TO UNLOCK ANCIENT SPELLS NEEDED TO DEFEND THE GALAXY, CAN YOU NAVIGATE FANTASY QUESTS, NOIR CASES, HEROIC COMPETITIONS, DYSTOPIAN WORLDS & SPACE HEISTS? It’s 40% off until January 26th!
FORTUNE the FATED is a 130,000-word interactive novel by Zachary Sergi that continues the saga of the Sergiverse. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
In a galaxy that faces an insidious invasion, an elite squad has been trained to scour remote and exotic planets for the secret powers capable of destroying the invaders. The key to unlocking these mysterious and destructive forces rests in one young adult with unthinkable magical powers—and whether you become the galaxy’s greatest hope or its most wretched threat is up to you. Can you navigate fantasy anime quests, noir detective investigations, heroic reality competitions, dystopian world explorations, and deep space heists to unlock the ancient spell-power needed to defend the galaxy—or will you self-destruct everything in the process? To save everything, is there anything you wouldn’t destroy?
FORTUNE the FATED is an interactive novel that allows you to make character choices, assemble plot parts in customized order from several genre-spanning stories, and unlock alternate endings based on your chosen readings. It is a standalone work, perfect for new readers, but also serves as a companion novel to The Versus Trilogy & continues the story of The Sergiverse. (Book One in the FORTUNE the FATED Duology).
Zachary 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.
We’re proud to announce that one of our bestselling games, Vampire: The Masquerade — Out for Blood has a new major update, available now, and we’re putting the whole game on sale to celebrate.
In Vampire: The Masquerade — Out for Blood, you’ll gather your allies to hunt the vampires that terrorize your town. In today’s major update, the full powers of True Faith await you. Regardless of what deity you invoke or which beliefs you follow, you now have the opportunity to call upon True Faith to put vampires in their place! Besides fire and sunlight, Kindred fear nothing more than this divine power.
The True Faith update is available to every owner of Vampire: The Masquerade — Out for Blood at no additional charge. If you’ve already purchased Out for Blood, we invite you to open the game, install any pending updates, and begin playing.
If you’ve never purchased Out for Blood before, you can buy it today, including the True Faith update, on sale! The whole game is on sale for 25% off until January 19.
New Religious backgrounds
Fully developed uses of True Faith
New opportunities and new ways to kill vampires
More locations to investigate in Jericho Heights, to better understand Chastain’s insidious plans
Some homecomings feel more like rude awakenings, but this one will become a waking nightmare. Find love while exposing the secrets of your eerie hometown! It’s 33% off until January 12th!
The Fernweh Saga: Book One is a 600,000-word interactive, romantic thriller novel by Aelsa Trevelyan. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
Return to a small town that you now feel a stranger in. It has been years since you were sent away following the tragic house fire that claimed your parents’ lives, but the death of your grandfather has brought you back. While grim circumstances overshadow the visit you never planned on making, there are also opportunities to reminisce, reconnect, and reunite with old
childhood friends, rivals, and neighbors. Familiar faces are all around, but will they aid or hinder you as your return trip spirals into a dark mystery and you start experiencing vivid nightmares?
Begin to unravel what is going on in this seemingly idyllic, forested town.
A feeling of unease grows with each sleepless night spent within Fernweh’s borders, but you can’t leave yet…
It won’t let you.
Play as male, female, or non-binary–with options to be gay, straight, bi, asexual, or poly.
Develop the beginning of a unique and enduring romance with 5 potential love interests.
Influence relationship dynamics with a cast of characters from your past and present.
Experience how your personality, habits, decisions, and relationships impact your visit to Fernweh and how you confront what lurks within the town.
Discover that things aren’t always what they seem by making connections and noticing links.
Fight, resist, flee, struggle, or give in to whatever is invading your nightmares and the town; there is more to it than a boring ole monster…Much more.
Fall in love, forge friendships, and uncover your past while spiraling into a mystery!
Aelsa 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.
Manage a team of aspiring heroes while being an aspiring hero yourself and compete to graduate from Sage Academy as a full-fledged crime-fighter! Attend classes, fight supervillains, go on wacky adventures and, of course, befriend or romance one of your fellow students!
Oh, but do make sure the world does not end, okay?
Balance of Superpowers 2: Tricentennial is a 730,000-word interactive superhero romance novel by Rustem Khafizov. It is entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination!
You can continue Rio’s story or create your own colorful hero!
Play as male, female, or non-binary.
