A Study in Steampunk

As a woman who absolutely loves CoG, I was a bit skeptical to see that the character was fixed as a male, but I pressed on, and I was so glad that I did. All my skepticisms immediately washed away when I realized that the character was an homage to John Watson from the Sherlock series, with the companion/love interest Finch being the eccentric Sherlock type character. Not only did I immediately fall in love with a "Sherlock in Steampunk" idea, but the writing itself made me feel as though I were holding a thick novel instead of the phone in my hands. And not to mention he fact you have a choice to romance your very own Sherlock Holmes in the taboo ages of the 1800s, which I happily took. Of course there are romancing options for straight, bisexual, and gay, and I've always found romance to be a large part of why I play these games, but maybe that's just the romantic in me. Anyways, I found my chosen romance to be absolutely beautifully written, just like the rest of this novel. And even though I'm a woman playing as a man, the choice mechanics made my character feel like me. I could choose my strengths and weaknesses, develop my personality and priorities, and overall fall in love with both my character and all the other beautifully written characters in the game. Just get the game. It's so worth it.

I held off on playing this one for awhile being turned off from being forced to play a male MC but guess what. This MC is amazing. And this is the best CoG title i've played so far. As another reviewer has put it, CoG authors need to take note here because this game pulls off the strongest and most enjoyable writing i've experienced yet in CoG titles (and even in some mainstream rpg's!), and the difference is because the focus is on player character development. It isn't so much about branching plot lines (tho they are there too) but the thing is, it isn't about absolute freedom and multiple choices that end up meaningless but instead the focus is on your character and how you develop throughout the story. There isn't absolute freedom in who you can be, but the story is stronger for it because everything that you are is even more relevant in the story. You can change your perspective multiple times in reaction to the game's events and you're never punished for it, instead the game has a very natural and strong evolving story that is always thematically consistent no matter which direction you go. Instead of a huge amount of choices that don't mean much in terms of emotion or plot, instead we have backstory and conflict in our character from past decisions that affects our current choices and everything builds up in the climax and the game allows recognition of that. I hope more CoG writers take note of this kind of writing bc it's so so satisfying. This is the kind of potential that text based writing games can have. I NEED MORE!!!

What is steampunk anyway? I didn't know what to expect from this game, so let me tell you: if you think of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sherlock Holmes, Ripper Street, Copper, or Doc Savage then you're close. The choices you make do greatly impact the story and this is a very lengthy adventure so you can play through many times and find new branches to explore. There are several factions and relationships you can explore along the way also. Your skills are fun and interesting and which ones you choose to increase is important to the narrative. This game was a lot of fun. Each chapter has a lot of content and there is a definite feeling of accomplishment upon completion. So much so, in fact, that each time a new chapter began I was pleasantly surprised- "You mean there's more? Cool!" I've played over twenty of these 'choose your own adventure' games and this one stacks up very well. It's one of the most well written and engaging stories I've seen - not once did a grammatical or spelling error pull me out of the story, as I've noticed with other cyoa games. The only thing that bothered me at all - and this is nitpicking - is that your character cannot be both Stealthy and Quick. As you increase one the other decreases. This has very little effect on gameplay that I've noticed - so long as you increase one of the two consistently. It just annoys me a little because literature is chock full of quick, stealthy characters. Don't let that keep you from playing! This game is a ton of fun and with so many options there is great replay value. It's very worth the price. Keep an eye out for future offerings from the author, this is good work. I can't recommend it highly enough.