Letters - a written adventure
Handwritten nostalgia
Journey back to the 90s and move through beautifully hand-drawn letters, as you follow the life of Sarah. Learn more about her friends, nerdy obsessions or why she has the most annoying sister ever.
Then go digital as Sarah grows older. Revel in the nostalgic pixel world of the early 2000s internet while navigating all the drama, anxiety and joys of teenagehood.
Shape your future
Watch Sarah grow up and make decisions that will change how her life will turn out as an adult (no pressure). Take revenge on your sister, play video games all day or fall in love. It’s all up to you.
Don’t like the outcome? Just go ahead and rewrite her story. (See? we told you, no pressure.)
Power of words
In a world made from paper and computers, words matter. So use them to change drawings that block your way, help friendly characters and interact with Sarah’s friends.
Finding the right words is hard sometimes. Especially for shy people like Sarah. So help her by breaking them apart and creating new ones for her to use instead.
Playfully wholesome
Letters is a cozy, often funny, sometimes sad game about friendship, growing up and finding your way in life. Explore Sarah’s colorful world and use the power of words to change her life!
Or… just stack cats or something.
FEATURES
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innovative word-based riddle mechanic, you’ve never seen before
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relatable coming of age story, inspired by real-life
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branching storyline where you can discover new possibilities with every playthrough
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beautifully hand-drawn visuals & pixel art evolving with Sarah’s age
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comfy, playful & casual game that focuses on narration and having fun with words
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good for practicing English skills in a fun way
QUICK FACTS
language: English
playtime: approx. 3 hours (1 playthrough)
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Multiple Endings Games.
DNA Farm
Very interesting game, the description says it all, clearly…but it runs well and feels fun! I keep saying it in these reviews, but I mean it…the price is a little too steep..this could be fun for a lot of people but…if they won’t spend 11 bucks, maybe the won’t see how good it is, anyways..just my thoughts. Not a bad game at all!
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Inventory Management Games.
Tales of the Black Death
If you like narrative games with difficult moral choices, then this is the right adventure for you.
Tales of the Black Death follows the troubles of Baldasar, a young boy trying to escape the 1346 plague. His journey will take him from Italy to France, and finally to England.
The story is very engaging and effective in delivering the collective and individual drama, helped by a very inspired art style and soundtrack.
I couldn’t stop playing and found myself torn in front of many troubling decisions, feeling the urgency and the tragedy, hope at times, and worry about the fate of the protagonist.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hand-drawn Dark Games.
1346 – 1356
A Pandemic reaches europe.
The Black Death.
Over 25 Million Human died.
Hard Times – hard Decissions.
What have you done to survive in such times?
Welcome to TALES OF THE BLACK DEATH!
In first look it seems to be a typical Visual Novel.
It is not.
It is more.
It is a Journey into a dark Time where you not only have to read Text.
You also have to care about yourself, you have to make hard Decissions …… you have to survive!!!
You can be sure that each decision has consequences and you can also be sure that you will disbelief many of your decisions, wishing to have other choices.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
The Dreamwalkers
The Dreamwalkers is a 2D Visual Novel/Point-and-Click Adventure Game in which you can project yourself into the world of Dreams.
You play Morgan, a student in History of the Arts in Paris, who’s life is about to be turned upside down. Along his journey he will meet new friends, whose fate will be into your hands.
Features
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5 acts of an hour each. Perfect for lunch break diversions!
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Highly replayable: the story is divided into 3 mutually exclusive branches, each focused on the relationship between Morgan and one of the Dreamwalkers.
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Romance: will Morgan fall in love with this Dreamwalker or just be friend? Your decision!
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8 different endings depending on choices you’ll have to own up (and no Mass Effect-style: some endings will depend on choices made earlier in the game)
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Explore Dreams: scenes in the world of dreams can be explored in point & click phases to discover more about the universe.
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Original Universe: inspired by Neil Gaiman and Inception, we created a world where myths and reality intertwine.
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Backgrounds and characters drawn by talented artists.
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The original music is a symphony in 5 movements created by a composer and played by an orchestra!
Where Birds Go to Sleep
Where Birds Go to Sleep is a narrative adventure game set in a fictional Near East-inspired land, brought to life in a painterly artstyle, with voice-acted dialogue and original score.
Slip into the subconscious of Cormo, a churlish smuggler-turned-explorer, only ever influencing his actions, never directly assuming control. You will mould him through every sentence you put in his mind… but you might not like what he becomes.
