We. The Revolution
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Well, it was not perfect, but a very unusual and memorable gaming experience. The story of the Judge of the Tribunal, Alexis Fidel, who was at one of the most significant moments in the history of his country - the French Revolution - on the very crest of a revolutionary wave, which is rapidly beginning to turn red. Large-scale historical figures, ordinary citizens, judges, poets, dissolute women, grooms - they all pass through the ruthless court of the Tribunal, a guillotine blade hangs over each one, and only your signature and seal separates life from death.
– Real player with 16.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Political Sim Games.
A quick overview
We. The Revolution is a story-driven adventure game with strategy elements developed by Polyslash. The game takes place during the French Revolution, and it combines historical realities and characters with fiction. In the three acts, you go through the start of the revolution to its near end.
You play as a judge of the Revolutionary Tribunal, Alexis Fidèle. Your goal is simple – keep your head on your shoulders. To survive, you need to maintain good relations with Revolutionaries, commonfolk, Aristocracy, Juries, and your family members. However, this is not a detective game, as some would expect. You are not there to find the truth. You are there to achieve your own goals, and it is solely on you who you set free, send to prison, or straight to the guillotine.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
My Child Lebensborn
Ok, I love story-driven games. I love historical games. I love resource/time management games. I love gritty, realistic games. But WHAT was is the point of this? Most of the time, there was nothing I could do for Klaus. It was incredibly frustrating to just listen about teachers and other kids bullying him, and all I could do was tell Klaus to shut up and take it. I couldn’t confront any of the perpetrators or do anything to change the events.
Halfway through, I thought, “ok, so maybe it’s not about confronting issues, but rather it’s about how he responds to things he can’t change…and the point is to develop his character traits so that he’ll eventually turn out as a resilient adult.”
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Emotional Games.
Ich liebe dich, mein Kleiner
This game…tugged at my heartstrings. Before playing it, I was watching Michaela Laws play it up to a certain point. Even then…my heart hurt and I kept crying when Karin was sad or upset and putting herself down. I purchased this game yesterday and could not help but play it for at least 3 hours as I did not want to spoil anything for myself; I wanted to experience in my own time. I took in Klaus and he was an absolutely wonderful child. As before…my heart near broke everytime he was distraught or sad. There were moments where I have gotten angry, worried sick…at one point I think I even felt depersonalization despite it being a game. It just felt that powerful. I wanted to do more. Despite all the horrible things that have happened, seeing Klaus smile and be happy made it all worth it. I wanted to hug him so badly as I sympathize with what he went through…being bullied…feeling alone.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
1979 Revolution: Black Friday
Certainly one of the more unique and surprising games I’ve played. The concept had peaked my interest, as I’m a film-maker and interested in politics myself, and also interested in world history. I believe you cannot truly make an informed choice, until you understand the context behind what you believe, and the bigger picture. I’m well aware of Iran’s history in the 20th century, from the CIA/British coup against Mossadeq, to the current day Islamic republic. When I’m told by the media that ‘Iran is evil’, my first thought is ‘why?’. It seems in today’s world, we’re expected to hate on command, rather than to think critically and dig deeper. With that in mind, I was keen to see how the events were depicted in this game.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Indie Games.
It is quite difficult to fairly judge a piece of work when its qualities and failures are exceptionally conflicting. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday proposes a fresh and intimate look at a very critical moment in history, mostly unexplored in today’s media, and becomes a very important creation deployed over a rich, unique background. However, it completely fails as a game on so many basic levels that it renders the experience partially unpalatable.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Gallantry
Really great game, I am having lots of fun with it, would highly recommend!
