The Good Queen has passed, as all must. The burden to rule falls now to The Naïve Heir, and their table of knights.

To You, and your advisors.


Controls: Mouse, or 1/2/3/4.


Made by Sean & Michael for #AGBIC 2019 with Phaser.


Inspired by the Famicase Round Table by Matt Kump.

Comments

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(+1)

Nice game. I wish there is 'achievement' section in menu to keep track of possible endings we can get.

(2 edits) (+3)

I think I might have gotten all the endings. This is an incredibly atmospheric game, and while minimalistic, every part does heavy lifting. I like the mix of linear narrative, random encounters, and strategic gameplay. It's a good balance that creates satisfying gameplay from multiple angles. And bravo for the bravery to create something very dark. Despite the darkness, I'm glad I decided to play it through. It added something to my life in a little way :3

--Spoilers below!--

The big question is "What is the threat?" I played multiple times to try to figure it out.

Each resource represents a theme, and pairs with an ending. I believe you have to get 10 in a resource to unlock its ending. I always went to 10, anyway. You have just enough time if you focus.

Salt: Military and toughness. It is associated with visiting the barracks, military power, a militaristic mindset, and relationship with the Veteran. It unlocks the battle dream.

Wine: Diplomacy and the court. Associated with going to the balls, royalty, your mother, the cohesion of the round table, and your relationship with the Cousin. It unlocks the mother dream.

Bread: Provisions and the kingdom. Associated with Visiting the court, the church, gaining resources, the kingdom's populace, and your relationship with the Justicar. It unlocks the survival dream.

There is a fourth dream, the judgement dream, that happened when I tried to keep a reasonable amount of all three resources. I would call this a bad end.

There doesn't seem to be an end where you don't die.

Also, I don't think you can be killed before the end, so don't be afraid to meet with people. Especially the Cunning Beauty.

Now onto speculation: What is the threat?

My first theory: There is no specific threat. The fact that everyone's doomed is necessary for the narrative but is not solvable.

However, there are three things that keep coming up that made me rethink that.

1. There is a political threat to the north and a military threat to the south-east. Maybe they invade suddenly.

2. There has been a very deadly plague in the near past, and one village is confirmed to be sick with something. The new queen may also be ill, as she feels ill during a nightly walk. The plague may simply already be in the kingdom.

3. The queen is heavily implied to have been assassinated, and there seems to be an assassination attempt on the new queen as well. There is possibly a traitor in the kingdom, maybe even in the court itself.

As you can see, these threats seem to fall into three categories, seemingly matching the triple theming. I didn't check but it's possible that these pieces of information are presented to you depending on which resource you pursue. Is it possible that they are all misdirections? Is it possible that they are all related? Or is it possible that there are simply three problems all happening at once?

Also, it seems like there ARE trustworthy people in the court. The Veteran, the Justicar, and the Cousin all seem to hold you no ill will at all, and have even tried in some way to show good will outside of their obligations. They are all also associated with a resource/dream route. The Huntress and the Scholar are harder to read. I believe the Scholar is 100% neutral and it only there to be your inventory. The Huntress may be a key to the mystery somehow, but I don't think it's a mystery that can actually be solved.

Anyway, thanks to the dev(s)! It's a good game!

(+3)

I can't stop playing this. I come back to it every night. Chills rush down my spine every time I reach an ending. This is more than a video game - this is a work of art. The transition animations, artwork, the way the pixels move. The story. The text. The dynamics. Art.

(1 edit) (+4)

i'm pretty sure there is no good ending in this game, is there?  wonderful and engaging story though!

what's the best ending you've gotten so far? i'd be curious to compare

(+1)(-1)

i never wake up the next day.  i think one dream was somewhat pleasant, but i forget the details of it now.

that was mine too!! itch says i have five hours of in-game time, and of all the endings, the best one was the -you survive and have many more days at court, struggles and hardships but good times too- death-dream. and then the second best was -you remember the childhood days before you took the throne. why cant it stay like this forever- death dream.

i can't help but feel like there just has to be some combination of variables, and if i get them just right i'll encounter the happy ending.

i still havent figured out how to get something good out of the mysterious noble in the hallway.

(+1)

same!  i'm pretty sure there's no way to get a real conversation of of the random guy... i'm pretty sure i've tried all the options.  i think i got the dream about continuing on as queen also, but i am not even sure how i did it anymore.  it almost seems random because i tried to redo the same options and could not get it again!  i'm convinced there's no way to survive.

I'm pretty damn late, but I get the feeling as if the endings depend on how many resources you have, and which is in the most surplus. Salt will give you the "fighting" ending, I imagine that wine will give you a partying/greed ending, and I'm not sure what bread will give you (something justice-related likely).

I'm curious what would happen if you had the same number of resources for all.

(+3)

I have been coming back to this game consistently/daily because I'm so determined to see it through to a "good" ending. I've become so dedicated to actually succeeding. This game has had me awestruck more than once, the pacing is wonderful and I'm so happy that you get a different experience nearly every time!

(+5)

(meow)

(+3)

Really interesting style/presentation.  I'm curious if my choices actually had much or any impact on what happened in the end.  Regardless, very interesting game! I liked it a lot.

(+1)

Hi. I'm having trouble on the first screen. There seems to be a loading bar that won't progress. I'm on a mac, using Safari.

(+2)

hey, sorry about that! afaik it's a compatibility issue in phaser, but seems like chrome/firefox on mac work fine

(+2)

Yup! I was playing it in Chrome just now. So far I've gotten to 3 different endings, but I'm looking forward to finding more later. Great job with the writing! -- And I love how the music responds to certain things. I won't say more on that, to keep from spoiling anything.