Confront him about controversial topics like sexuality, prejudice and morality, and change his mind… or have him change yours.
There is no “Mission Failed”; saying “No” opens new avenues. There is no golden path.
Lie to others, and you’ll be more likely to hide the truth from yourself. Fail to justify your actions and you might find your character not heeding your commands.
Every single small choice you make builds up, and shifts the direction of the story. While there are crucial moments and big decisions to be made, it is the small things that – true to life – ultimately decide who we are.
Reflect on your actions along with the protagonist; exchange your thoughts on what happened; regret or rejoice, grieve or laugh together… or independently of each other.
The difference between saying “you tried your best” and “you’re horrible” is empathy.
The smallest of your choices are remembered by the experimental Insight System, which analyses your character and offers you personalised, interesting viewpoints and alternative outlooks on the things you’ve said and done, recontextualizing your experience both in and out of the game.
An island has appeared in the distant sea…
Sneak your way into a dangerous expedition to explore that island, reserved only for the worst prisoners. Get to know a handful of very special, deeply developed and fully realised characters. Become their friend, get to know their secrets, manipulate or abuse them to your, or Cormo’s will.
One of the first characters you will meet is Dunlin – a noble-born, young man who is steadfast in his moral and religious principles. But what must a purebred like him be guilty of to end up here with you?
Sprawling, naturally flowing dialogue: react in intense back-and-forth conversations. Every dialogue is ready for the choices you make, and can potentially branch off into a completely different conversation with game-changing significance.
Explore the mysterious island, unravel its secrets and lies. Shrouded in noxious, mind-altering mist, you must prepare for every journey inland, anticipating the challenges ahead. The provisions are scarce… but the others need them less than you.
Is Where Birds Go to Sleep a text adventure?
Where Birds Go to Sleep is not a text adventure. It is an adventure game featuring graphics akin to those seen in the trailer with fully voice acted dialogue, sound effects, ambience and music.
Will there be localisation to [language]?
Where Birds Go to Sleep is likely to release with only English, but we are keeping an eye on wishlists and interest from different regions, and will strive to localise the game accordingly post-release.
Will there be Linux support?
Unless we run into major platform-specific issues, we would like to release a Linux version in parallel to the Windows version on Steam.
GNOMONIC
Oh, hey. This is Giri. I run some shops in The Shade.
Welcome to GNOMONIC, the role-playing game where your role is just to play the game. You’ve gotta help your funny little friend out because they really wanna leave this place. They’re the only one that can sense your inputs though, so it’s not like you can really do things any other way. As a player, you can save the game, load it, help new folks - and I guess you could hurt them too. Think you can save your new friend and help some of us out on the way? I hope so. Let’s meet on good terms, ok?
Things you can do:
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Move your friend around a battlefield to attack and defend against enemies in real time.
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Negotiate with enemies to end battles without violence.
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Solve probably too many puzzles based around lights and shadows outside of battles.
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Experience a character-filled story with a lot of humor.
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Enjoy traditionally drawn watercolor art combined with pixel art character sprites.
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Listen to music that combines retro and modern sounds.
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Become friends with most of the bosses.
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…Are you really friends with them though, or are you just being nice to get something from them?
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Bask in my presence every time you see me.
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Really, just try to be nice, even if it’s just for yourself.
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I have shops everywhere, there’s no way to not see me.
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You’re way more powerful than all of us here, so maybe help us however you can?
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But, I mean, who are you to take orders from a description?
Kingdom: The Far Reaches
very decent despite the fact that is is an old game. A very rich storyline too. It’s a shame that the manual is not included. Also there does not seem to be the sequal, Kingdom Shadoan. Hopefully, it could be released here
– Real player with 3.8 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
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
Star Story: The Horizon Escape
It’s killing me but I can’t give thumb up for this one, it is a good game but also buggy one.
First when I started this game I’ve got window with information “ops game crushed..” but funny thing is that you can just click on game window and continue playing it without problem, but this was the fist red light.
I was playing it for couple hours and it was fun but after couple resets of the story some relative parts gets more and more tedious, game sometimes even throw at you two exactly the same random encounter one after another but what really break game for me was… game breaking bug :) After another reset you start on the desert and after a while your character take out sand from his boot and teleport to base, problem is that after go out from the base I ended up just before checking bot for sand and automatically teleporting to base and no matter what I tried I was stuck in that loop only way out of this situation would be to start game once more and hope that I will not stuck somewhere again and I’m not looking forward to check my luck again.
