Choice of Rebels: Uprising

Abruptly cuts off at the end of Chapter 4, with a teaser for a sequel that never came out. Unless you're a fan of eternal cliffhangers, I would suggest waiting 7 more years, maybe the rest of the story will be actually finished by then.

I've tried to play this game twice; over the years: Unsatisfying both times. There really isn't a lot of actual story going on here; it's a glorified resource starvation stats emulator. You won't be exploring the themes and ideas of rebellion and revolution in any narrative depth - if simply because you'll be bogged down with the failure conditions of balancing about a dozen different resource types. It's not fun, it's not interesting, and the choice of game engine (pun intended) is absolutely ill-suited for this type of resource grind. Apparently, it's not even a complete game.

[switched from negativ to positiv after doing some research.] well, it was an interesting idea. an interesting setting. it felt very streamlined in the end, though. i dont want to use spoilers, so let me just say that the "enemy broke my band" while "morale was exceptionally strong". my band wasnt broken. i had hardly any losses. everything went according to plan. for some reason i was reading pages that only marginally described the specific situation i was actually in. and that is just LAZY. edit: and theres also a cliffhanger. you need to buy the second game/book to finish the story. that might not be a problem, just letting you know. 2nd edit: well, the end might have been lazy. but i now know that there are many real branches in the story after all. so a negative verdict seemed ... too harsh.

