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Coming Thursday is our latest Heart’s Choice game, Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes! You can try the first three chapters for free today, check out the author interview, and don’t forget to wishlist it on Steam!

Will you spill the tea about the secret, cozy magical cafe on the college campus? Brew potions and romance on coffee dates with your new friends!

Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes is a 426,000-thousand word interactive cozy romance novel by Cay Macres. I sat down with Cay to talk about their writing and upcoming game! Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes releases next Thursday, October 23rd. You can wishlist it on Steam today, it really helps, even if you don’t plan to purchase on Steam.

This is definitely not your first time writing in the game-space. Tell our readers about your background.
My first step into games was working on game jams with friends, doing dialogue and narrative design. After that, I was a contract writer for StoryLoom, an interactive novel site by Pixelberry Studios. I had always been drawn to sci fi but, with StoryLoom, I discovered how much fun fantasy is!

How did you get interested in interactive fiction?
A lot of my favorite games are cozy RPGs with strong narratives. I also love reading fantasy and sci fi! I really appreciate that interactive fiction feels like the middle point between RPGs and traditional novels.

You’ve also got some novels under your belt?
I haven’t yet published any non-interactive novels. I have a couple in the works that I’m still editing. As a writer, it’s difficult to ever feel truly done with a project.

What was your favorite part of writing this game?
I’m a writer who loves describing things, so I had fun creating the cozy, coastal, autumnal vibes of Peridot Pines! I also enjoyed figuring out all the lore around magic. And, of course, I loved writing the cat’s snarky dialogue. I tried my best to channel my own two tabbies.

If you were the PC, who would you be romancing?
I think I would romance Mel. The type of romances I enjoy are usually the shy, will-they-won’t-they, slow-burns.

What are you working on next?
Next, I hope to wrap up editing and finally start querying agents to get my non-interactive novels published! I also want to write more flash fiction. I find that it’s a helpful warm-up that reminds me how much a single word can alter a story.

We’re super excited for the announcement of two upcoming games, Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters and Hunter: The Reckoning — Day for Night. What’s more, A Time of Monsters will be coming out in just one month, on November 13th!

Today, for the first time, you can try the free demo for A Time of Monsters on Steam! (Don’t forget to add both games to your Steam wishlist! The more wishlists we get, the better the game will do on Steam on release day.) Additionally, tune in to the World of Darkness Twitch at 11am Eastern to watch Huddy stream the demo.

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness. It’s entirely text-based, one million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

These monsters aren’t just in the movies! Will you hunt the vampires, werewolves and others stalking Hollywood, or will you become a monster instead?

Hunter: The Reckoning – Day for Night is an interactive novel by Josh Labelle set in the World of Darkness. It’s entirely text-based, 900,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Wishlist it on Steam today!

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

Five years after graduating high school, you and your old friends are drawn back together by a mysterious letter. Through it, you inherit a Gothic manor and a fortune beyond belief. There is only one condition: you must live in the manor together.

Eldritch Tales: Inheritance is 33% off until October 9th!

Eldritch Tales: Inheritance is a 210,000-word interactive novel by Dariel Ivalyen that blends psychological, supernatural, and cosmic horror with drama, investigation, and romance. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

When you arrive at Blackthorn Manor, strange events begin to unfold. Shadows move on their own, nights grow unnaturally dark, and every corner hides a secret. And the more you uncover, the less you understand. As the atmosphere thickens, you will have to decide whether to trust your companions—or even yourself.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary.
• Customize your appearance, personality, and sexuality.
• Choose from six distinct backgrounds—Astronomer, Songwriter, Egyptologist, Gardener, Detective, or Librarian—each with a unique story path and an exclusive ending.
• Forge friendships or romances with a wealthy playboy, a no-nonsense scientist, a protective ex-soldier, or a free-spirited artist.
• Balance your sanity, health, and relationships—or suffer the consequences.
• Explore hidden rooms, secret passages, and places beyond human imagination, and learn—or risk learning—the truth behind your inheritance.
• Experience randomized events and discover multiple endings, ensuring no two playthroughs are alike.

What darkness lies within Blackthorn Manor? Will you turn away in time—or will you uncover
truths that consume you forever?

Dariel developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

Congratulations to author Vance Chance, whose Hosted Game Dragon of Steelthorne has won third place in this year’s IntroComp.

