Path to Knighthood

If you, like me, don't like it when games put you into situations that *seem* like they are dependent on skill-checks and making the right choices at the right times - but which are actually no-win scenarios where your opponent gets to gloat over you (and I mean it, they gloat and text rubs it in like "haha you suck loser") - then this is not the game for you. It's not some kind of Kobayashi Maru thing where we're supposed to learn some kind of lesson, like Picard's "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose." At best it is lazy writing from an author who doesn't feel like handling the implications of a win-condition in a scene, and at worst it's an author who wants to write something dark but lacks the talent to do it (like ITFO or FHR) so just insults the reader instead. The story is very cliche, and hanging a lantern on it by pretending to be genre aware with characters remarking "This is just like one of those fantasy stories," doesn't actually make it less cliche. There are also more grammatical mistakes and spelling errors than is reasonable; many of them really should have been caught in editing. It's not the worst title Hosted Games has ever published but I wouldn't call it one of the good ones. In an autumn fairly devoid of new releases from Choice of Games, I was hoping for something relatively good, but this one isn't worthwhile. I should have saved myself the time and just started a fourth playthrough of BG3 a couple hours ago. I'm doing so now, and will forget this game by tomorrow.

Not particularly well thought out, a lot of things that got missed in editing, and overly punishing towards the end. It has a few high points, but they are far better fantasy-themed CoGs out there. I wouldn't waste my time with this one in hindsight.

This is at best an unpolished story. The author has plenty of ideas and the tale unfolds at a gallop, plus the events happen over a period of time so the time line does not feel too rushed. However the editing is not good, and does not pick up on basic continuity errors and sometimes sentences do not make make sense, either through choice of words or bad grammar. There are too many references to other fantasy tales and ideas that take away from its originality and uniqueness so this feels like a private joke the reader is probably not in on. More time spent on fleshing out the characters and background, and less rush to pack in as many adventures as possible might improve it. The story itself is a bit like a Boys Own adventure from the 1950s, and regardless of your choices, it feels as if you are being railroaded towards a particular outcome and not one you would necessarily have chosen for yourself. I'm not sure if I will last long enough to find out what it is, as the writing style is not to my taste, however your mileage may well be different. Its a pity there is no "maybe" button, because there is a demand for these stories and other readers have liked this tale, but much as I have enjoyed other Hosted Games, even if I finish this to find out if I have already correctly guessed the ending, I will not be returning for a replay. Definitely try the demo first.

So-so. It's relatively well written but many situations didn't really made sense. Our character is a young squire that goes on a quest to defeat a dragon when the character isn't even capable of defeating a veteran knight in a duel. Also, [spoiler]right out of the bat we have a scene where we can kill or spare a dog. If we spare it, IT STEALS A PURSE SOMEHOW. In chapter 6 we have a wyvern that is friendly and protect a town for centuries, but just when our character arrives there it turns evil and kills tons of people (Yeah, it got poisoned but the overreaction and villain act is still there). Also, you have to pick between killing or ARRESTING a murderous troll. ARRESTING A TROLL[/spoiler]. The investigation part was complete nonsense, as if happening in contemporany times instead of medieval (chalkboard marking for the body? Sunglasses? Drug Traffiking? Bank insurances?), and the entire mystery is just absurd. Our character also has it's own voice and personality, reacting and answering to many things without player's input and the story is a lot railroaded, not really fitting for a CYOA. The author wanted to create a dark world but all I felt was frustration most of the time. But I've read worse so.... positive review since there is no "mixed" button.

