how to get to the courthouse bathrooms. But, in addition, an attentive player can spot her in several other scenes: waiting outside Sylvia's building on Friday night, at the bar where Marc meets Jessica on Saturday, on the street while the couple takes a walk on Monday, and also at the club while they dance on Tuesday's concert. And there's even more of her: if Marc is not invited to Sylvia's apartment on Friday, she's seen going out of Gary's office; and, in one of the negative endings in which player's score is not high enough to keep advancing the story, she's the woman who slaps Jessica in the bar claiming to be a friend of a victim of the riot, a violent reaction that puts Jessica back on her depressed state and leads the singer to ask Marc to leave her alone. And, from the information gathered from all paths, it is also reasonable to suspect that she also tried to force the breakup of the prosecutor's marriage by telling Cynthia that Gary had slept with her. This behavior is partially explained in the non-canon lewd path, when she admits that she was actually following Marc to prevent him from starting a relationship with Jessica. In this alternative lewd route, Chloe shows up at Marc's office posing as an intern to pump him for information about his relationship with Jessica; when he confirms that he's not interested in the singer anymore, Chloe ends the interview and then, the next day, when she sees Marc near the bomb, she tries to get him away before it explodes. That's when her role in the Elsaverse starts to change: despite that final scene's disturbing ending, she first opens her heart to Marc, and players learn that Chloe is being forced to do all kinds of dirty jobs, which often include having sex against her will with different men, and gets punished when she fails. This assignment was probably her last chance to keep her boss' trust, and that's why Chloe wants to thank Marc, as his lewd behavior has let her succeed on her mission without any active intervention from her. Part of the reasons for her failure in the canon path will be explained in Finding Miranda, and the consequences will be the catalyst for Saving Chloe.


 * Gary is the prosecutor, and Marc's friend. At first, he's trying to charge Jesica for her fans' deaths, as he was at that Mayhem's concert and felt the anger cast by the singer, hitting his wife, Cynthia, in a discussion that has put his marriage in the line. Of course, his accusation was quickly dismissed by Judge Oppenworth, who even tried to get him fired. Being unaware of Jess' actual power, he agrees that his accusation is baseless, so he soon turns his attention to another possible suspect, Charles. Thanks to Marc's help, his marriage will prevail: in the canon path, the lead on Charles makes Cynthia turn her anger towards Jessica's ex-boyfriend, and after having lunch with her idol, she even dismisses that strange confession made by a Gary's unknown red-haired intern, who claimed that she had had sex with him; in the lewd path, Gary will also be forgiven by her wife, but not before being forced to watch her getting her sweet revenge in front of him, with Marc's help, before he's allowed to join in a threesome that lets him know something new about Cynthia's sexual quirks.


 * Sarah is Jessica's roommate and best friend, and also Mayhem's drummer and Sylvia's current lover. Her stage name is SeraB. She's introduced as an attractive and brazen lesbian, who has had bad experiences with men. However, once she is convinced that Marc is indeed as nice and respectful as her girlfriend Sylvia said he was, she agrees to help him to get to know Jessica and try to get her out of her depression. Throughout the game, she shows that she deeply cares for Jessica, and it's kind of her Jiminy Cricket, although her friend doesn't seem to realize it until Marc tells her. It's also stated that Sarah has always had a crush on Jess and that they even kissed each other once, back in their school days, but only because Jessica wanted to practice kissing before going on a date, as she is not gay. Finally, in the bonus scene, Sarah gets to make her dream come true when Jess agrees to have sex with her; she then thanks Marc for everything he has done for her, as she really feared she was losing Jessica.


 * Sylvia is a police officer, and Marc's friend and co-worker at Sangrive courthouse. She is introduced as an extremely correct and professional person who is continuously disrespected at work due to her attractiveness and her sexual orientation. She's currently in a relationship with Mayhem's drummer, Sarah, which eventually allows Marc to get to know Jessica, although Sylvia's not even aware of the band's name or who Jessica is, as she's more into classical music. Later in the game, she also reveals some insecurities in her character, as the sex session she shared with her partner in front of Marc makes her fear him changing the way he sees her; but Marc reassures her in such a convincing way that she even takes it as a clue to assert herself in front of those who were disrespecting her at work. This self-confidence boost will translate into her being willing to even try Marc as a sexual partner in the bonus scene, after asking Sarah for permission to change her "Claudia Schiffer free-pass" for him. She's called "Buttercup" by her girlfriend, in a clear reference to the character from The Powerpuff Girls TV show.