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
The game is absolutely terrible. The controls are sluggish and you will get your tail feathers handed to you about 99% of the time. There is no time to even try to aim your lance. Shield or Head I can’t see to aim for them. You just put your lance over the line and pray you either break your lance or do some serious damage to your opponent. The balance mini-game is an absolute joke. It is totally unresponsive. I hit right as soon as the dot appears, and it shoots straight to the left and throws me. The Rock Paper Scissors mechanic of Barding, Shield, Lance, and Armor need to be explained better than “Oh, just play around with it.” All these elements make for a frustrating and unpleasant experience. I do not mind a challenge. I do mind a skill-based game leaving it up to lady luck to make the final judgement. This game has so much potential but in its current state I do not recommend it.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Lamplighter
It’s 1807 and you are a lamplighter, responsible for keeping the street lights of London lit.
Lamplighter is a story-driven puzzle game, set amidst the magical early 1800s when gas street lamps began to turn night into day and provoke people’s imaginations, hopes, and fears.
Key Features:
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Unique puzzle mechanic involves creating regions of light and darkness on a grid, where same-colored regions cannot touch. Solve logic puzzles to keep the streets of London lit.
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Interact with characters along your lamplighting route. As the wielder of a strange and new technology, you have the power to affect people’s opinions.
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Make choices that affect the story’s outcome: Will London accept progress or will fear prevail? You’ll decide through your dialogue choices and puzzle-solving skills.
The Spanish Privateer
Story
Set in early 17th century, just before the Pirate Golden Age, The Spanish Privateer places you in the shoes of Isabel Carlota de Castilla (but you can just call her Carlota). Carlota is an 18-year-old runaway escaping a marriage forced upon her by her parents. Not able to afford passage on a ship, Carlota offers to work for her voyage aboard Captain Rico’s ship, La Aguja. Captain Rico is a privateer, a pirate with a letter of marque allowing him to attack and capture the enemies of Spain. Carlota soon falls in love with the sea, and challenges herself to become a valuable member of the ship.
Amidst sword fights, balls, and drunken nights at the tavern, Carlota learns more about her fellow crew members and the world outside Spain. Visits to the archipelago of Azores, cities in the Caribbean and Veracruz, New Spain, teach Carlota about the effects of colonization and make her question her contribution and power aboard the Spanish ship.
No matter which route you travel down, Carlota must overcome her male crew members' prejudices, earning their respect with her hard work, determination, and intelligence.
Love Interests
Lark
Half Scottish, half Spanish, and entirely charming. Lark is a hired bard whose job is to entertain the men—and he takes liberty to entertain the women, as well. His specialty is playing the lute.
Flint
Flint is the ship’s quartermaster and protector. Fiercely loyal to the captain, Flint is equally distrustful of women. His specialty is gunnery.
Rico
Hailing from Puerto Rico, Captain Rico is no stranger to the sea. His kind and forgiving persona hides the past which granted him his scar. His specialty is swordfighting.
Features
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227K+ words
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100+ menu choices
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Three Good Endings
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Seven Bad Endings
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Six ‘Alternate’ Endings
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Love, Friendship, and Personality Meters
Trailer Music by Alexander Nakarada @ SerpentSound Studios
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
Be the Ruler: Britannia
Gameplay
In this game, it’s up to you to create your own story. Be the Ruler is an RPG in which the player takes on the role of a king and leads his dynasty through the ages. Every decision has its implications in the living world. Similar events can have dramatically different consequences. What kind of king you are determines what you can do in the world. Whether you prefer diplomacy, intrigue, conquest - it’s up to you.
Living World
To make Be the Ruler a true Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game, we built a living world where events happen regardless of your decisions. Your actions can influence them - often in unexpected ways. The elements of a living world consist of:
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Randomly created nobles and other NPCs before the start of each game, with different attributes affecting their actions. Noblemen will marry, build their dynasties, and have their own goals. How you respond to them (or not) will determine the consequences of your actions.
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Other kings have their own policies - conquests, alliances, state expansion.
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You have unique relationships with each character in the game. These relationships are affected by your history, as well as how you relate to a particular group (i.e. nobility, priesthood, family).
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If you choose to take action, the consequences will be felt in every aspect of the game - your resources, your relationships, the consequences of your decisions, the options available to you.
You, as king and as dynasty - create your own history in the medieval era.
