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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, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 1,000,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

I sat down with Paul to talk about his upcoming game and experiences writing it. Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters releases Thursday, November 13th. You can play the demo on Steam and wishlist the game in advance of release!

Our Choice of Games and Hosted Games fans all know you from your games with us, but our World of Darkness extended universe fans may not. Can you introduce yourself for those readers?

I’m Paul Wang, a first-generation Canadian living in Burnaby, which is one of the bigger municipalities of the Metro Vancouver area. I have an academic background in history – especially military history – but I started writing for Hosted Games and then Choice of Games when I was an undergrad, thirteen years ago. For the past decade or so, I’ve been working full time as a games writer.

I’m probably best known for my Dragoon Saga (Sabres of Infinity, Guns of Infinity, and Lords of Infinity) on the Hosted Games catalogue: a long-running blackpowder fantasy series set in my original setting of the Infinite Sea. I also write a high fantasy series (The Hero of Kendrickstone and The Cryptkeepers of Hallowford) set in another of my settings, the Fledgling Realms, for Choice of Games. A long, long time ago, I also wrote Mecha Ace – half military science fiction and half homage to ‘real robot’ anime like Mobile Suit Gundam. More recently, I worked as a writer on WW2 tactical RPG Burden of Command, which just released earlier this year.

Do you feel like A Time of Monsters represents a kind of progression in your work as an interactive storyteller?

As you can probably tell from my previous work, my writing has primarily focused on military and political fiction, with a side-helping of high adventure. This means I’m personally treading a lot of new ground by setting foot into urban fantasy and gothic punk. My first priorities have been mostly to get the tone and setting right. I’m writing a lot more conversationally and a lot more colloquially than I usually do, and that’s definitely been a change. The Dragoon Saga employs a sort of circumspect aristocratic register for its narrative voice, and even the Fledgling Realms is more rigid and formal. This time around, the narration is a lot looser – more stream of consciousness and more casual.

But at the same time, I’ve also tried to iterate on Hunter’s 5th Ed rules in a way which makes for an accessible gameplay experience in a way which I haven’t before. If there’s any consistent feedback I’ve gotten on my past games, it’s that they’re too hard and unforgiving, especially when it comes to skill checks. In a lot of cases, this isn’t so much a difficulty issue as it is an informational one: players take risks they think they can succeed at, only to get kicked in the face. This time around, I’m leaning heavily on the Storyteller System which previous Choice of Games’ World of Darkness titles have developed to give the player the tools to make decisions more effectively – should they choose to do so.

This doesn’t mean that I’m going to make things easy, of course. I interpret one of the core themes of Hunter as that of being the ultimate underdog – and you can’t sell an underdog story by making the player feel like they’re completely in control. I want the player to feel like they really are just ordinary base model H. Sap fighting an enemy which outclasses them in almost any way that matters. I want the desperation to be real, I want the fear to be real. That means I’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to put the player in the position of weakness without making them feel helpless. I want the player to understand just how powerless they are at the beginning, so that if (not when, if) they’re able to turn the tables on their supernatural foes and make it to sunrise, they feel like they’ve earned that privilege.

Tying to maintain that balance between tone and accessibility has been one of the three big challenges of working on A Time of Monsters, and it’s one I desperately hope I’ve managed to nail.

Tell me a little about your background and experience with the World of Darkness and TTRPGs and/or LARPing.

My first experience with tabletop roleplaying games was when I got the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 starter set at the age of twelve. In the twenty years since then, I’ve played 4th Ed, 5th Ed, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Dark Heresy, Shadowrun, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Lancer, and Blades in the Dark.

But here’s the thing: aside from Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines, I had never played anything – digital or tabletop – set in the World of Darkness. Not “Hunter: The Reckoning,” not “Werewolf: The Apocalypse,” not even “Vampire: The Masquerade.”

This meant that when I was approached to do “Hunter: The Reckoning,” I was starting almost completely fresh – but I was also starting fresh in a world inhabited by many, many people who care deeply about its characters, its history, and its lore.