Other minor characters
There are other characters that make brief appearances or play a minor role in the RfJ plot:


 * Cynthia is Gary's wife. She is a big Mayhem fan, and his husband bought them tickets to that infamous concert. While attending it, and due to Jessica's power, they started to vent out their frustrations and Cynthia punched Gary, who slapped her in reply, thus leading to a big crisis in their marriage. She then was told by Chloe that Gary had cheated on her; however, in the end, their marriage is saved by Marc, to whom she feels attracted. In the canon path, Marc gives Gary a lead on Charles, who gets the blame for the riot, with Cynthia focusing her anger on him; and then Marc invites them to have lunch with Jessica, which seems like a dream come true for Cynthia. During that lunch, not only she finally forgives her husband, telling him that she never actually believed Chloe about the cheating, but also helps Jessica to recover, as she acts as a devoted fan and dismisses the theory about her being the cause of the riot, making Jess realize that her fans will still support her despite those dire events. In the non-canon path, Cynthia suggests having sex with Marc in front of her husband, as revenge for his cheating; eventually, she feels pity for Gary and lets him join in for a threesome. Afterward, she admits that she didn't quite believe Chloe, and that she was embarrassed to tell her husband that she actually enjoys some kinky sex.


 * Elsa is the owner of Elysian Books, the bookstore that Marc can visit to buy a gift for Jessica before one of their dates. She has recently acquired a nice coffee table book about guitars, which incidentally is the very same book Charles borrowed from Jessica and never returned: he sold it to Elsa, who only bought it because Charles threatened with throwing the book in the river. Once she learns about the book's actual origin, she refuses to charge Marc for it and just gives it away to him.


 * Joe is the employee Marc shares his office with. He's first defined by Marc as a slacker partner, and then he acts as a total creep when he shows up wolf-whistling Sylvia and then insulting Marc for being a nice guy with women. Due to his attitude, Sylvia finally explodes and, after flashing Marc so that Joe can't see anything, demands him to start respecting her unless he wants her to break his fingers. Joe then goes out of the office again without even apologizing.


 * Johan is Jessica's lawyer, who defends her in the hearing depicted in the game's intro. He quickly stops Gary's argumentation against Jessica by mentioning that several precedents in case would lead to a non-guilty verdict, as his client was just singing and rock music can not be blamed for people's bad behavior.


 * Judge Oppenworth is the Judge assigned to the introductory hearing about the Mayhem concert's riot. She seems quite disappointed by Gary's line of reasoning to charge Jessica for the deaths, and due to the lack of base of that accusation, she just dismisses the case. It's said that she then called Gary's boss to get him fired, although she didn't succeed.


 * Miranda is introduced in RfJ as a customer of Elysian Books, and Elsa's friend. She's an attractive woman who, strangely, seems able to right guess absolutely everything about Marc just by observing him in the store and listening to him. Marc feels really impressed by her amazing deductive skills; but the whole interaction will be explained in Finding Miranda: although she's unnaturally good at solving problems, she just happened to have some info about Marc before he showed up in the bookstore, and just guessed he was the same man. She can also be spotted later that evening, at the concert.


 * O-Kumo is Mayhem's bassist, and his real name is Tommy. He greets Marc when he goes to see Jessica and finds out that the whole band is there, rehearsing for the first time since their last concert. O-Kumo says that he was born in Tokyo but lives in Sangrive since high school.


 * Sven is Mayhem's guitarist, and his real name is Fred. When he meets him at Jessica's apartment during Mayhem's rehearsal, Marc is surprised to learn that he's actually from Sangrive, as their fans believe that he's from Scandinavia. Sven tells him that his great-grandmother was indeed from Sweden, but he just froze in their first interview and Jessica came up with that story on the spot to explain why he was not talking.


