Specters of the Deep

With choice of games, the games are effectively books - so who the author is matters a great deal. Here, the author is Abigail Trevor - who has yet to disappoint. Without spoilers, the writing is good, the choices matter, and, if one plays quite carefully, one can achieve the impossible, even on a first attempt. While pricier than most of the Choice of Games catalog, it is rather long, and quite worth the read. I strongly recommend this game - my sole disappointment was that I could not find a way to romance both the ghost and the dragon.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 475: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10) Man, another game I requested with anticipation—a huge thank you to the dev and IndieGems for the free copy!—and yet another one that didn't meet my expectations. What a bummer. I really enjoyed the demo and looked past its flaws, hoping it would get better. Sadly, it didn't. [i]Specters of the Deep[/i] begins with a strong premise: a mythic, fantasy world with dragons, ghosts, and complicated family legacies. The opening chapters are promising, hinting at intrigue, magic, and moral stakes. Unfortunately, the game quickly loses focus. What starts as an immersive fantasy adventure devolves into meandering discussions of family drama, meandering subplots, and inconsistent tone. 🌊[b] Pros:[/b] [list] [*] Terrific opening. You are a storied soldier, ready to defend your nation against one last enemy push. You're the hero. You can't die, right? Well, you do. You get smushed underneath an avalanche of rocks and are brought back as a ghost, two hundred years later. It's up to you to piece together the secrets of your past and the problems of the future. [*] Length! 1 million words, 10 chapters and an epilogue. The epilogue is also one that lasts. You get to talk to everyone you know and choose how you end up. [*] Choices matter. Based on your choices, the game's ending can diverge in multiple ways. You can affect the big bad, the kingdom's strength, other characters' relationships, and quite a lot of things about yourself: your fame, body, powers. [*] Saving system! Wish more games had this option, but at the end of each chapter, you can save and go back to a previous one you already completed. [*] Beautiful cover art, the best I've seen. Got my attention right away. [*] Cecila <3 What a great situationship, as the kids say. Mfw when your rival loves you, MURDERS YOU, comes back as a ghost, teams up with the big bad, betrays you, and finally confesses her love. My baby girl! She did nothing wrong!!! [/list] 🔆 [b] Cons:[/b] [list] [*] I don't want to be mean, but I got a lot of YA vibes from this. And not in the good way. It's partly on me—I was expecting a more dark, melancholy tale about vengeance. But ... the writing often feels like an overambitious fanfic: heavy on exposition, light on structure. And I mean HEAVY on exposition. Characters monologue a lot, paragraphs on each page. Add in all the different names and nations, and it's very difficult to follow exactly what's going on. There's a lot of plot twists, as well, but they lose any sense of wow factor when they're packaged back to back. [*] Just off the top of my head: characters are frequently underdeveloped, their relationships rushed or awkward, and key events are presented with little impact. The handling of gender and sexuality, while clearly intended to be inclusive, often comes across as hand-wavy or performative (?) rather than grounded in the world. A large part of this is the denseness of the prose. Again, it's hard to understand exactly how dragons and royalty casually embracing polyamory and nonbinary identities fit into this strange world when there's simultaneously a lot of dialogue and a lot of hand-waving questions away. [*] It has a common problem with a lot of IFs I read in that a) the writer clearly loves their world (a good thing!) yet forgets the reader might not and b) the writer tries to juggle too much. It's hard to write something with a high fantasy setting. With low fantasy, writers can get away with worldbuilding because low fantasy usually equals [i] Game of Thrones[/i] or medieval England. But with [i]Specters[/i], there's dragons. Cool. Ghosts, cool. Magic? Huh. Necromancy, wow. Dragon/human species hybrid? Weird. Dragons shifting forms? Interesting. That's a lot. Usually, I feel like each supernatural element should have its own lore and rules. With everything the author includes, it's just too much. Too much cool stuff, if possible. I suppose you're supposed to take the world as it, but it didn't feel believable to me. Additionally, there's a lot of personal and political conflict: each member of the main cast has their own squabbles but after being asked to help meditate again and again, I just felt over it. [/list] [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 YouTube channel for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙龙———— app玩的，女性作者。 我的主角复生后见到vesper的第一面，我的心就属于了她，此生不再有喜悲。我的女主和通体漆黑的雌性巨龙遨游嬉戏于天地。 第五章第一页我的女主回忆起和cecilia的过去，我的心又属于了她，此生不再有喜悲。我的女主和女性友敌势不两立又秘密地幽会。 主角的故事线贼拉爽，类似迪化流或龙王归来。所有人看到她都要来一遍“瞪大眼睛三呼万岁”。剧情节奏也很好，一直很有意思。 我一直走的直爽潇洒王道英雌路线，特别好，很喜欢！女主开局36岁。 有很多有趣的贱人选项。比如反对alex只为了欣赏他的表情，在【】痛苦地问我事情时候一本正经地指出“因为我那时已经被谋杀了”。 复活后发现我的时代的女王变成了当今时代的男王，很讨厌此人。[spoiler] 知道原来此人是ftm 后感觉很无语但至少比纯种v人好，一些恶意选项选不下手了。[/spoiler] 性别方面的用词舒适尊重。没有那种用man,guy叫女性的低级错误。印象中会用councilor，councilwoman。不会统统用councilman。 RO性别不可选。只能选MC性别。我最喜欢的2位RO是女性，总之我大致满意了。可惜半龙人是男的。 性别比端水+微微偏向女性。看之前没想到能端水这么稳。 一共是5位RO，表面上是2女1非二元2男。更细分是2 cis女，2 酷儿， 1 顺男。出生性别也许是3女2男。 外观无明显刻板印象。没有beauty duty相关描写。头发长度方面我印象不深，只记得头发最短的是一位女性（超短发），头发最长的是一位男性（到脚踝）。 总体还可以。我受够一堆游戏号称自己dei，结果永远是男的最多，好不容易有个不刻板的女性结果是非二元/m2f/打算转换的f2m。本游SOTD至少真的端稳了。 配角，领导角色也是严格端水。如果人数不够多端不稳，作者倾向于少写一个男的。我目前感觉是这样。