To celebrate, we’re putting it on sale this week: it’s 40% off on all our platforms until 10/09!

Rule a mighty city, fight battles, and go on adventures as the Ardent or Ardessa of the city of Lake Steelthorne. Find love, power, and a secret that could change the world.

Vance developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

The Steam Autumn Sale is On!

Now through October 6th, you can get Choice of Games’ titles for up to 40% off on Steam as part of the Steam Autumn Sale. Hosted Games and Heart’s Choice titles are also participating in the Autumn Sale, so enjoy generous discounts on all three with this once a season sale!

Last chance to get Specters of the Deep on sale!

Our latest release, Specters of the Deep is still on sale, 33% off until tomorrow! Tonight’s your last chance for an epic 1 million-word game on sale on all platforms for $7.99!

In life, you were a legendary hero. Now, you’ll rise from the grave as a ghost to defend your country in its hour of greatest need! Defy dragons, duel the dead, and face the nightmare at the bottom of the sea!

Specters of the Deep is an interactive epic fantasy novel by Abigail C. Trevor, author of Heroes of Myth and Stars Arisen. It’s entirely text-based, 1 million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Centuries ago, you were the finest warrior that the island nation of Galdrin had ever known. The realm was strong and prosperous, upheld by the might of the Eye of the Serpent, a magical artifact bonded to the monarch—and by your might, too. You protected the people and defended the crown; when the dragons emerged from their seclusion, you won the honor of being the king’s emissary to them and forged a powerful alliance.

Then, you fell in battle at the hands of your greatest rival, dead before your time.

But now you awake, called forth from your tomb to save the realm from even greater peril. With your new spectral form come new powers: the ability to pass through solid walls and float high above the earth, command over other ghosts, and the potential to strike fear into the hearts of the living. You will need every bit of that power in this new age of crisis. The royal family is shattered and divided, with the young king clinging to scraps of his former power while his connection to the Eye of the Serpent hangs in the balance. Anti-monarchist rebels shout in the streets and political rivals seek to extend their power across the sea. Galdrin’s neighboring nation lies beneath the waves, sunk by cataclysmic earthquakes. Worst of all, the mighty dragons are withdrawing from the alliance you built centuries ago, and you may be the only one who can win them back.

What’s more, you aren’t the only specter on Galdrin’s shores. There’s an army of ghosts crawling out of the water, tearing at the foundations of the castle. Sometimes, you can hear the voice that commands them. Something is waiting at the bottom of the ocean—and it wants you back.

If Galdrin is to survive, you must rise as its hero once more, and join an epic battle for the Eye of the Serpent, power over the ocean, and the realm itself.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bisexual, monogamous, polyamorous, asexual, and/or aromantic
• Battle enemies old and new as a ghost, commanding spectral armies and passing invisibly through walls, and inspiring dread in the hearts of your foes.
• Romance a troubled king, a rebellious prince, a clever wizard, a daring dragon, or a strangely familiar ghost.
• Restore the ancient arcane power of Galdrin’s monarchy, or embrace modernity and forge a new path forward for the realm.
• Search for lost treasure and buried secrets in a sunken kingdom as you plunge to the depths of the ocean – and seek out the source of the monstrous voice you hear in your mind.
• Build a new body and reclaim a place among the living, or embrace your spectral form to endure as a ghost.
• Avenge your own death and find a way to set old enmities aside – or even rekindle old flames of love.

What nightmare lies in the deep?

We’re proud to announce that Specters of the Deep, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 33% off until October 2nd!

We’re also pleased to announce that both of Abigail Trevor’s other games, Stars Arisen and Heroes of Myth, are on sale this week and that checkpoint saves have been added to both games in a recent update!

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In life, you were a legendary hero. Now, you’ll rise from the grave as a ghost to defend your country in its hour of greatest need! Defy dragons, duel the dead, and face the nightmare at the bottom of the sea!

Specters of the Deep is an interactive epic fantasy novel by Abigail C. Trevor, author of Heroes of Myth and Stars Arisen. It’s entirely text-based, 1 million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Centuries ago, you were the finest warrior that the island nation of Galdrin had ever known. The realm was strong and prosperous, upheld by the might of the Eye of the Serpent, a magical artifact bonded to the monarch—and by your might, too. You protected the people and defended the crown; when the dragons emerged from their seclusion, you won the honor of being the king’s emissary to them and forged a powerful alliance.