So, like any newcomer looking not to step on anything dangerous, I looked for guides. When I began the writing process, I sought out playtesters who had the experience that I lacked. Some of them had been deeply involved in the old World of Darkness, some of them were running or playing campaigns in the current edition. One of them had been a “Vampire: The Masquerade” LARPer for almost as long as I’ve been alive. They’ve been the ones who’ve kept a close eye on my narrative as it’s progressed from plot outline to mechanical skeleton to fully-fledged game, and they’re the ones who’ve been keeping me honest through the whole process. If I’ve gotten any of it right, it’s only thanks to their efforts in educating me on a world which they know far more intimately than I do.

What will WOD fans find surprising about your approach to the world of Hunter in A Time of Monsters?

The one thing that stood out for me the most about Hunter was how it’s Gothic Punk in contrast to say, “Vampire: The Masquerade’s” Gothic Horror.

To me, “punk” is a genre which is inherently about power, specifically how those without it are caught up in the machinations of those who have it – and how those powerless, downtrodden bystanders choose to respond to being trampled on by those who may not even be willing to acknowledge their existence.

Most of the World of Darkness game line – and most of its adaptations – have, I think, focused primarily on the perspective of those with power over those who don’t. While a vampire can pretend that they’re a representative of the othered and the marginalised, that the hierarchy of their society shackles them, and the cost of their ‘curse’ robs them of their humanity, that line of argument rings rather hollow when you remember that vampires are still, for the most part, immortal nigh-indestructible superhumans with supernatural powers who inherently see normal mortal human beings as amusing pets at best and prey animals at worst. Their hierarchies constrain them, but they also empower them. Their powers come at a cost, but that hasn’t stopped them from amassing wealth, influence, and the ability to commit spontaneous violence on a scale no individual human can. They’re the equivalent of the privileged members of society who insist that they’re the real victims here, even as they stand richer and more powerful than the vast majority of their society, and even as their ‘victimhood’ consists solely of the fact that a small minority still exist ‘above’ them.

Which brings us to the Hunter.

The Hunter has no inherent supernatural abilities to fall back on. The Hunter has no hierarchy to call for help. The Hunter is a normal human with nothing but their own resources, going up against an enemy which they cannot survive a head-to-head one-on-one fight against: a normal person who’s seen just enough of this other world to know just how dangerous it is to themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.

Some Hunters have personal fortunes to rely on, training, resources, and connections – all factors that can help mitigate their relative weakness. Your Hunter will begin with none of those things. They are, in almost every sense of the word, starting with nothing, facing an enemy which not only outclasses them in every way, but which they have no chance of escaping from.

How they proceed from there is up to the player’s choices, and when inhabiting the life of someone at the bottom of any kind of society, every choice is a compromise. Do you trust those around you to help you, even if they’re barely keeping afloat themselves? Do you look further afield for more capable allies regardless of the cost they might exact? What lines do you cross to get the food and shelter you need to survive, or the weapons and equipment you need to take your fight to the enemy? What terrible people do you cozy up to for support? What awful systems do you perpetuate? Who do you risk helping? Who do you risk opening yourself up to? Who do you betray, if it means living to see another sunrise?

When someone’s back is against the wall and their stomach is empty and their entire future is an endless, hopeless war against a world which sees their existence as an inconvenience and an enemy which seems unstoppable, what kind of decisions do people make? What kind of decisions would you make? And are they ones which let you look in the mirror and say, with complete sincerity, that you are still a better person than the one your circumstances have tried to force you to be?

That, in essence, is my take on Hunter. I’m not sure if it’ll be surprising, especially given how many passionate veterans of the game line there are out there.

But that’s what I’ve got.

Was there a character you enjoyed writing most?

You know, come to think of it, I really enjoyed writing most of the major characters, but I think it was the player character I enjoyed writing the most.