Holy plots and fking dramatic!!!!!! Everything’s so well scripted! There’s a reason MC’s a hero, is THE hero. I couldn’t put up with all these schemes and bullshxxs [h3] 9/10 Excellent work![/h3] All the choices matter and there’s a saving system and REALLY allows you to be evil or good.[spoiler] I was so relived when I get to bring back Vatrai before the book truly ends without betraying everyone [/spoiler] And all ROs are gender locked&pan [spoiler]But I can’t bang Mist😢 why aren’t they an romance option whyyyyy[/spoiler] If you’re into dramas/female rivalmance/dragons go buy it now!! Lots of dramas and dragons and the rivalmance is peak! Though there is a problem. I don’t know if it’s just this one or all cog books or if in general — the major romantic choices were put together with another scene’s responses and it seemed blunt to me. I was forced to make a choice between expressing my opinion and making a romantic advance. I feel like it would be more natural and clearer to me by making a separate scene since there ARE a lot of reply options other than that one. And the thing that irritates me the most is that one particular route [spoiler]where they were fxxking CRYING and you’re just like ‘btw I have feelings for you ????😭 [/spoiler] and this is why I say sometimes you just need the ROs to make a move instead of the MC, and let the MC decide whether to accept it or not!! And [spoiler] the mc was glazed too much for my liking with not so impressed historical events or skills. Although there are choices that indicate why mc’s better than most ordinary people, I just can’t see why they can better Cecilia, let alone the several places showing how poor mc’s reflection is. [/spoiler] It just doesn’t make any sense to me The romances are well written but [spoiler] other than Vesper and Cecilia, others felt a little…too weak built? I can’t find the proper word but it’s weird how they treat the mc like usual but when it comes to romance, suddenly mc’s everyone’s dream person. With no prior chemistry or romantic development, they only hang out like 1or2 times and then BOOM -all mc need to do now is ask…? [/spoiler] But I guess this book isn’t really all about the romances and apart from that I’m really not used to a glazed mc

I like the vibe and pleasant writing style of this game. It is well thought, rich for detailed descriptions of appearances, scenes and situations. Lots of choices. And there is a big intriguing time skip. The beginning was too overwhelming for me personally because of tons of lore, details and introductory drama. I wish we wouldn't meet SO many characters in one chapter, I barely managed to remember some names. I finished the game in 13 hours. In total it has 10 chapters + an epilogue. In the end of every chapter (and in the end of the epilogue) you can restart it or an earlier chapter. I am very impressed! The story and world-building are solid, believable and engaging. I couldn't stop playing until the very end. You can choose your side from a few options and keep to it or to betray in the last minute. Your choices shape your personality and skills. Most of all I used ghost grave powers to help and to understand entities during the game, and it paid off greatly. My gameplay style is all about negotiations, convincing, compassion, kindness and forgiveness, and I feel truly satisfied with this, my morals are well presented. With my choices, I even managed to end up on neutral-friendly terms with the main villain. The game told me that [spoiler]they saw my MC as an equal.[/spoiler] And in the end they even appeared [spoiler]in the stats as a friend with 71% affinity. Wow![/spoiler] List of the characters whom you can romance: [spoiler]Alex, the king (he/him) Frey, the prince (he/him) Senna, the anatomist (they/them, biologically looks like a man) Cecilia, the mage (she/her) Vesper, the dragon (she/her) The main villain (in a way...)[/spoiler] I chose to romance Frey, the prince. What a funny and adorable guy! It was a really lovely emotional experience. His relationship with MC seemed to be quite logical, with a good pace and, most importantly, realistic and consistent. Some light minuses in romance with Frey: [spoiler]Pity that there wasn't a direct love confession or a proposal at the end. Nor the opportunity to emphasize that you want the relationship to always be monogamous. Frey's words and past experience suggest he's open to polyamory. However, the player isn't given the option to finalize their status with Frey about this, only in the context of a potential relationship with Vesper. Also, I decided not to ask Frey about his relationships with Lucero and Tanja. Obviously, they are in the past in the romantic sense, and in scenes with them participating there are more important matters. Though if you don't ask, MC and Frey never discuss it in the future. Why so? The MC saw hints of the past intimacy. So I think they should have discussed it at some point, so it is weird. But at least you can talk to Alex about your relationship with his brother. In my playthrough, the king accepted it easily. Hooray![/spoiler] The game resulted for me in saving everyone and living happily ever after, hand-in-hand with Frey. What a nice fairytale :3 Specters of the Deep suggests many possibilities, paths and outcomes. More than I could even imagine in the beginning. I don't think I am going to replay it (I wouldn't like to see my MC with any other partner or ending), but it would definitely be interesting! So much replay value. Many thanks to the author and everyone involved! P. S. I really love the art on the game banner here on the store page. Very beautiful and captivating. Actually, the game caught my interest first of all because of this art. Cheers to the talented artist!

