Aug 24
2023
Forbidden Magic—Catch a magical arsonist and lose your heart!
Posted by: Mary Duffy | Comments (18)
We’re proud to announce that Forbidden Magic, the latest in our “Heart’s Choice” line of multiple-choice interactive romance novels, is now available for iOS and Android in the “Heart’s Choice” app. You can also download it on Steam, or enjoy it on our website.
It’s 40% off until August 31st!
As a paranormal agent, your job is to keep magic under wraps. Can you catch a magical arsonist before you lose your heart?
Forbidden Magic is a 145,000-word interactive paranormal romance game by Frances Pauli, author of Brimstone Manor. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
You’re a mage on parole for a crime you didn’t commit. Or, maybe you did, but you certainly didn’t intend to get caught. For penance, you’ve been assigned to the Organization for the Protection of Sorcerous Secrets, a task force dedicated to keeping the paranormal out of the public eye.
The vampire who works in the basement is out to get you. Your boss is literally a devil. And they’ve assigned you a hellhound for a partner, a shapeshifter who just happens to be your high-school crush. (Or, choose your own background! Maybe you were the hellhound’s crush? Or perhaps you were rivals, instead?)
Whether you use your superior sleuthing skills, rely on some magic of your own, or resort to dirty tactics, it’s not the worst gig. Hunting down rogues and mopping up public displays of magic could even be fun. But when a magical arsonist goes on a rampage, you’ll need all the help you can get to keep the city safe and to keep your secrets, even if it means working with a human from a rival agency.
The closer you get to finding the arsonist, the closer you get to losing your heart. You used to be very close with the hellhound-shifter who’s now your OPSS partner. Could there be the sparks of something more? Your job is to keep magic out of mortal hands, but wouldn’t it be nice to put yourself in the hands of that tall, broad-shouldered rival agent? Or perhaps you’ll take this opportunity to seduce your boss, the dazzlingly competent and even more dazzlingly dressed devil? And then there’s the suspect whose vulnerability just might melt your heart…
• Play as male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, or bi.
• Romance a shifter, devil, mage, or even an ordinary human.
• Choose your relationship trope: friends-to-lovers, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, and more.
• Choose your magical specialty and build your power!
• Investigate crime in a hidden magical part of the city: fey-owned nightclubs, elf-run diners, secret government agencies, and more.
• Work to keep magic a secret, or unleash forbidden knowledge into the wider world.
As the city burns, let your heart catch fire!
We hope you enjoy playing Forbidden Magic. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.
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This is going to be lots of fun - congratulations to Frances Pauli for what looks like a great follow up to Brimstone Manor!
Well, it’s here. This sounds interesting. I heard Brimstone Manor did better than expected. Congratulations to the author and here’s hoping this one goes strong too! Now, to see who to tag along first for the romance, and which stage to do first…
I loved Brimstone Manor, so I was excited to see that Frances Pauli was back with a second game for Heart’s Choice - and especially pleased to see that it was romantic suspense, one of my favorite subgenres.
The ROs are a diverse bunch, but every route is full of sweet moments and fun surprises. There’s a broad variety of tropes for almost every taste: workplace romance, rivals to lovers, second chances, even rescuing a damsel in distress.
I wondered what replay value would be like for a game that revolves around a mystery, but knowing whodunnit has little impact on the pleasure of repeat playthroughs. Not only are the romance routes individually rewarding, there’s enough variation to keep the story interesting, in particular an elemental magic system with three possible specializations - and scenes of failure (or partial success) that are just as narratively rewarding (and sometimes even more entertaining) than outright success.
Unlike Brimstone Manor, in which the PC reads as attracted to men whether or not that’s how the player imagines the character, Forbidden Magic works well for PCs of any gender or allosexual orientation: the characters are described appealingly, but not in terms that suggest physical attraction unless you indicate interest.
I hope lots of readers here will give it a try.
Congratulations
I already bought it and I will have fun with it <3
Nice, Congratulations on the release.