20 romanceable characters! 12 options for Rio and 9 for the new character! Will you romance a mysterious vigilante or a supervillain on parole? Will you date a humanoid dinosaur or a girl who speaks in rhyme?
Each love interest offers their own unique adventure and each of their quests varies in tone from light-hearted and campy to dark and disturbing!
Over 50 colorful character portraits drawn by amazing artists!
Customize your character’s appearance, personality, and heroic outfit!
12 thrilling chapters which differ immensely depending on the protagonist chosen!
Many heroes to meet, many villains to fight, and many places to see!
Compete for the ultimate right to become a crime-fighting hero!
You can also abandon the heroic path altogether and choose to become an
anti-hero or even a supervillain!
Will you save the world or doom it forever?
Rustem 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.
This epic reimagining of Arthurian legend takes you from humble life as an English squire with an attitude problem to a mythical dreamscape of possibilities, meeting many familiar (and not-so-familiar) faces along the way. It’s 33% off until January 12th!
Arthur: A Retelling is a 30,000-word medieval adventure that allows you to play as as Arthur themself (the gender is up to you) as you discover your own path to greatness and decide what you want to be. Embark on a quest of self-discovery with thrilling action and plenty of romance along the way—pick from straight, gay, or even more options.
Young Arthur is an unremarkable page apprenticed to Sir Kay in the Early Middle Ages in England. Their world gets turned upside down by the arrival of the eccentric magician Merlin, who takes the youth under his wing and sets them on a path to greatness. But there are other figures seeking to influence this child of prophecy…
From the loyal Bedivere to the lovely Guinevere to the enigmatic Rience, Arthur’s interactions with this expansive cast determine their ultimate destiny. Will they rule Britain as prophesied? Abandon morality entirely? Or take another option, entirely unforeseen? Only you can decide. Along the way, you can:
Transform into an assortment of creatures
Undergo rigorous magical trials
Romance classic characters from myth
Discover unexpected kung fu skills
Find your destiny as the one and only Arthur!
What are you waiting for? Camelot beckons…
Isabel 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.
All of our games are on sale as part of the 2022 Steam Winter Sale, with discounts up to 40% off. The sale ends January 5th.
On or around January 5th, we plan to raise prices on most of our games on all platforms. (It’s been years and years since we’ve done a general price increase, but inflation has finally caught up to us.)
That means that if you buy our games on Steam during the Winter Sale, you’ll receive the lowest possible price. We’ll never offer a deal this good again!
We’d especially like to invite you to buy our “Every game” bundles, where we offer our entire library of games at an additional 15% off.
Do you like monsters? Do you think they are the best part of their respective movies, books, and shows? Then you have to play The Passenger. It’s 30% off until January 5th!
The Passenger is a 380,000-word interactive cosmic horror novel by Jime Rolón. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
When your eldritch existence is threatened by another unthinkable creature, you find yourself jumping dimensions to escape your ghastly fate. Safe for now, your moment of respite is short-lived as you realize you’re stuck on Earth, trapped inside a dumb human larva, and with no clue of how much energy you’ll need to leave this horrible place behind.
Twenty-six years later you’re still stranded on an absurd planet, you have a mom and a sister, and a job delivering baked goods. Not only that, but the creature that almost ate you all those years ago never really stopped looking for you. However, there’s no way it will pinpoint your actual location… right?
Play as male, female, or nonbinary
You can be trans, cis, gay, straight, bi, ace, partnering aro, or choose to stay single.
Pursue romance with a headstrong waitress, a moody store clerk, a mystifying newcomer, or an unconventional cult leader.
Four monogamous routes, and one polyamorous route.
Will you break free from your prison of flesh?
Jime 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.
Year 2031, Earth. After 20 years of war with the Zenos, a ruthless alien species, humanity has barely survived. Born with the greatest magic potential in all of humanity, it’s up to you to turn the tide! It’s 33% off until January 5th!
Mage Elite is a thrilling 40,000-word interactive science fantasy novel by Teemu Salminen, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
Choose your gender.
Play as the strongest mage, leading humanity to victory!
Witness an alternative Earth ravaged by decades of existential war.
Explore various locations within this similar, yet different version of Earth.
Cast powerful magic spells to annihilate your enemies.
Interact with your closest allies during perilous missions as well as relaxed break periods.
Develop your personality and social bonds throughout your journey, with both having effects on your combat results!
Can you protect your allies and also reach your goals?