This could have been great if it took itself more seriously, I mean in terms of the writing, premise, and execution of Choose Your Own Adventure-type games. It's very hard to write something worth a million words, so any criticism I give will always be unworthy of the achievement and effort involved in writing this, and I'm glad for it. This serves its purpose as a mindless, great adventure to satisfy some fantasies. And yet, for all that this book made me wonder, most of the choices offered in this one are bad. Like, actually pretty bad. I always find the trend in these games to make your character good at something and then stat-check it to be missing the point of what makes a choice actually interesting, and yet that isn't even what irked me about it in this one. Why would you make a different order for it every time you offer a stat check? Why write the denial dialogue more than once in a worse way? There is actually such a thing as too many pointless choices, and this one suffers from it. What purpose does it serve for a player to fail? Why offer romance if not to give it the depth it deserves? Do you understand how unreasonable it is for me to have these questions when the game is a million words long? It matters little from an editorial point of view because I don't work in the industry and I don't know what sells, but if I were in charge of advising the author writing this book, there are things I would simply cut. The plot about the poisoning of the eye? Stupid. As was most of the political babble, I'm sorry to say. It's very difficult to write this because I can see it for what it wants to be, but I cannot ignore what it is: shallow words around big concepts. And that goes for most of the themes of this book. Such is the case with Young Adult novels, but this one might even tread into middle grade in how simplistically it treats the themes. This is fun, don't get me wrong, but it might piss you off if you actually come to care about it. I mean it when I say writing a million words is no joke, I know I simply wouldn't do it, but I feel too many words are wasted, the dialogues are stiff, and characters appear and disappear without change. What grand arc do they serve? What principles do they represent, and what can you do about it? It evokes this type of feeling without actually understanding it, almost. It's fascinating to a degree what passes as writing nowadays. I understand, of course, this is a feel-good power fantasy of sorts, and I might be asking too much of it. Of course I understand. But if I wrote a dead-ass one-million-word choice book and it kinda sucked, I would be pissed as hell because for all the setup, there isn't one (1) good scene or well-written payoff that will stay with me. And to me, that's the greatest tragedy of the written word.

I'm a huge sucker for lengthy CHOA stories, but I can't give my thumbs up for Specters of the Deep in principle. There's just too much information and characters introduced in such a short span of time. From the get-go, reading it feels like you've skipped an entire novel's worth of context and development and went straight for the sequel. I love complex worldbuilding, but I do not love being confused and second-guessing on whether or not I should be aware of something as I go along. Having many characters is not necessarily 'bad.' It is quite realistic, but the presentation of the story makes it difficult to keep track of who's who, especially supporting characters.

I have played quite a few of these and this is honestly one of my favorites. Everything in the execution was very satisfying. I would even go so far as to say I would not change a thing. Well done Ms Trevor.

It is ok, Author is a victim of herself. Good idea, though I think many who start the game are going to be expecting something else based off the description, and starts strong. A fair bit of meandering through concepts, familial drama, etc. Vibe and tone is stuck in a fanfiction type of way that reminds me of a WIP about arthurian legend...as the kids of the main cast in a dragon fairy divorced parent set up (if you read it then you know) Generally pleasent, but I just feel like the delivery lacked in compairison to a lot of the COG HOG content that has been put out.

Great stuff! Choices actually matter, romances get scenes. And my favorite part? The epilogue LASTS.