OCTOBER ROUND-UP: new releases and coming soon

This month’s round-up includes another wide selection of interactive products that are sure to be of great interest, including: immersive audio adventures; text-based digital games; micro-adventures for Kindle; two computer RPGs; and new enhanced print editions of a highly recommended gamebook, previously reviewed on GBN.

Malice From the Middle Vale – Colour Editions

New full-colour A4 paperback and large size hardback editions of Malice From the Middle Vale have been released by Forever People. These larger editions feature a colour interior/exterior, new maps and colour character sheets, brand new illustrations from Johan Tieldow, and a revised two-column format that is reminiscent of the old Warlock magazine. The handmade special hardback edition – currently available for pre-order – also features a leather bookmark built into the spine and is signed by the author, David Sharrock.

For so long as you can remember you have toiled on your father’s farm while dreaming of heroic deeds, exciting adventures and distant lands far beyond the borders of the civilized kingdom of the Angle.

The day finally arrives and at last you can leave behind the mundane duties of the farmhand. With nothing more to your name than a backpack and provisions, you strike out in search of freedom and adventure.

But adventure is already coming! Malice Vericella-Zoster, the Irgin Crone of Gungingeth – and her coven of evil witches intend to wreak havoc in the Angle, but also to steal that which is not rightfully theirs.

Before the night is over they will take everything you hold dear, requiring you to embark upon an epic quest more perilous than anything you ever dared to imagine even in your wildest dreams.

Purchase or pre-order Malice From the Middle Vale at the Forever People website.

Shadows in Salem

Shadows In Salem is a new text-based, player-driven storytelling game from developer Linear Void, that adapts to your choices. Left alone to your imagination, experience the arduous adventure of an accused witch during the Salem Trials.

Traverse through this interactive story of a young woman thrown into the midst of a world against her. Experience the weight of every decision, whether it be casting spells or preparing for your trial. Live in the outcome of every choice in the struggle for survival. YOU have the power to choose your path in this interactive story. Can you come to terms with the truth of an inescapable reality?

Shadows In Salem is available for Android from the Google Play Store.

Fighting Fantasy Audio Dramas

Fox Yason Music Productions, creators of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: The Hero’s Quest, are now producing four new audio dramas based on the original Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The Forest of Doom: Lost in Darkwood, The Citadel of Chaos: Terror of the Ganjees, Deathtrap Dungeon: The Last Champion and Creature of Havoc: The Monster of Dree will be available as a digital download or as a limited edition four-story boxset.

Now available for preorder for release later this year, extras include: a cast interview, including two extended interviews with Charlie Higson and Jonathan Green; ‘The Writer’s Tale’ – Scriptwriter David N. Smith reveals his thoughts on the writing of the boxset scripts; a ‘Making Of’ documentary; ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Original Demo’ – the original six minute demo; and Music Suites, featuring an all-new score for the boxset.

Visit the Fighting Fantasy Audio Dramas website or Facebook page for further information, updates and ordering details.

Pick Your Path micro-adventures

The Pick Your Path series of action-packed non-linear micro-stories are now available in a new Kindle Edition. These three mini-CYOA games (Fresh Meat, Moon Unit and The Ringbearer) provide choice at the end of their sections, which can be decided by the spin of a coin, injecting an element of chance into the game.

Short, sharp and punchy, the Pick Your Path series has been designed to inject a tiny bit of adventure into your life! Available for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited via Amazon.

Choice of Games

Several titles have been recently released by Choice of Games – including new user-made adventures from Hosted Games.

The Twelve Trials is a 160,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Douglas DiCicco. Face off against some of the greatest heroes of your age when you are called by the gods to participate in their twelve trials. Coming from humble origins, and hailing from a tiny farming village, you will have to prove yourself worthy of godhood.

The Mysteries of Baroque is a 200,000-word interactive Gothic horror novel by William Brown. Mad science raised you from the dead! Pursue justice or vengeance, love or secrets, as you save or destroy the world with forbidden eldritch power. You died betrayed. You died in pain. And your troubles are just beginning.

The Grim and I is a unique 155,000-word interactive novel by Thom Baylay. This is a story about dying and what it means to let go. Faced with the ultimate choice, torn between your lost life and an unknown future, will you be able to take the Grim Reaper’s hand and pass over to the Other Side? Or will you be doomed to wander the world forever, weighed down by the chains of your past?

Visit the Choice of Games website for further details about all of their new games.

Cthulhu Chronicles – Android Open Beta

MetaArcade have finally released their Android version of Cthulhu Chronicles.

This Open Beta version will test the game’s stability and hopefully uncover any unwanted bugs before it becomes a final release. Consumer feedback is encouraged to enable this to happen, so don’t forget to advise of any issues if you download the Beta from the Google Play Store.

The Ballad Singer – Early Access

Curtel Games’ ambitious interactive RPG/graphic adventure The Ballad Singer, is now available in Early Access from Steam. Forge the fate of Hesperia through the stories of four different adventurers in a fabulous fantasy world, where your decisions will affect the way that the tale unfolds. Every single development and subplot in the story is completely narrated and illustrated. In The Ballad Singer, every choice is crucial.

This Early Access version of the game includes all narrative paths, with only the final decision-making junctions to be added between October and November. So, you can play the game for several hours but you’ll have to wait for the patch to finish some of the storylines.

Visit Curtel Games’ The Ballad Singer website to learn more about the game, or download the Early Access version now from Steam.

Spoken Adventures

Spoken Adventures is a producer and publisher of immersive audio dramas, where you interact with characters and the unfolding narrative, and navigate challenges, using nothing but your voice. Just released, the new Spoken Adventures app currently features two titles, one in English (Desperate Romantics), and one in French (Les traqueurs de l’au-delà):

Desperate Romantics ~ written by S.N. Webster
When your roommate Sarah suddenly goes missing, you’re determined to find her. But the new dating app she was using turns up no shortage of suspects.

Les traqueurs de l’au-delà ~ written by Vincent Hauuy
As your filming crew “Les traqueurs de l’au-delà” left two days in advance to investigate a supposedly haunted cabin, you end up by yourself with no news from your friends.

Experience exciting adventures, told by professional voice talents and enhanced with a rich and subtle soundscape. Each interactive audio drama comes with a free sample episode of about 45 minutes duration. New titles are currently in development for different genres and audiences, including: thriller, romance, fantasy, children, cooking, and many more.

Available for Android and iOS, you can find out more about the Spoken Adventures app here.

Through the Gorge

A retro-styled CYOA video game by internet humorist Brother Abernathy, Through the Gorge is a text and image-based adventure of many possible endings. The game is based on a dream a man repeatedly experiences as described in Carl Jung’s book ‘The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.’ In the dream, the man overlooks a treacherous gorge filled with rushing water, and a steep path in front of him leading down. High above him, across the gorge, stands a castle. It is clear that the castle is very attractive, but the only way to get there is to first go downward. The man, terrified of what lies below, never ventures further, and wakes up soon after.

Through the Gorge is an exploration of what strange things someone might find if they did enter the gorge, what might confront them inside, and how they might make their way out to reach the castle – if they have what it takes.

Now funding on Kickstarter, Through the Gorge will be available DRM-free on PC and Mac (and via Steam) with a possible mobile version to follow.