Most of what I’ve written before has been, if not entirely archaic, then a lot more formal than what my conversational style is like. Writing an aristocrat in a Regency-analogue military setting, or even an adventurer in a high fantasy one doesn’t really let me cut loose quite as much as I would if I weren’t writing a certain type of person in a certain kind of place. That applies to the responses the player has access to as well. There are certain social boundaries which can’t be crossed, certain things which the genre conventions or the basic concept of the character doesn’t let you make them say.

But I’m not writing an aristocratic cavalry officer or a high fantasy adventurer or even a WW2-era company commander. This time, I’m writing someone who grew up in and inhabits the same society I do, which means they have a chance to be as irreverent and informal as I’d like to be sometimes – especially in the face of fear and hopelessness. I’ll stress that this is still a choice. They can choose to exhibit as much deference or defiance as they want – but the players who choose to play their Hunters as the kinds of people who don’t feel like they need to restrain themselves around their friends, or show false respect to their enemies, or simply want to occasionally let the intrusive thoughts win? They’ll have some real good material to work with.

If you were the PC in A Time of Monsters, what would your character sheet/customization look like?

To be honest? I have no idea.

I’ve taken a lot of liberties with the base system of “Hunter: The Reckoning.” This wasn’t out of some desire to ‘dumb down’ the mechanics so much as it was from the fact that I’ve always held to the belief that a game with meaningful character creation should have as few stats as it can possibly get away with – so that every point allocated and every character advancement choice made has significant weight.

For A Time of Monsters, this means I stripped down the stats system to its bare essentials – only the things a Hunter would need to survive and investigate and run and fight, no more, no less. Obviously, the base system was designed much the same way, but a system intended for a party-based tabletop game isn’t one that works well for a single-player Choicescript game which follows a single character. A well-balanced Hunter cell can fill all of the roles which the base system allows for, but in A Time of Monsters, you are not playing a well-balanced Hunter cell, unless you can find the allies to make one.

So all this is to kind of say ‘I don’t know’. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, but I don’t have to go out at night looking for vampire lairs. I might know how strong I am in the gym or how smart I am in front of a desk – but in the dead of night with nothing but a flashlight and an ancient semi-automatic up against some thing which shouldn’t exist but is somehow still bearing down on me faster than any human could possibly move? I’d have no idea.

And I hope I never have the chance to find out.

Why did you choose to set A Time of Monsters in Vancouver?

Simply put? Because I live here.

I’ve lived in probably a dozen places in three countries over the course of my life, but this is the place I’d choose over everywhere else. I genuinely love it here, and I hope that love shows in the way I’ve portrayed not just the city of Vancouver itself, but the area around it, the people who live here, its often-conflicted history, and the culture of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, as I see it.

Of course, loving a place means also acknowledging its faults, and Vancouver’s faults are ones which tend to create some rather deep hypocrisies: a global port home to multiple diasporas, yet built on land stolen from its original inhabitants; a place open to the world, but only if you can afford the sky-high cost of living; a metropolis which has the potential to be one of the greatest cities in the world but is being strangled by its refusal to grow in the ways that matter. It’s fabulous wealth next to excruciating poverty, high-tech infrastructure next to a spiralling housing shortage, world-class parks next to opioid addiction. It’s deeply complicated and deeply complex place, and part of the reason I chose to set A Time of Monsters here is that I want to show people how I see this city, about the problems it’s facing, and about why I love this place despite those problems.

The end result, I think, is a story which is unabashedly Canadian – and unabashedly Vancouverite. I don’t want my players mistaking the setting of A Time of Monsters for anywhere else in the world, and I’d like to think I’ve succeeded there. It’s almost certainly not a perfect representation, but it’s one which I feel is authentic to how I see the place where I live – and one which reflects my feelings towards it.

You’ve spent years undercover, disguised as a human, infiltrating the city’s magical law-enforcement organization. They stole your magic from you. Can you steal it back? An Imp and an Impostor is an interactive historical urban fantasy novel by Athar Fikry, author of The Dragon and the Djinn. I sat down with them to discuss their Egyptian background and how it informs their work.