Then, you fell in battle at the hands of your greatest rival, dead before your time.

But now you awake, called forth from your tomb to save the realm from even greater peril. With your new spectral form come new powers: the ability to pass through solid walls and float high above the earth, command over other ghosts, and the potential to strike fear into the hearts of the living. You will need every bit of that power in this new age of crisis. The royal family is shattered and divided, with the young king clinging to scraps of his former power while his connection to the Eye of the Serpent hangs in the balance. Anti-monarchist rebels shout in the streets and political rivals seek to extend their power across the sea. Galdrin’s neighboring nation lies beneath the waves, sunk by cataclysmic earthquakes. Worst of all, the mighty dragons are withdrawing from the alliance you built centuries ago, and you may be the only one who can win them back.

What’s more, you aren’t the only specter on Galdrin’s shores. There’s an army of ghosts crawling out of the water, tearing at the foundations of the castle. Sometimes, you can hear the voice that commands them. Something is waiting at the bottom of the ocean—and it wants you back.

If Galdrin is to survive, you must rise as its hero once more, and join an epic battle for the Eye of the Serpent, power over the ocean, and the realm itself.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bisexual, monogamous, polyamorous, asexual, and/or aromantic
• Battle enemies old and new as a ghost, commanding spectral armies and passing invisibly through walls, and inspiring dread in the hearts of your foes.
• Romance a troubled king, a rebellious prince, a clever wizard, a daring dragon, or a strangely familiar ghost.
• Restore the ancient arcane power of Galdrin’s monarchy, or embrace modernity and forge a new path forward for the realm.
• Search for lost treasure and buried secrets in a sunken kingdom as you plunge to the depths of the ocean – and seek out the source of the monstrous voice you hear in your mind.
• Build a new body and reclaim a place among the living, or embrace your spectral form to endure as a ghost.
• Avenge your own death and find a way to set old enmities aside – or even rekindle old flames of love.

What nightmare lies in the deep?

We hope you enjoy playing Specters of the Deep. 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!

We’re excited to announce that Specters of the Deep is releasing this Thursday, September 25th!

You can play the first three chapters for free today, and check out the author interview as well!

And don’t forget to wishlist it on Steam! The more wishlists we get, the better the game will do on Steam on release day. Additionally, we’re happy to share that Abigail Trevor’s other games, Stars Arisen and Heroes of Myth will also be on sale on all platforms during the Specters of the Deep release week. Plus, both Stars Arisen and Heroes of Myth have just been updated to included checkpoint saves!

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In life, you were a legendary hero. Now, you’ll rise from the grave as a ghost to defend your country in its hour of greatest need! Defy dragons, duel the dead, and face the nightmare at the bottom of the sea!

Specters of the Deep is an interactive epic fantasy novel by Abigail C. Trevor, author of Heroes of Myth and Stars Arisen. It’s entirely text-based, 1 million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Centuries ago, you were the finest warrior that the island nation of Galdrin had ever known. The realm was strong and prosperous, upheld by the might of the Eye of the Serpent, a magical artifact bonded to the monarch—and by your might, too. You protected the people and defended the crown; when the dragons emerged from their seclusion, you won the honor of being the king’s emissary to them and forged a powerful alliance.

Then, you fell in battle at the hands of your greatest rival, dead before your time.

But now you awake, called forth from your tomb to save the realm from even greater peril. With your new spectral form come new powers: the ability to pass through solid walls and float high above the earth, command over other ghosts, and the potential to strike fear into the hearts of the living. You will need every bit of that power in this new age of crisis. The royal family is shattered and divided, with the young king clinging to scraps of his former power while his connection to the Eye of the Serpent hangs in the balance. Anti-monarchist rebels shout in the streets and political rivals seek to extend their power across the sea. Galdrin’s neighboring nation lies beneath the waves, sunk by cataclysmic earthquakes. Worst of all, the mighty dragons are withdrawing from the alliance you built centuries ago, and you may be the only one who can win them back.

What’s more, you aren’t the only specter on Galdrin’s shores. There’s an army of ghosts crawling out of the water, tearing at the foundations of the castle. Sometimes, you can hear the voice that commands them. Something is waiting at the bottom of the ocean—and it wants you back.