Features
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Start a family and create a dynasty - raise your descendants. Beware of your siblings, who are waiting to trip you up. Beware of romance.
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Manage an early medieval kingdom based on personal relationships with your vassals. Solve their problems, judge them, punish them. Build relationships based on trust or power.
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Create alliances, conquer provinces.
World
Welcome to the world of early medieval England. Many small kingdoms, which were formed on the ruins of the Roman Empire and the migration of the Saxons to Britain. You will be the king of one of them - Wessex. There are many castles to visit and conquer, towns which will pay you tributes. Mines that give you currency and farms that supply you with grain.
Godlike
Pointless wouldn’t play if it was free
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
The game makes little sense , most of the time i die after a couple of clicks on random events
i once raided another settelment , got ripped in two
it took me a few minutes of gameplay to even understand that i can click on different houses in the settelment to make changes and hire men
its just not fun for me , it doesn’t cost much so if you want , give it a shoot , i did (still not for me)
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
The Council
“Mr. president, are you a killer?”
~Keir Simmons
For whatever reasons out there, “choose your own adventure” games, in which you make your way through the story by making certain choices, become more and more popular nowadays. I mean, we had quite a lot of those back in the days. Brilliant Digital Entertainment alone released tons of such games back in nineties, but somehow, even though they’ve made games based on such popular names as Superman, Popeye, Xena and even Ace Ventura, those games were never popular. Heck, most of the people nowadays don’t even know about the fact that 7th Level’s Ace Ventura game wasn’t the only one out there. Nowadays, on the other hand, we have all sorts of popular games of that kind. From Detroit: Become Human to Until Dawn / The Dark Pictures Anthology and Life is Strange. People love that stuff. So… yeah. Here comes another one of such games. Can’t call myself a big fan of the genre, though. Personally, I prefer proper Point-and-Click or puzzle experience, while “choose your own adventure” is something I prefer in the books, but… you know how it is. I don’t mind such games as long as the story is interesting, the choices are satisfying and they’re well-written. So… let’s have a look at The Council, shall we?
– Real player with 37.4 hrs in game
ORIGINAL POST = 08-08-2021 at 11:51 AM EST:
I’ve been playing The Council on the PC (over on Steam) lately. I certainly have some thoughts on it, as I’m currently on Episode 4 (out of 5).
So far, it has been ranging somewhere b/t really good to great. Namely, Episodes 1-3 were great; and Episode 4 at a certain point has taken a turn…and I’m not sure where it belongs yet, as it has hit a really shocking moment that sets quite bit of a change in both story elements & your skills; and I’m not sure how fleshed-out this will get, as it happens late in Episode 4 and the fact that there’s only one Episode left.
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
Casina: The Forgotten Comedy
An interesting take on classic play, that needs just a tad polishing
Casina….well not gonna lie, it was a pretty unique experience for me since I have almost no idea about classic play. So, by the time I finished the visual novels (which surprisingly hooked me in) I was kinda curious so I looked for the original Casina play. I was like “aaah so this is what they’re adapting” and I like how they tried to keep it as close to the original play as possible.
Now about the game
– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Casina: The Forgotten Comedy is a modern iteration of the ancient Latin play set in Greece with the same name “Casina”. I have a little background with theatre and plays and was excited to enjoy the story and the art together in a different way! Fully voice acted with accompanying art and scenes to set the stage of a highly desirable slave and all the men who wish to have her to themselves.
Even before playing the game, I could tell the art of the game was going to be easy on the eyes. The art for the game is well done and I enjoyed the consistency across the entire game. Some of the backgrounds aren’t as finely detailed or manicured but were still appealing and enjoyable throughout. I like the idea of having choices in a visual novel and multiple endings, it makes it feel like your choices may have bearing on the outcomes which makes for a more focused patron of the story. Others have said they don’t care for the voice acting, and while it is not the best of the best and some of the ranges of character seem limited, I still found them to be very well done in craft and style. The voices felt like they were fit for the characters they were voicing, which I feel like is the key to voice over acting like this.
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game