Experience various possible endings – all based on the choices you made during the story.
Decide the fate of all life on Earth with your own actions!
Teemu 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.
We’re proud to announce that Choice of the Viking, 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 25% off until Dec 22nd!
Forge your legacy in Iceland as it never was, a land of gods, giants, elves, trolls, and walking corpses! A game of politics and romance, battle and honor.
Choice of the Viking is a 310,000 word interactive historical fantasy novel by Declan Taggart, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
The year is 910. Countless Viking longships cross the icy oceans of northern Europe, seeking fortune, glory, trade, and land. Your ship, chartered by the King of Norway, has brought settlers to Iceland, where you and your clan have a chance to build something new out of the rugged land.
There are challenges at every turn. Defend your farm from a draugr, one of the walking dead, and then from the other would-be chieftains, just as hungry for glory as you. New faiths and old vie for the souls of the Icelanders, and for the political power that each religion can carry. The long dark winter bears down upon you, threatening hunger, disease, and more draugr.
Wield your magic to blast obstacles from your path and gain the spirits’ blessing. Earn honor and wealth through raiding, careful tending of the land, or savvy merchant trading. If you fail, the royal might of Norway will claim your land for their own – but if you succeed, you will find eternal glory.
• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi, or aromantic
• Attend the great assembly of the Althing and shape Iceland’s politics for generations to come.
• Use the songs of the spirits to perform stunning feats of magic.
• Dedicate your land to the Christian church or honor the old Norse gods.
• Carve out your domain and lead your people to specialize in farming, trading, scholarship, or raiding.
• Grapple with the threat of the walking dead – perhaps even your own father!
• Walk with giants, negotiate with elves, and come face to face with mighty Thor!
• Negotiate with your neighboring chieftains to win their friendship – or become embroiled in deadly feuds.
• Rule your land as an autocrat, or guide Iceland towards democracy.
How will the sagas sing of your deeds?
We hope you enjoy playing Choice of the Viking. 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.
Forge your legacy in Iceland as it never was, a land of gods, giants, elves, trolls, and walking corpses! A game of politics and romance, battle and honor.
Choice of the Viking is a 310,000 word interactive historical fantasy novel by Declan Taggart. I sat down with Declan to talk about his background and knowledge of Vikings, and his experiences in turning that into a ChoiceScript game. Choice of the Viking releases this Thursday, December 15th. You can play the first three chapters today for free.
You’re basically a medievalist and scholar of Norse culture, correct?
Yup, it’s true. By day, I’m a researcher of Old Norse religion and literature. I finished a PhD on the myths of Thor at the University of Aberdeen in 2015 and I’ve worked at universities in Sweden, Cork, and Reykjavík since then, mostly focusing on how the religion actually functioned. I studied English Literature before that, but there was something about the imagery and characters of Old Norse myth and legend that grabbed me in a way that, say, Romantic poetry never managed. The construction of the world out of the body and blood of a giant, a serpent so enormous that it winds around the world and keeps it squeezed together, a wrestling match with Old Age herself… I love the sense of scale.
While it’s clear why you’re drawn to this subject matter, what made you want to write a piece of interactive fiction?
There are a bunch of reasons, really. The first one is that I love interactive fiction. I was a pretty stereotypical nerd-reader kid and adventure books were a big part of my diet—although they were a bit difficult to source in the Northern Irish countryside, pre-internet era. The one that stands out most for some reason is a Sonic adventure gamebook. It feels like it comes from a fever dream and couldn’t possibly have existed, but I hope I didn’t just imagine it. I used to love it. Discovering as an adult that people are making these kinds of stories as interactive fiction was a revelation. I played a lot of the modern classics—some of the CoG titles, 80 Days, Queers in Love at the End of the World, anything by Emily Short—and ended up wanting to give it a go myself because, second reason, I really enjoy writing fiction.
The other angle is related to work: I do a lot of research on Old Norse religion that has a very small audience—just people like me, working in universities or doing independent research, who will go on to do more research for that same small audience. Occasionally, other people will read my work—especially members of the Ásatrú community—but the number is still very modest. So what impact does our work have? Less than we’d like, really.