First and foremost: this is a type of a game that tells you what you do and feel instead of asking you what you do and feel. All the choices you make (aside from purely cosmetic one like name, gender, etc.) are essentially puzzle-solving: find out the best trait you have to get a best solution of a problem. Nevertheless, I genuinely tried to give it a try as writing is generally on a good side. However, certain problems stopped me from going much further. Like, author clearly writes about stuff (s)he know very little (for ex. a lot of action is about medieval-style sword fighting, and author very clearly has no experience in it). What killed it for me, though, was an amount of nonsensical results that author add here I guess for DECISION WITH CONSEQUENCE mantra that is so popular this days. Like in a 2 vs 1 fight I disarm a guy and offer him a hand to get up. He immediately throws sand (yeah, really, that trope) to my eyes, catch his sword and goes on to win a fight. OK, I guess I would be more rs less fine with it (though come on, SAND IN EYES, please...) if he was introduced like some kind of sword master... But no. He is very clearly, and very directly called an INFERIOR fighter to both me and my companion. So, even with me out, my companion should easily end him..? But I guess that does not matter, because what matters is that the author wants to show me that trying to be nice in this DARK and GRITTY world will not work... No. The only thing it shows me is that this world, despite (or, perchance, inspite?) all of it DARKNESS and GRITTINESS is not real. And, as a result, I do not want to waste any time in it.

So, my first review, and I technically haven't finished the game due to the 5 digit code section and constantly restarting (know it is related to the lucky number but not how). At any rate, this game doesn't lie when it says it is dark twist on fantasy. However, rather than simply being dark it is... sometimes feels rather hopeless? Often whether you act good or evil, peaceful or violent, death or unneccessary suffering is inevitable. Spoilers but: The worst example of this is a flashback where you got 3 choices regarding a theft, and each choice results in someone dying. You often have arbitrary moments where you have to pick between two bad choices, and there's never a single moment where you can go "♥♥♥♥ this I am gonna stake it all on a 3rd route." I am fine with some choices like that, but it feels like every choice is like that. This doesn't feel very realistic to me cause of that, ironically enough. The game says "if you wish for a happy ending, you will have to fight for it!" Well, it seems so far that every choice results in suffering. If there is another choice you can think of, it simply isn't an option- just two horrible ones usually. That said, the game so far is pretty solid even in spite of that. Your companion is heroic and brave, if overly zealous. I suspect they are more than they sell themselves to be, but I can't say. The game also lets you be virtuous, even if virtuous choices results in suffering. It is very descriptive and the writing style is pretty good. I just wish there were more ways to go than "damn, that sucks." If I could, I would keep it neutral. Barring that, I have to give a thumbs up.

The story is complete, but this story is like several separate units put together, one moment you are in the duel field, the next you are asked to investigate, the next moment you are asked to kill dragons, in addition, in addition to Ingrid, other characters are also very hollow. Of course, there are some good aspects of this story, you can make difficult choices in some plots, and often these choices do not necessarily lead to good results, just like life, which is rare in other stories.

The Pros: The hero's journey setting and mechanic had promise and could be engaging at times, and some of the characters are nicely fleshed out and even likable. The Cons: The 'game' is just a little more than one long string of cliches from beginning to end. The fourth-wall breaking pretending to be self-awareness is not funny, but it is immersion-breaking and usually juvenile and not even funny or insightful. The writing itself is mediocre, and it is inconsistent and often anachronistic. When in a medieval setting is it a valid choice for characters to say things like 'Cool' and give High fives? Player and NPC genders are mixed up throughout. Spelling and grammar errors are common issues with Hosted Games, but still annoying - spell check or Grammarly anyone? Stats influence next to nothing as to the character's actions or the walls of exposition text that pass for 'reactions' to the choices. Combat? On easy difficulty, my Knight died multiple times when fighting and every non-combat choice in a conflict led to the 'bad' result. Every one. More than a few times the selected choices are incorrectly recorded resulting in a choice other than the one actually made. It is just insulting be be forced to participate in a pointless, unrelated to anything, murder investigation with no consequence, explanation or solution. Surely, there could have been some useful word-count filler that would have been better suited in the story setting. Romance? Possibly a quickie with single chapter NPC in an early chapter or late game. The payoff with the intended RO is to have them tell you they aren't interested in you 'that way' in one of the last chapters in the game. I own dozens of text-based CYOA games including many from Hosted Games so I have a fairly high tolerance for mediocre games and realistic expectations about the genre as a whole. But, in this case I can honestly say that I regret this purchase and am annoyed with myself for wasting the few hours I spent to complete it enough to write a review about it.

Pretty cool story!