An Imp and an Impostor releases Wednesday, November 26th; you can wishlist it on Steam today—it really helps, even if you don’t intend to purchase it on that platform.

We published your first game The Dragon and the Djinn in 2022 and now we are thrilled to have a second game from you coming out next month. Tell me all about the setting of An Imp and an Impostor.
Thank you so much! I’m likewise thrilled to be back. An Imp and an Impostor is set in the coastal city of Raqout – which is one of many Raqouts! Our PC is actually from an alternate dimension version of it and they aren’t the only one, as this dimension’s Raqout wound up being a nexus for all sorts of creatures and beings and was half-drowned by a big old (benevolent?) eldritch entity not too long ago as a result.

Understandably, the city’s gotten a bit magic-shy, and so ended up with a branch of magical law enforcement called Arkan, just to handle that whole mess. Arkan is, of course, very competent and not at all corrupt, which is why our titular imp PC manages to infiltrate it so easily.

Raqout is also loosely based on my hometown of Alexandria as it was in the early 1900s, and contains a lot of my strongest visual impressions of it, especially the view of the crashing Mediterranean and the busy markets and gorgeous old buildings and villas. I haven’t been there in over a decade now, and much of the PC’s yearning for a home that’s just to the left of the one they’re in is very much mine, because I know that if and when I go back, it’ll be very different than the place I grew up in. There are references aplenty for those who know it, because I couldn’t help myself, and for those who don’t, I hope you enjoy your drives across the Corniche! Alexandria in the winter is really something.

Naturally, we have an Egyptian theme from our favorite Egyptian author.
Haha, yes! I couldn’t resist. I’m pretty sure all of my pitches this time were Egypt-centric, so thank you, CoG, for letting me write one! It’s not the Egypt most readers will be expecting, I imagine, even aside from this being a fantasy analogue. There are absolutely zero pharaohs involved, for one, beyond passing mention in the backdrop. No shade on pharaohs, it’s just that (and maybe this is a function of having had to study them for so many years at school) I find that period of Egyptian history one of the least interesting to me, personally. I much prefer the time period I’ve played around with in this game, where Egypt was stuck in between overlapping occupations, in the odd limbo between modernisation and tradition in a world rapidly changing around and within it, and grappling with what modernisation would look like given it so often came with foreign influence, simultaneously the land of “exotic” legend and opulence and also just…you know, a regular place where people lived.

So, yeah, no pharaohs, no ancient curses. Just a rainy seaside city with regular people (including imps and necromancers, yes, shush) suffering under corruption and forces too strong to fathom and sort of muddling through their day-to-day.

Oh, and also, SO many descriptions of food. Just so many.

What inspirations did you take from for the sort of magic in this game?
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen or read Fullmetal Alchemist that I count it as one of my foundational media. Fullmetal Alchemist has that effect on people. I will freely admit that the image of the talsam, the chalking of precise geometric shapes in a magic system that’s more scientific in feel, owes its origin to Fullmetal Alchemist’s transmutation circles. This combines with my absolute adoration for Arabic calligraphy and the way it can be used to create shapes and images, and how real life protective talismans here (or, well, you know, depends on how much you believe in that sort of thing, but for those who do) will often consist of specific words folded into pieces of paper and kept on one’s person, and here we are! That’s where talsama came from.

The imp’s own form of magic is inspired by weaving imagery, the idea of plucking at the threads of fate, and the fact I cannot visualise very well and so often like to reach for other senses to ground a scene—the concept of magic corresponding to taste and scent was just a very fun one, so I ran with it.

I feel like I also need to shout out Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence for its particular flavour of bureaucratic magic, as well as the show Torchwood for inspiring the organisation of Arkan and…other things, but those would be spoilers.