 * Theresa is a waitress at the Delfinos restaurant. She can be seen during Marc and Jessica's lunch with Gary and Cynthia, and also on the post-credits screen, when Xara tells Jess to be ready to use her powers in a moment, hinting that the waitress could be a potential Xara's recruit.


 * Vince is the bouncer at El Cuerpo nightclub, the venue where Jess goes with Marc to a concert. Although he is depicted as a big, threatening guy, he's actually a kind man who cares about her friend Jessica and is happy to see her doing something music-related again. It's hinted that he's also a musician, as Jess apologies to him for not going to his show some days ago.


 * Xara only appears in the post-credits scene, when she reveals her name while talking to Jessica at Delfinos. They apologize to each other for their previous meeting, in which Xara tried to warn Jess about her power: the singer didn't believe this stranger woman coming from nowhere, and then the riot happened. After confirming she's blind and calling Jessica "Spell-singer", Xara explains to her that she's fighting against a mysterious enemy, who has a power too and is behind the riot and also the bombing. She then asks Jessica to join in the fight, and she eventually agrees to help Xara to calm her potential recruits with her voice, as long as she doesn't have to make them change their minds.

Structure and Paths
Redemption for Jessika has a basic "branching" structure, with a main, canon path in which Marc builds a love relationship with Jessica, helping her to achieve redemption within a week; and an alternative, lewd path that diverges from the main path early on and leads to a negative ending after a sex scene with Chloe. Some scenes of Marc at work serve as bottlenecks that bring the paths together for certain events before letting them diverge again.

The canon path requires the player to be respectful with women, keeping Marc's basic characterization intact (which means acting as nice as Sylvia says Marc is), and then showing Jessica that he is a partner worth to be trusted: someone able to joke around and make some spicy remarks but also sensible, serious, empathic and sensitive when needed. To achieve that, up to eight different traits are checked as game variables; if the player fails to create a well-rounded character, checkpoints won't be passed and Jess will break off that relationship, leading to a game over.

The lewd path is open for those players who, while keeping Marc mainly respectful, make him a tad too lewd around women. To enter this path, Marc should get an invitation from Sylvia but then succumb to the temptation during the lesbian scene, thus closing the main path; he then should be a little bit too lewd for Jessica after meeting her. As a result, Sarah won't trust him and Jessica will not be willing to start a relationship with him, but Chloe will momentarily reward Marc's attitude, as it allowed her to succeed on her mission; along the way, Marc could even enjoy an unexpected threesome, if he plays his cards right with Gary and Cynthia. This path is especially relevant from a worldbuilding point of view, as it allows players to get a first approach to Chloe's actual situation in the Elsaverse.

There's also a fail semi-path that picks up players expelled early from both paths, either for being too lewd from the start or for being not lewd enough for the lewd path. This fail path lets the story continue till the lewd path main checkpoint, in which Marc is rejected by Jessica at the bar on Monday evening. This way, even the worst choices aren't explicitly punished with a game over after several scenes later, which allows players to get a good grip of the story and start to feel immersed in it, thus encouraging replaying.

Gameplay
As in Dreaming with Elsa (2015), the gameplay is mainly based on dialog choices: the answers chosen by players in Marc's conversations with other characters define the protagonist's personality, scoring relationship points with Jessica that will be needed to pass the various checkpoints. But, while DwE rewards consistency in characterization, in Redemption for Jessika canon path the opposite is true: the player must prove to Jessica not only that Marc is a good person, but also that he is not one-dimensional. Therefore, a balanced selection of answers is needed, which gives a natural vibe to Marc, who's not a monotonous mannequin. Another positive aspect is that, as long as they keep that balance in their answers, players are free to decide when to choose one type of response or another, which allows them to better adjust Marc's behavior to their own personality, thus enhancing the immersion. Of course, the lewd path requires a clear inclination for sexually charged answers and actions.

