The Storyteller’s Festival is in full swing on Steam and there are a ton of amazing indie games, sales, and announcements from this year’s showcase. For those of you out of the loop, The Storyteller’s Festival is a digital event hosted by indie developer, Two and a Half Studios that spotlights a wide range of indie visual novels and narrative games!
The festival runs from January 29th to February 2nd. So, if you’ve been sleeping on the indie scene, this showcase is the perfect opportunity to snag some amazing titles for a discounted price! But, with over 250 games included in the festival, it can be a bit daunting sorting through all this sale has to offer. So, I’ve compiled a list of 10 games I think are worth scooping up before the showcase ends!
WILL: A Wonderful World
Become a god and help change the fate of people, even the world! In WILL: A Wonderful World, you will receive letters written by characters living in urban cities. By rearranging the order and combinations of sentences in these letters, you are going to alter the destiny of whomever that wrote them.
You’d never think a game about rearranging a few sentences in letters would cause emotional damage… but, you’d be wrong. It’s so easy to get invested in the lives of these characters, because you literally hold their fate in your hand.
Across the Grooves
Across the Grooves is an interactive graphic novel, set in a magical realism-universe. Your decisions affect the destiny of Alice, drastically changing her reality and allowing her to explore alternative destinies by modifying her past.
A thrilling mystery, gorgeous hand drawn visuals, and a soundtrack that evolves with your choices—Across the Grooves is an immersive and tantalizing experience.
Replay Boys
Band emergency! This was supposed to be Hannah’s day off, but now she’s been roped into managing The Replay Boys, an up-and-coming boy band. Make choices to stoke multi-timeline romances, keep the band from killing each other, and fight a resurrected ’80s pop star ghost. Can you manage?
Okay, this game is wild. I went in expecting to romance my way through a boy band… and what I got was absolute insanity! You’ll spend hours clicking through each new twist and turn in a desperate attempt to figure out “just what the hell is actually going on with the Replay Boys?!”
MAMIYA
Follow the lives of four boys, each dealing with their own tragic circumstances as they find solace in the entity known only as MAMIYA. Will MAMIYA put an end to their suffering? Or do they have more sinister intentions?
MAMIYA is a captivating, dark visual novel in which a group of young men struggle against existential dread before the end of the world. This is a game that hits hard and doesn’t let up, pulling you and its cast on a emotional ride that lingers.
A Date with Death
Fight against & romance the one hunting for your soul in A Date with Death, a romance chat simulator where you date(?) the Grim Reaper himself. Create your own character, decorate your apartment, and chat away with the charming yet dangerous Grim Reaper through text and video calls.
A hilarious chat-sim where you tease the ultimate babygirl, the Grim Reaper. Who knew tempting death could be so much fun?
OBSCURA
Descend under a mountain to the marketplace below, where everything has a price. Meet the four men who can each give you what you need, but beware: they have their own hidden motives and uses for you. OBSCURA is a dark fantasy romance VN that asks what how far you’ll go to get what you need.
While this is still a demo, trust me you want to add this game to your wishlist! Immersive worldbuilding, intriguing characters, and a priest with a spanking kink… what’s not to love?!
Love Spell: Written in the Stars
After saving the life of a mysterious old woman, a young girl is gifted a magical spell book with the power to make anyone whose name she writes inside of it fall madly in love with her until the next full moon. “Love Spell” is a romantic-comedy otome game full of magic, laughs & cute penguins!
Love Spell is a riot and with the Starlight Update and Aslan’s Story DLC, this is the time to play this game in its most complete form!
Twofold
In a bid to avoid failing out of college, Olive Penn inadvertently finds themselves caught in the middle of a feud between two campus club leaders whose rivalry seemingly threatens to tear their friendship apart.
A heartwarming and wholesome girls love visual novel about connection and finding your way in the world.
Dreambound
Mysterious deaths. Dreams that are reality, and reality that is a dream. Will Noah be able to move forward and solve the mystery—or will he give in to the demons of his past? A story-rich BL mystery visual novel.
I played this demo over a year ago and I have not stopped thinking about it since! Dreambound cannot get here fast enough! I am a sucker for mysteries and boys love, and Dreambound promises both!
Solace State
Can you retain your humanity while fighting against a corporate biotech conspiracy? Play as the young hacker Chloe who confronts political plots as she fights for her friends and her neighbors. Your choices in building up relationships and communities can revolutionize into hope or hostility.
Solace State is a game that handles it’s heavier themes with the care they deserve. While it does tackle some tough topics, Solace State manages to be a pretty fun story with a vibrant and diverse cast you can’t help but root for!
Check out all The Storyteller’s Festival has to offer!
This is by no means a complete list, but its a good place to start! There are over 250 games included in the Storyteller’s Festival 2024, so go out and find your next game! The Festival will run until February 4th, so don’t miss out!