What was your favorite part about returning to writing ChoiceScript?
In the small sense: The fact it’s SO EASY to code in such small variations into the text and be responsive to many small decisions. I played with Twine a bit in between games and oof, I really missed that ease and simplicity.

In the larger sense: having a game get away from me (again) (can you believe this was supposed to be a short one?) and yet still have all its disparate parts come together in the end, often in ways I didn’t expect going in. It always feels a little bit like having pulled off a magic trick, although I need to be clear in that it wouldn’t at all have been possible without the guidance and hard work of my editor, Rebecca, who is herself magic, I’m pretty sure.

How has your other work been going? I know you’ve been a contributor to a TTRPG.
I have, yes! Aside from the Emerald Templars TTRPG I mentioned last time, I’ve also made my own little things over on itch.io, including a solo-journaling game called SPITE about eating your stats to, well, spite your reflection. I really enjoy making bite-sized horror things and hope to make more. Everything on my itch is free to play, so please do check it out.

I also have a TTRPG setting book that had to be put on hold while I finished Imp and an Impostor, so if anyone here has been waiting for news on Marrowbreak, know that I’ll be going back to that soon!

As for non-TTRPG work, I have a few prose projects on the backburner that I look forward to returning to. I’m also an associate editor for Baffling Magazine and although I can’t talk about it yet, there’s some exciting stuff I’ll get to do with Baffling in the coming months!

We’re proud to announce that Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes, 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 38% off until Oct 30th!

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 an interactive cozy romance novel by Cay Macres. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, 426,000 words, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

After years of hiding your magical powers, you’ve been accepted into Peridot Pines University—as well as its secret society of magicians! Better still, you’ve got a sweet job as a barista at Witch’s Brew, the cafe where Hecate Society meetings take place. The catch? Witch’s Brew is struggling: even on a college campus, it’s hard to keep a coffee shop open. They need all the help they can get to keep it open—especially yours. The other catch? Magic is supposed to be secret—and the new university chancellor suspects that something is up.

Can you make the grade in both your mundane and magical classes, while still putting your best effort towards making your customers happy at the coffee shop? What will you do when specters start appearing all over campus? Or when spells go awry and the chancellor gets suspicious, how will you cover it up: with quick-talking persuasion, more magic, or with the combined effort of all of your friends?

Or, maybe you’re starting to fall for one of those friends? Pierced, punk, red-headed Rowan has hard-to-control magic that crackles with electricity—but when that same magic leaves a trail of daisies behind, it shows that Rowan has a softer side, too. Alchemist Mel’s mother runs the coffee shop, so Mel always has an energy potion on hand for those late-night study sessions, and creative ideas for how to boost the shop’s sales—not to mention, the softest brown curly hair and dreamy brown eyes. Then there’s whimsical Tomi, who has a sweet sense of humor, sparkling hazel eyes, and an endless collection of academic-looking sweatervests. Every time you run into this journalism major, it feels like something out of a romcom. But Tomi is a non-magical mundane! Can you keep your biggest secret from someone who’s becoming so important to you?

Or…maybe you don’t want to keep the secret anymore? Maybe the world—or at least Peridot Pines University—is ready to hear about magic.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi.
• Romance a barista who spikes their coffee with potions, a hot-headed elemental magician, or a non-magical journalism student who asks a lot of questions.
• Choose a type of magic to concentrate in—alchemy, divination, transmutation, or elemental magic—and learn arcane secrets from your knowledgeable professors.
• Bond with your childhood best friend, or build new relationships with your college classmates.
• Figure out a way to keep your struggling cafe from being closed. Potions to match the customers’ moods? Gimmicky sales? Appealing to the university community? Or just excellent service?
• Explore mysterious ruins, have a relaxing day at the beach, and cheer for your favorite team in an intramural game of Divination Dodge!
• Adopt the world’s snarkiest cat as your familiar. Or maybe you’re the cat’s familiar? The cat certainly thinks so.

Order’s up! Cappuccino, with a dash of magic.

We hope you enjoy playing Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes . 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.

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!

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!