In the original HTML game, certain scenes also include clickable areas or hotspots, sometimes as an alternative option to the usual choice menu for answers. When those hotspots are available, the scene shows a yellow frame, and the player can spot them by moving the mouse cursor around the screen, as a tooltip will become visible when hovering that clickable area. Hotspots can add or detract points to Marc's score; in one specific case, a special achievement is unlocked by clicking on a poster in the background. Also, the final sex scene with Jessika is coded as a minigame: by clicking and holding, players must caress Jessica in the right spots for the foreplay to be effective. This point&click gameplay element adds a little more complexity to the game. However, in the 2021 re-release in Ren'Py engine, these clickable options disappear and become menu choices like regular answers, slightly simplifying the gameplay.

To increase the game's difficulty, players can choose at the start whether to see the score displayed on the screen, including the degree of complexity of Marc's character. When playing "blind", an achievement is unlocked after reaching the end of the canon path with Jessica. In case of failing at a checkpoint, the game over messages always include a slight hint as to what the player should improve on their next try.

Technical aspects
The game was originally created with Tlaero's own software, "Adventure Creator", and released in HTML format in 2016. Pictures could be displayed in 3 different sizes, according to the player's preferences, and rollback was not allowed. Ren'Py version (2021) incorporates this engine's usual mechanisms, like rollback and unlimited save slots (the original HTML version only included 3 save slots plus a quicksave slot).

Visually, the screen is divided into three areas. Over a black background, the exposition text and dialogues appear in a classic narrative prose style, above the pics. Images take the screen's center, while the lower part of the screen is reserved for the player's choices.

The game has no sounds at all.

Related Stories
Jessica Springfield plays a key role in Elsaverse's first story arc, thanks to her intervention to minimize the damage caused by the bombing at the Mayoral rally. For that reason, she appears in some other games and stories that expand on those events; those titles, though, should be played and read in the right order to avoid spoilers. Right after playing Redemption for Jessika, it's recommended to read a couple of short stories (Beginnings and Royal Guard) that explain some personal circumstances of the game's characters. For more details about these stories, please check each title's wiki page.

Beginnings
Beginnings (2016) is a text short story, with just three pictures on it, that narrates some events that took place before the start of Dreaming with Elsa and Redemption for Jessika. In Beginnings, three different storylines are intertwined. In one of them, Marc's old girlfriend breaks up with him because, once again, his date plan is to go to a rock concert; a concert that, incidentally, is Mayhem's first gig, as they are recruited in the eleventh hour to perform as an impromptu opening act for a famous rock band called "FlareUp". That's when, now single, Marc first hears them, and also sees Jess for the first time, becoming immediately infatuated with her and her music. The second storyline tells how, a few hours before that show, Sarah met Sylvia for the first time and helped her to get rid of an annoying guy who was trying to pick Sylvia up at the mall. Their promising flirtation was suddenly cut off due to Jessica calling Sarah to announce their unexpected concert, but, at least, they could exchange phone numbers, which eventually led to their relationship. Then, in the third storyline, Sylvia goes to Elysian Books to buy another book, and a mysterious cat, named "Stalker" in the story but which happens to be Tora, goes into the bookstore with her to finally get to Elsa and accomplish his intriguing mission.

Royal Guard
Royal Guard (2016) is a visual short story that shows Elsa trying to help Xara in her dreams, as the blind woman seems to be experiencing a recurring nightmare in which she recalls the exact moment she was blinded by a strange-looking woman. Before waking up, Xara tells Elsa that this dream is actually a punishment, not a nightmare. Although his actual identity won't be revealed until Finding Miranda, it's in this story when Morland, the main villain in the Elsaverse, is introduced for the first time, depicted as the king that betrayed Xara's trust and ordered her assassin to blind her.

Finding Miranda
Finding Miranda (2016) is the third game set in the Elsaverse. It unveils how Xara and Miranda were secretly protecting Jessika and Marc during their first dates, and tells what actually happened with Chloe on the canon path of RfJ, as well as who is Xara's powerful opponent and main villain of the story. It should be played after completing Beginnings and Royal Guard.

Saving Chloe
Saving Chloe (2018) is the fourth game set in the Elsaverse and means the end of the first story arc. Jessica plays a minor but decisive role in the game's canon ending; in one of the non-canon routes, some aspects of her relationship with Marc and her personality, like her voyeurism, are disclosed. Saving Chloe should be played after reading the short story Dream Master (2017).