If Galdrin is to survive, you must rise as its hero once more, and join an epic battle for the Eye of the Serpent, power over the ocean, and the realm itself.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bisexual, monogamous, polyamorous, asexual, and/or aromantic
• Battle enemies old and new as a ghost, commanding spectral armies and passing invisibly through walls, and inspiring dread in the hearts of your foes.
• Romance a troubled king, a rebellious prince, a clever wizard, a daring dragon, or a strangely familiar ghost.
• Restore the ancient arcane power of Galdrin’s monarchy, or embrace modernity and forge a new path forward for the realm.
• Search for lost treasure and buried secrets in a sunken kingdom as you plunge to the depths of the ocean – and seek out the source of the monstrous voice you hear in your mind.
• Build a new body and reclaim a place among the living, or embrace your spectral form to endure as a ghost.
• Avenge your own death and find a way to set old enmities aside – or even rekindle old flames of love.

What nightmare lies in the deep?

In life, you were a legendary hero. Now, you’ll rise from the grave as a ghost to defend your country in its hour of greatest need! Defy dragons, duel the dead, and face the nightmare at the bottom of the sea!

Specters of the Deep is an interactive epic fantasy novel by Abigail C. Trevor, author of Heroes of Myth and Stars Arisen. It’s entirely text-based, 1 million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Choice of Games editor Mary Duffy sat down with Abigail to talk about her writing process, dragons, and ghostly protagonists.

Specters of the Deep releases on Thursday, September 25th. You can play the first four chapters for free right now and wishlist the game on Steam!

Specters of the Deep is, like Stars Arisen, somewhere in the neighborhood of a million words. How are you putting out half a million words a year? Literally how.

Sheer love of the game. Games.

But actually, the primary thing is that I am both a person for whom writing every day works well as a strategy and a person who usually has the time in my schedule to do so. I’m always wary of giving universal writing advice because I don’t expect that what works for me will work for everyone, but that’s essentially what I do. I don’t always write the same amount, and if I’m busy it’s often barely anything at all, but I do at least a bit of something every day, whether that’s actually writing the game, making notes about future plans, or editing. There’s also a lot of outlining. With the development of the initial game pitch, there’s a comprehensive outline laying out the specifics of the story, characters, and plot, and then I tend to make smaller outlines along the way about the events of individual chapters. Not necessarily in a ton of detail, but laying out the general options for the PC and some approximations of how the mechanics will work. That’s very helpful in keeping things focused and figuring out what I need to approach next, even if I don’t stick to those outlines entirely.

I can also tell you that according to a spreadsheet I have, between April 2023 and July 2025, I wrote an average of 1628 words per day. But some of those days are single-digit numbers.

Tell us everything we ought to know about this world.

This is an interesting question to answer, because the characters in the game are also learning quite a lot of new things about the world as the story unfolds. For one thing, until shortly before the main storyline begins, they didn’t know there were ghosts. Well, most of them didn’t.

The story takes place in a country called Galdrin, on an island a short distance away from a much larger continent called Haberna. We end up seeing Galdrin at a couple of different points in history, because (spoiler alert) (not really) (it happens a few pages into the game and there’s a ghost on the cover art) the PC dies. The PC is Galdrin’s national hero, a near-mythological figure even during their lifetime, and in one of their many glorious battles, they die. Then, centuries later, they rise up as a ghost from their own grave, and are immediately called upon to save Galdrin in its hour of need once again. So part of what we’re learning about the world has to do with the ways it’s changed since their death and the ways it hasn’t. They’re coming back at a time of great innovation, witnessing new kinds of scientific and magical advancement, but also at a time when Galdrin is being very literally haunted by its past. Mostly by the ghosts that are swarming up out of the ocean.

Exactly what’s up with the ghosts—and, for that matter, the ocean—is something you’ll have to discover.

There’s dragons in this game. We love a dragon at Choice of Games.

I was a dragon kid. Dragons are my associated animal that people turn to when they aren’t sure what present to get for me. I have been wearing a necklace with a dragon on it almost every day since seventh grade. At a glance I can see three decorative dragons from my desk, and there are more upstairs. Last week, I was playing with sidewalk chalk with my nieces, and drew a dragon in the style that I have been drawing dragons since I was not much older than they are. When my brother came outside, he looked at our artwork and said, “Oh, it’s that dragon you draw.”

I could go on.

It is kind of weird that neither of my previous games had dragons in them. People in my life, on learning I was writing games, have asked me how many dragons were in them, and I had to say “none” until now. It’s less confusing for everyone that they’re here now. I hope you like them.

