The Duke of Winslow

A fantasy storygame by Darius_Conwright

Commended by mizal on 7/17/2023 10:29:52 AM

Player Rating5.57/8

"Too few ratings to be ranked"

Based on 19 ratings since 07/11/2023
Played 648 times (finished 28)

Story Difficulty7/8

"Wade in shark infested water"

Play Length7/8

"It keeps going and going"

Maturity Level7/8

"Anything goes"

Some material may be inappropriate for persons under age 18. If this were a movie, it would probably be R.

Tags

Going To Your Backwards Breeding Hometown Has Never Been This Interesting!

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Dear young master,

You might not be bothered to read this letter as I'm very aware of your bullheaded character. Nevertheless, I've come to inform you that a dreadful curse has been placed in Winslow. Beasts of inscrutable sizes roam its streets. Even your father couldn't fight it as he had succumbed to this illness. Although your opinions might differ on this matter, Nikolai Percival had been a kind man of great character. His passing had shocked the entire village to their bones. The people are scared, lost what to do. I am aware that you expressed no intention into taking up your father's mantle, but the village needs a new leader, a new duke. I plead to you to at least finish his affairs before making any lasting decisions.

(....)

Oh help us all, the mother's milk, I hear the voices sing to me, the elder gods, their song.

-Eduard Merrill

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Play as a prickly prick and discover the grimy seaside town of Winslow. Similar to "little mage's potion shop", it's an open world setting with multiple locations to explore and puzzles to solve. There are a total of three endings! Guide and map included.

(and yes, this was supposed to be the fishing story contest entry till I forgot that I was bad at copypasting and linking pages together.)

Fun fact: this storygame has 457 pages and 980 links. According to the site it's about average.

Edit June 11th: fixed the links of the light house, baker and beach area

Player Comments

The prose in this story was sparkling and vivid, which is a strange way to praise a story that is so deeply interested in describing visceral, gritty, nasty things, but it's true. The writing is interesting, witty, and almost always written with obvious attention to interesting structures and turns of phrase.

Off-handed bits of Latin; dynamic descriptions of setting and battle; small, quiet character moments and body language--all this, in a narrative that absolutely lavishes the reader with a multiple hub-based adventure. Did I have the patience to finish? I did not. That's on me and my own usual impatience with hub structures in IF. I don't blame the game for that--that's its whole deal.

But what I liked the most here was the way the story evoked an emotional tone the whole way through without ever really being in-your-face about it, right from the start. The word choice, the perspective, and the haze-and-darkness filled setting all told the story.

When I find a story where the author spends so much time thinking about language, I want to call it out: this is a really great and fun piece of IF.

Even if you didn't get the interaction of quotation marks and punctuation right. (“Please, leave.” You hissed.)

— Gower on 8/5/2023 9:12:18 PM with a score of 0

I enjoyed it

— tjp623 on 11/21/2023 11:18:59 AM with a score of 3

This was an entire book. Not only did it have the aspects of a game, but it also had tons of fantastic reading. I would definitely recommend someone to read this.

— jamesrodz1 on 9/11/2023 12:37:13 PM with a score of 0

Another really well written story by Darius.

This story was very entertaining, and I enjoyed exploring this interesting world. I will have to return for more and play through the different choices.

— DBNB on 8/8/2023 11:22:21 AM with a score of 0

Great story! I loved it. Lots of options, lots of branches, well written. Good job.

— Mrwheelbarow on 8/8/2023 7:01:01 AM with a score of 3

I loved the amount of details that went into this well-crafted story. It is an original and very interesting read and game, with plenty of characters, clues and backstory to uncover. Well done!

— French_Nana on 8/7/2023 4:46:47 AM with a score of 0

This story-game really made me feel like the Duke of Winslow. Also, insight as a mechanic? Is this Bloodborne now? I have to give this another viewing later. The multiple endings usually do inspire that.

— TharaApples on 7/12/2023 7:06:32 AM with a score of 0

Wow, had to fix some bugs I had caught. If you find any other weird bugs, feel free to message me!

— Darius_Conwright on 7/11/2023 5:30:45 AM with a score of 3

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