Darkness Falls
Darkness Falls (2018-2019) is the fifth game set in the Elsaverse. Episode 3 from the first season is focused on the Sangrive Police Department's reaction to the bombing, and tells how a couple of detectives interview Jessica and Marc as the key witnesses of the incident, in a scene that is not depicted in RfJ. Darkness Falls is intended to be played after Saving Chloe.

AAA
AAA (2018) is a novella set in the Elsaverse. It basically covers the six weeks period that goes from Mayhem's last concert, in which the riot took place, to the Mayoral rally's terrorist attack, plus a couple of weeks after that. The story tells how three unknown characters try to help their childhood friend Jessica in those hard times and eventually become the key to make Gary and the Sangrive Police Department turn their attention to Charles. AAA should be read after finishing Darkness Falls first season.

Other related stories
Jessica and Marc make a couple of appearances in some other titles, after the end of the Elsaverse's first story arc.


 * Elsa's Nightmares (2019-2020) is a visual short story that narrates how Elsa seeks her friends' help to try to understand what's happening to her, after experiencing a series of weird dreams she can't control. Jessica appears in one of the episodes, telling Elsa about one of Mayhem's after concert wild parties, in which Marc was present. It's advised to read this story after playing Darkness Falls.


 * Elsaverse: Transitions (2020-2021) is a visual short story that depicts how life is treating several characters in the Elsaverse. Regarding Jessica and Marc, their relationship seems to be extremely healthy despite her being away on a Mayhem's tour; Sylvia and Sarah are equally in love and experiencing the same inconveniences, but the four of them find a pleasant way to endure their temporary separation. This story should be read after Elsa's Nightmares and Won: Darkness Within (2019).

Miscellaneous

 * During the credits, and due to the lack of an official soundtrack, players are suggested to open Youtube and listen to a couple of "Halestorm" songs. This American rock band, and their singer, Lizzy Hale, partially inspired the game's musical setting.


 * There's an actual black metal band from Norway called "Mayhem". Although it was formed back in 1984, Tlaero wasn't aware of its existence before releasing Redemption for Jessika.


 * While the scene in which she appears in Redemption for Jessika is entirely optional for players, Miranda's cameo at Elsa's bookstore is considered canon in the Elsaverse, as the same scene is depicted, from a different point of view, in Finding Miranda canon path.


 * The night of the concert date, after having sex with Marc in the elevator, Jessica sings for him a beautiful song about how people are generally good inside. Despite being one of her greatest fans, Marc doesn't recognize that song, but Sarah, who is listening to her friend from the sound room and seems to be singing along with her, cries with emotion. In AAA' chapter 9 it's hinted that this song is actually the first song Jessica wrote, back in her school days: the first time Sarah listened to it was during a really tough day for her, when she was outed at school, and only her friends Jess and Amanda were there for her. That's why she is especially moved when she hears that song again: not only it is the first time she hears Jess singing since the riot, but that exact song is particularly meaningful for Sarah. AAA chapter 9 also implies that Jessica sings this same song after the bomb explosion, encouraging people to help the victims.


 * The night of the concert date, an interesting detail is that the game's checkpoint is placed after the sex scene in the elevator, and not before it. While, in this kind of games, checkpoints are usually a mechanism to hide sexual content as a punishment for player's wrong moves, both narrative and characterization in RfJ make it appropriate to subvert this convention: coding the checkpoint after their first sexual intercourse it's a clever way to show that, in Jessica's case, sex is not the greatest sign of intimacy she can share with her partner, and the real success for players is to get her open her heart to Marc, and not just her legs.


 * When Marc and Jessica see Charles before the Mayoral rally, Marc's first reaction is to run after him, but Jessica stops her new boyfriend. When Marc objects, she says that he's already her hero, and that all that he has done for her (supporting her and being a kind friend and an unselfish lover) is way more important than how well he punches a guy. That line could be considered paramount to how masculinity and heroism are understood in the Elsaverse.