There are a some hours of fun to be had here, but then you run into a wall in that this is not the entire game. There apparently was going to be a DLC or second release called Choice of Rebels: Stormwright that continues the story, but I can't find it on Steam so I assume it was never released. It is a huge let down because this story ends right when it starts to give you a feeling of momentum.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 604: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10) Can you like, or even love, something without understanding it? I’m honestly super impressed by [i]Choice of Rebels: Uprising (“Rebels”)[/i] because I went in not expecting much. I heard it had a high-fantasy world and a stat-heavy narrative, but I struggle with high fantasy. I like magic, gods, and swords and all that, but I find that such high stakes ironically makes me uninterested in the story. Additionally, fantasy works often coin jargon, requiring a reader to flip through the glossary once. I like stats, especially if they matter—but only if I win. Which was definitely not the case in [i]Rebels. Rebels[/i] is not beginner-friendly and has a confusing jargon problem. It’s also weak characterization-wise, and the romance is either poor, confusing, or not very LGBT-friendly. The complexities of the politics are lost on me, quite frankly. With all that said … there is something so singularly fascinating about Joel Havenstone’s world. You play as the noble or peasant class in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up world. Maybe America’s darkest timeline before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of machinery. (I don’t know, I was never great at history.) The world sucks because of the big bad empire called the Hegemony. Their control is based on Harrowings, which are blood sacrifices of the helot—peasant—class. The helots are treated like slaves, and eventually, you’ve decided enough is enough. As the title says, you are now a rebel leader at the head of an uprising. [h2][b]Pros:[/b][/h2] ✅ [b]Worldbuilding.[/b] Again, I ask you, can you like or love something without understanding it? I understand the broad strokes of Havenstone’s world, but a lot of the intricacies go over my head. I’m sure there are specific historical references or inspirations, but I honestly don’t even care because the world is interesting enough on its own. But I do know power struggles, oppression, and tone. The historical inspiration enriches it, but it’s not required to love it. The situation is the same here. There are shades of the world that are similar to our own: a rather pointed class struggle depending on religion, region, and social status. I played as a noble who embraced blood magic, so there was a fascinating divide between being oppressed and being the oppressor. The main character witnesses the brutality aimed at the peasant class, but they still profit from it. There’s a “middle class” of sorts: nobles, priests, merchants, and soldiers. At the start of the game, you are on equal rank, but as you become a rebel, you are treated just like the peasant class you once looked down upon. It’s just really neat how you navigate between the violence and hierarchical structure. ✅ [b]Religion.[/b] I won’t claim to understand religion in Havenstone’s world. All I know is that it’s Cool™️. From what I can tell, the world treats the vaguely Christian religion and leaders as gospel. It basically permeates all of society and helps prop up the Hegemony’s brutal regime. All things are done for the saints, right? But there’s also a battle between religious doctrine. Is the empire’s religion as clear-cut as believed to be? Or have they been mistranslating the holy texts to support their blood sacrifices? Surely the gods or saints or whatever would never call for a Harrowing? All I know is that my main character got anointed by a priest and is now called “Eclect of the Angels.” Literally, wrap it up, everyone. I am the second coming of Jesus Christ. 10/10 from me. ✅ [b]Perspective/choices that matter. [/b]It’s common in virtually all literature to have the hero flourish, then eat dust, as it were. To be humbled to grow stronger. In [i]Rebels,[/i] your beginning involves you eating dust. Your role as rebel leader is captured so well. I thought I could be a brave, honorable outlaw meting out justice. Well, idealism can’t feed a starving band of two hundred people. So, fine, perhaps I raided a monastery for grain and mules. But it’s not like I hurt anyone! I mean, a monastery is just wood and stone. It’s the same as raiding a noble estate. Which I also did. I also took a man’s wife and children hostage, which is fine—I wouldn’t hurt a hair on their heads. I just needed their fortune to support my revolution. On a technical level, I found that these big choices were signposted extremely well. The narrative clearly laid out the pros and cons of each strategic choice I made. Want to rob a garrison? Your untrained band will get killed, but imagine the steel weapons that will replace your crude clubs. Rob a monastery? Casualties will be low, but your group’s morale will drop as you become sinners. I much preferred this design choice over guessing the consequences. ✅ [b]Atmosphere. [/b]There are so many passages on how ♥♥♥♥ your life is. You’re sleeping in the forest, and you’re cold and freezing. Your father hates you for ruining the noble name. My people also hated me because I couldn’t feed them. They even tried to assassinate me, the bastards! You are unwanted by the nobility and mistrusted by the peasants. The atmosphere is so oppressive, claustrophobic, humiliating. I love it. [h2][b]Mixed:[/b][/h2] 🟨 [b]Resource management gameplay. [/b]This is what will make or break the game for a reader. I found this aspect of the game essential, fun, and hard. In short, you are juggling a great many things: mules, money, the sick, the healthy, food, raids, and so on on a week-by-week basis. So, for example, I decided one week to send out twenty bandits on a scouting mission, ten bandits on a hunting expedition in the forest, ten to set up traps, and the last ten to be trained. You must also decide how many mules to send on these missions. Send too many, and there will be no mules to carry the sick. Don’t send enough, and you won’t be able to bring back all the loot. It does get micromanage-y at times, but I felt like a real, tactical mastermind. In reality, my group doubted my leadership so much that 130 or so people left. And I had about 120 people, in total. I can’t blame them tbh. There are a lot of moving parts, and I can’t see a casual reader enjoying the lengthy, difficult resource management part. It’s very trial-and-error, which isn’t great for such a long work. [h2][b]Cons:[/b][/h2] 🟥[b] Fantasy jargon.[/b] The first couple of pages of the game bombards you with its vernacular. I appreciate the incredibly thorough index, but the lore is frankly daunting at first. I’m a Shayard? A who? Sounds like a pirate class or something. What’s the difference between Xthonos and Xaos? Why do they both begin with X? Actually, what’s what, again? I hope you know the difference between the Alastors, Kryptids (spelling?), and Ecclesiasts. Who’s the bad guy? The Archon dude? Oh, am I the bad guy? And so on. The jargon continues to be sprinkled throughout the chapters. I can vaguely piece together the context clues, but I wouldn’t recommend [i]Rebels[/i] to people with low patience. 🟥 [b]Long wait for sequel/cliffhanger.[/b] Listen. I’m never going to tell a writer how or what to write. (I mean, I try not to anyway.) But [i]Rebels[/i] was published in 2017. As of today, it’s 2026. I don’t think the sequel is coming out this year, so there’s about a nine or ten-year wait. That’s kinda long, factually speaking. The wait is made worse by how the game ends on a cliffhanger. Your rebellion is just getting started, and there are so many plot threads left hanging. There’s really no resolution. [hr] If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass. [/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube channel[/url] for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

Well written, allows for greater control and agency than any other choose your own adventure game in the same format, and doesn't shy away from or sugar coat the gruesome and uncomfortable endings that comes from the reality of starting an uprising in what is essentially a hegemonic power akin to the Imperial Rome if it had grown through horrific magic. I have played this game over and over again just to see what's the extent to which I can improve my overall revolt and put myself in a better position for the next game, the writing doesn't get stale as the world itself is enthralling and the weight of every action can be felt when taken. I have endless praise for this game and hold it as the benchmark for immersive story telling in its medium, when I first played it in 2019 I was frustrated by the amount of negative outcomes and endings but now I still comeback to it even today to revisit the characters I had been so emotionally invested in to warrant such a response. TL;DR if you want a unique immersive world, the choice of greater agency, a candid story of difficulties of armed resistance and captivating characters, this game is for you.

By far the biggest flaw of this game is that there are no sequels yet: it feels gritty and as if your actions have real consequences (and doing the 'right' thing doesn't always grant the best results). This is my favourite Choice of Games installment so far, and it really isn't holding your hand: in other games, you can almost always trust your character's intuition about someone, but in this, I still don't know for certain if there is / who might be a traitor, and if it might even be my romantic interest.