A lot of academics will do public lectures or write articles for magazines. Some will do something more creative. I know at least one colleague in a black metal band inspired by Old Norse literature (Árstíðir Lífsins, and they’re pretty good too), and another makes a webcomic (@RealMundiRiki—also definitely worth checking out). For me, the best thing I can do to reach a wider audience is write. So, for my last research project, I adapted a poem called Vǫluspá into interactive fiction (Choose your own end to the viking world, free on itch.io), and for my current project at the University of Iceland, I’m writing a book of poems and short stories for children that plays at filling in some of the gaps in Old Norse myth. I’m doing that with my partner Irene García Losquiño—also a writer and a researcher of the viking diaspora.
I guess the goal is to get cutting edge research out to a wider public, whether it’s my own research or by a colleague, and maybe also to spread interest in researching Old Norse literature more broadly. New perspectives bring new ideas, and academia runs on ideas.
Tell me something the average person doesn’t know about Vikings and I’ll share that because I have Irish ancestry, my DNA “reads” as approximately 20% Scandinavian! That’s from the Vikings settling in what is present-day Ireland right?
Something the average person doesn’t know? Hmm… I suppose that a lot of people will have heard of Valhalla (Valhǫll in Old Norse) and know it is a place of the dead for warriors related to the god Odin. Probably fewer will have heard of Fólkvangr, which is a field ruled by the god Freyja where dead warriors also end up. It’s not mentioned very often but one poem called Grímnismál says that Freyja chooses half the dead every day and Odin gets the rest.
Because Fólkvangr is mentioned so rarely, it would have been really easy to lose our knowledge of it and to think that warriors could only go where Odin wanted them. It just shows how precarious our understanding of the Viking Age is. We know of a few other places of the dead—such as Hel, which is ruled over by a queen of the same name—but it’s very rare that we have much information about any of them except Valhalla. Who knows how many other similar beliefs we’ve lost?
DNA is not an area I’ve properly researched before, but it is fascinating. Deep down, most people want to know who they are, and a part of that is and always has been where their family comes from. At the same time, genetics is a bit tricky because it can lead to very creative interpretations of identity, so I know that the researchers who do look at it tend to approach it with caution. Medieval Scandinavians were themselves a genetically diverse bunch. There was no viking ethnic group or anything like that, and they mixed with people from all sorts of backgrounds, especially in the early trading hotspots. A war band travelling abroad might absorb people from a range of backgrounds too.
It’s a pretty famous case, but the math of genetics means that everyone with European ancestry is related to Charlemagne. There’s a point around the year 1000 CE at which all Europeans are related. Go back far enough (not that far really), and every human in the world is related to every other.
Maybe I’m just more of a hippy than I realized, but I actually think that is pretty cool. We’re all cousins, and we all have links to someone who did something truly great at some point in history—and a lot of us are probably related to a viking or two as well.
What was the most surprising part of developing a ChoiceScript game?
I suppose the most surprising part was how relatively easy it was for someone like me with no real coding experience. I’d only dabbled with other interactive fiction engines before (and BASIC way back when I was a kid), but early on in the writing process I already found I was able to accomplish more or less what I wanted. I’d recommend ChoiceScript to someone who was in my shoes. I did have to use a flow chart for a while because I just couldn’t keep all the different routes in my head at the same time, but I’d stopped using that by the time I was finished writing.
Actually, tied into this was my favorite bit of developing a ChoiceScript game: coming up with choices for the main character—choices that would help them feel empowered, that would feel like the choices someone in a saga might have, hopefully that would have fun consequences. Trying to ensure the choices achieved all those things was what led to all the different routes that I had to somehow keep in my head.
Did you have a particular NPC you enjoyed writing most?
Flies (a.k.a. Who Is Like the Lord of Flies) was one hundred percent my favorite. She started out as a toilet demon, which is a creature that does appear in one Old Norse short story called The Tale of Thorstein Shiver. (Honestly.) But she morphed into something else from there. Even though Flies is a character that will only appear in about half of the game’s playthroughs, I still ended up putting a lot of time into her. It’s just fun to write someone who is, fundamentally, terrible, cartoonish, and only out for themselves.
What are you working on next?
Next, I should probably take a bit of a break. I’m a huge fan of a healthy work-life balance, and I think everyone should have one. But even as I say that, I know I’m very excited about the collection of Old Norse stories for kids that I mentioned before, so I think we’ll be working on that over December and January instead. We can’t say who’ll be publishing it as the deal isn’t finalized, but we should be signing a contract with a publisher in London in January. I’m also writing an adaptation of the saga of Bard, the god of Snæfell, which is my favorite saga. As far as interactive fiction goes, I’ve nothing in mind right now—but I’m sure I’ll produce something related to whatever my next research project brings along.
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