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External link to itch.​io. Post-comp release, updated.
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The Master of the Land

by Pseudavid profile

Fantasy
2018

Web Site

About the Story

> An interactive fiction intrigue in an immersive and dynamic world.

A world that changes with every action. Freedom to explore. Radically different playthroughs. Lots of dancing. People wearing skulls.

> A rich story with multiple plots

A historical fantasy set in the early 19th century Mediterranean, The Master of the Land deals with power and paranoia in an age of counter-revolutionary reaction: the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. During a carnival, dancers dance, politicians conspire and a crying ghost haunts the whole place. The protagonist, Irene, is fascinated and appalled at the same time by everything happening around her.

> A dynamic game world, rendered in text

Text is mixed and combined to show a changing place, with many characters moving around, weather, different events -balls, dinners, ceremonies- and interlocking storylines. With more than 80 thousand words and more than ten major plots, each playthrough shows only a fraction of the possibilities.


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

McT's Interactive Fiction Reviews

I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It really takes choice based implementations to that next level. It creates a seemingly dynamic world, gives the player complete agency within that world and then says ‘go’. It is an important game, this.
See the full review

Heterogeneous Tasks

This is an odd and audacious thing. There is a great deal going on here; it’s a story about the personal and the political, about the failures of liberal politics. I like a lot of the things it’s aiming for, and sometimes it hits them. At the same time, it’s got its share of problems.
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The Breakfast Review
Rather intriguingly, the game is set up with a freely explorable map and a choice interface. With so much going on, we never go far before finding something to catch our interest as we explore. It's really quite fascinating and immersive.
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IFcomprehensive

The player has much more freedom than in most choice-based games, and the world is more believable as a result; playing the game truly feels like interacting with an environment, rather than walking along a decision tree. The options at a given location depend on the character’s quests, the in-game time, and the characters around the ball. The game is filled with meaningful interactivity, yet the choices available are always clear and well-defined.
See the full review

Page Update History

v.13: 28-Nov-2018 15:53 - Pseudavid (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed external review links
v.12: 02-May-2019 12:14 - Pseudavid
Changed version number
v.11: 24-Apr-2019 11:31 - Pseudavid
Changed version number
v.10: 22-Dec-2018 05:25 - Pseudavid
Changed description
  v.9: 28-Nov-2018 15:53 - Pseudavid
Changed download links
v.8: 27-Nov-2018 18:04 - Pseudavid
Changed Web site URL, download links
v.7: 23-Nov-2018 14:10 - Pseudavid
Changed cover art
v.6: 23-Nov-2018 13:48 - Pseudavid
Changed description
v.5: 22-Nov-2018 16:33 - Pseudavid
Changed external review links
v.4: 20-Nov-2018 14:19 - Pseudavid
Changed external review links
v.3: 20-Nov-2018 14:14 - Pseudavid
Changed title, version number, external review links
v.2: 17-Nov-2018 17:14 - Doug Orleans
Changed download links
v.1: 05-Oct-2018 13:14 - MathBrush
Created page