– Real player with 10.7 hrs in game
Reminds me a lot of Stories: The Path of Destinies. Like on that game, you are trapped in a kind of Groundhog Day style time loop, where each time you die you come back to the start of the game, but with your items and some new knowledge from your previous life. The game has 24 endings, and in each one of them you die in the end. The goal of these endings is to find information. Once you find out all you need, then you can go back and do it properly, in a 25th, golden, ending.
The major difference between the games is on the gameplay. Whereas S:TPoD is a beat-em-up, this game is a Choose Your Own Adventure text based adventure, with some turn based combat thrown in. The gameplay basically consists of the game providing you some options, then you choose one and suffer the consequences. Some choices affect the story, and these are clearly marked, but most only result in you gaining resources and/or getting in a fight. The resources are used to craft weapons, ammo and consumables, which are used in order to not die in the fights. So, in essence, this is a resource management game. It is pretty casual, but also nice.
– Real player with 10.2 hrs in game
The Ballad Singer
As much as I would like to recommend this game, I just can’t. I could say that it has beautiful graphics, is fully voiced, has an intricate story with 4 characters, who sometimes cross with each other, has nice soundtrack and several QoL features, like ability to double the speed of narrator’s voice to speed up the game.
But all of this gets completely ruined by absolutely unfair death mechanic and BS choices. At the beginning of the game you’re warned that you will die here, a lot, that’s why developers created fate system. You have limited amount of fate points, every time your character dies you can either continue the game as other character or restart your last choice. Both of these options consume 1 fate point. Ok, so you decided to create a game that revolves around constant danger and death traps, fine. Surely, you will spend extra time making these deaths logical, so only if player actually made a mistake they would die, right? No. Most of choices in the game that lead to your death are absolutely random and, unless you already know which one is the right one, you will die not because you’ve made a mistake, but because you drew a short stick. Here are few examples, technically spoilers:
! I am an “elf” in the middle of the forest who needs to get to the cabin in the distance and sees two roads: a big, stone one or small, trodden one. She has to pick one. I chose small, trodden one. Game then tells me that I spend some time walking on that road and noticed that it leads in completely other direction from the cabin and that day is closing to the night. Now I’m faced with another choice - continue on this road, or go back and choose other road. I, thinking that this new piece of information is game hinting me that I chose wrong, choose to go back and pick the big road. And I died. Because apparently there’s some shitty death trap on the big road. How was I supposed to know that? There were no hints, there was actually a fake hint that made me choose the wrong road.. Another example -
! I am a mage and am currently fighting a giant water elemental. She (yes, she has gender) creates a water wave and I need to defend myself. There are three options: make a tornado, create stone wall or create a flame shield around me. Now, the last one is obviously a bad desision as I’m fighting a water elemental who, surely, can easily fight fire (also, earlier in the game, we already used another water elemental to fight fire elemental, so it’s logical even in game). This would be a logical death choice. Developers could choose other two choices as “right” ones - they will allow you to continue the fight, but give different texts or future options, because the fight would progress differently. That would be cool. But no. Only one of these choices is correct - tornado. Why? Why the fuck should I pick tornado, except by random? I picked the stone wall, because surely, the stone wall can stop water wave. No, you died, fool. And, despite me playing only for two hours, the game gave me tons of such choices already. They, aside from making the player angry, completely ruin the immersion. No, you’re not a mage trying master the elements, you’re an idiot, sitting before your PC and who was unlucky to pick the wrong choice, so now you have to reload and make the “correct” one and it’s correct because developer said so. A death should be a result of either one very dumb and obviously wrong decision, or a series of bad decisions with hints that you’re doing everything wrong. Not what we have here.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
If you came here with one thumb on your lighter, ready to lose yourself in some heart-wrenching ballads, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you. I didn’t encounter my first ballad until at least 3 or 4 hours in, and it was pretty underwhelming when it finally arrived.
Yeah, their choice of titles doesn’t make a lot of sense, and neither do most of the other choices in this game.
Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned. They always told me not to judge a book by its cover, and that’s exactly what I did. Can you blame me, though? On the surface it looks great. It’s got that Extremely Fantasy, D&D manual sort of vibe. Everywhere you look you find fierce monsters and sharpened blades, towering dragons, fireball-hurling wizards and pots of stew consumed in shady inns full of adventures just waiting to happen.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game