Why was the idea of a PC who is a ghost so compelling to you?

Stars Arisen featured a ghost, Vivian, as one of the main characters. I had a great time writing him, figuring out when his ghostly abilities would be an asset and when they’d be a problem. His storyline also involved reacting and adjusting to the reputation he’d acquired after his death. When I started thinking about new game ideas, I found that was something I wanted to explore more, and making the PC the ghost this time was the easiest way to do that. (Though I shouldn’t say “the” ghost—there are definitely others!)

My games also tend to involve reckoning with the history of the setting in various ways, and playing a PC who’s a crucial figure in that history was a particularly interesting way to approach that. (Of course, the PC in Heroes of Myth is also a rather important figure in the very recent history of the setting, but we’re looking a little farther back here.)

Also, I wouldn’t say that “strict adherence to the laws of physics” has ever been a defining characteristic of my writing, but it’s been refreshing to have a reason to ignore them even more. A lot of this game takes place underwater, and ghosts have a lot less to worry about down there than living people do. (Or do they?)

As you’ve grown and evolved as a writer with COG, what lessons have your previous games, Heroes of Myth and Stars Arisen, taught you that you’re bringing to Specters of the Deep?

Well, not how to make things shorter. I was convinced going in (and for almost all of the writing process) that Specters of the Deep would be shorter than Stars Arisen, which wound up not being the case. But the experience I have is something else that allows me to write as much and as quickly as I do. I know the tools and building blocks I’m working with very well by now, and that makes it much easier to figure out how to arrange them into something cool.

As I mentioned, you’re putting out a lot of words every year, but you’re also managing a number of projects as an editor. What upcoming games of yours are you particularly hype to tell our readers about?

There are quite a few, so that’s a very tricky question! I do want to encourage people to check out a few work-in-progress threads on our forum:

• The Earth Has Teeth by Harris Powell-Smith: A different world from the Crème de la Crème series, and one I’m really excited about! More fantasy, more storms, more tigers, same incredible writing and characters.
• To Reign in Hell by Stuart Martyn: Play an archdevil and seize the throne of hell! (Or help someone else do it. Or just spread chaos throughout the afterlife.) The WIP thread went up pretty recently, and I encourage everyone to take a look.
• Of Love and Honor by Raven de Hart: Raven de Hart’s third game, though they’re all new settings, so you can start with any of them! You can romance a dragon in this one. (Also, fight with blades and magic in a tournament for the future of your nation, but I think you know what I’m about.)

Off-forum thus far, I’ll mention The Bone Dancer’s Bane, a fantasy epic I expect to match or exceed Specters of the Deep in length, about fighting to keep a dying world alive in the midst of an ongoing ice zombie apocalypse. Also, not upcoming but just released, I do want to shout out Star Crystal Warriors Go!

What are you working on next? And how long of a break will you take before you begin it?

No idea! Due to production schedule reasons, there was a much longer gap between the end of beta testing and the release for Stars Arisen than there will be for Specters of the Deep. It had been a few months and I’d already started working on Specters by the time Stars Arisen came out, but as I’m writing this, the Specters beta wrapped up less than two weeks ago, and I’m still very much still in break mode. I never really know exactly when I’m going to have an idea for a new project, but I tend to need some time to recharge first. So stay tuned!

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

You get fired from your job. Then your car breaks down. On the walk home, you nearly get hit by a meteor. You discover a spirit possessing a skull shaped microphone inside. He wants to make you a rich, famous metal musician.

Meteoric is 40% off for a week starting today!

Meteoric is a chilling 125,000 word interactive horror novel by Samwise Harry Young, where your choices control the story. It’s text-based, with occasional visual art, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. 

Mysterious magic quickly proves effective in gaining fame and fortune in the death metal music industry, but you soon discover that you must pay a tribute of blood. And when your meteoric rise inevitably creates a rival with a violent vendetta, are you prepared to face the consequences? 

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; romance men, women, both, or no one at all.  
• Romance a charismatic bassist, a tough guitarist, a thoughtful guitarist, or a mysterious drummer. 
• Reap all the benefits the influence of a magical microphone can conjure, and suffer the consequences, or try to resist the temptation. 
• Read approximately 45k words per playthrough!

What and who will you sacrifice to achieve fame, fortune, love, and revenge? 

Sam developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.