Off the back of five playthroughs (of which my player character survived two, one of which with file editing) I'm ready to say that this game easily competes with the very best of the Interactive Fiction sphere for narrative quality and mechanical depth. Choice of Rebels unceremoniously plants you in the middle of a low-fantasy setting with a soft magic system, centuries of cultural and historical events already having taken place. It prompts you to ask whether you'd like a history lesson for a crash course, which is helpful because the characters will frequently use a lot of language and reference a lot of practices and people that readers will find confusing without context. This can make for a slow start taken as a huge chunk at the beginning, but the information is always there to reference if you ever need it. Though we're more than likely supposed to explore more of the continent in following games, this one takes place in western Shayard, which is a vassal-state to the Karagond Hegemony. Shayard was apparently in centuries past once a military and economic powerhouse on the political stage, but was subjugated by neighboring Karagond when it discovered Theurgy- An alchemy magic system which uses human blood to do things shoot gouts of flame from one's hands, heal the sick, manipulate gravity to fly, supercharge agricultural output, whatever the author really wants it to do. Karagond instantly won the arms race, but to keep their control strong they needed a constant source of blood. They draw this from criminals, traitors, and helots- the slave-caste of the nations. The player-character is either a Shayardene aristocrat from a very minor and overlooked family or a helot slave. The difference between the two obviously echoes through the entire game, how they see their cause and how others will perceive them. We're introduced a few characters and to some of the many injustices the Hegemony commits against religious skeptics, nationalist patriots and the helotry, before shaping the protagonist's worldview and skillset before an uprising happens in the town they live in. One way or another, the protagonist becomes a wanted traitor and the leader of that revolt, whether they lead a sanctuary for escaped helots or a ragtag band of outlaws. Now the synopsis is out of the way, is the game itself worth it? The majority of the gameplay can be reduced to maintaining the survival of your group and the integrity of your cause. After the uprising happens you become responsible for what may be a LOT of people on the run, and if you want them all to make it through the winter you need to keep them fed and healthy. This can be easy to do if you rob the commonfolk or torch an estate for gold or ambush caravans, but the public is watching and the more they feel your uprising is a danger to them the more likely they are to support their oppressors over you, and the less likely your survival. On the flip side, being overly idealistic at the price of starving is a quick way of having sentiment among your own people turn against you as a leader. This is where the game is made or broken for people. Getting through the winter seems impossible at first, but when you find the right strategy to pull you through it feels so much more rewarding. As a leader, your abilities have three points to be allocated to three stats- Charisma, Combat, and Intellect. Two to one stat, one to another, and the third must have zero. A two in your stat makes you a prodigy in that skill, and a zero makes you a bit hopeless in it. A 2COM 1INT 0CHA character can win duels and lead ambushes incredibly, but you'll want to rely on one of your friends at the negotiating table, or when addressing potential recruits. The strength of Choice of Rebels is in what you can't do. If you have a reputation for the massacre of the aristocracy you'll draw people to your band who expect to kill nobles, and will be very upset if you start trying to broker deals with the more reasonable ones. If you rely too heavily on others in your band to get you through hard times you can't be surprised when people take their orders over yours. If you've been starving yourself to barely meet your food storage quota for the week you can't win that fight against someone who's full and rested, no matter how good you are with your staff or sword. If you haven't won the hearts you need to, gathered the intel you need to, made all the preparations you can, you can't survive when the Hegemony comes for you. The atmosphere is tense, the people around you bitter and afraid and angry, but when you lead an attack without taking losses or close that deal you've been trying to strike with the merchants' guild for weeks or have a mother who's life you've continually saved and protected name her child after you, you remember that you're not helpless. I think it's pretty neat.

I'm a fan of interesting and epic fantasy stories and was actually looking forward to playing this. This is one of the only games from Choices that I am giving a negative review. I hate to do this as I mostly love their selection of games but this was a waste of time and money. The world building and class system was what pulled me in but phew does it get overworked and tiring being constantly reminded of what the classes are and how they use magic, etc. I felt like the author was making a very long lecture about this world, politics and characters instead of just letting us explore the story. I guess the only two things I liked were the romance options and the camp dynamics. The rest felt so bogged down about every little detail that I just kept pressing 'next' until I died.

Even years after playing it the first time, this game still manages to pull me into it. I absolutely love the management parts of the game, and the writing is superb. It actually feels like my choices have an an effect on the story, rather than it just being "Pick door 1 or door 2" I cannot wait for the next part!