Death Song

General Recommendation: Highly recommended. Just be sure you’ve read through Necromancer first, because this story relies on the player’s knowledge of that game.
Preview: Witness the end days of a world as a musician in the army.

=SPOILERS BELOW=

General notes:
This is a difficult game to review. It has so many layers of narrative structure and subtlety that I’m sure I’ll realize I missed something shortly after posting this. But I’ll try to do it justice.
In a dying world gradually falling to the dead, the narrator’s most key trait is in this story his humanity. His struggles, goals, and actions, are all based around the idea of being alive in the world, such as his struggles with his bravery, his role in the army, and balancing his practical needs with his artistic vision. The narrator’s repeated choice to flee and live or fight and die shows very starkly that sometimes being brave and summoning up the courage to do something really is futile. The narrator is well aware that he’s failed to make a difference at these times, and he struggles with being put in the position of a survivor and hero, when he only lived because he ran away. What he really wants is the chance to practice his music and develop his talent into something special, but practical concerns prevent him from doing so. Though part of the army, he has no special attachment to the Zalan Empire, and just wants to keep his family safe, especially as the war becomes more and more dire. These two challenges contribute to his general sense of being lost and adrift; he’s very unclear on what he wants and how to get it and this story does a good job of communicating that. It’s a very human struggle that anyone can relate to, at least to some extent.
The story handles these themes well on their own, but they become much more powerful when set against the backdrop of the end of the world. While most stories that tackle these themes ultimately come to a positive conclusion, or at least a proactive one, in this story the narrator never gets an answer to his philosophical questions, he never really comes to terms with his reputation, and he never has the chance to find fulfillment and purpose. This is not due to his own actions, but due to circumstances entirely outside of his control. Even when he handles the situation as well as he possibly can, he’s doomed to failure because he’s facing an opponent he simply has no chance of overcoming. Oddly, this has the effect of making the focus on narrator’s challenges more poignant. In the midst of this epic chaos and confusion, this is a very human story focused on the narrator’s human struggles: His fear, his passion for music, his love for his family. These struggles do not disappear or fade when faced with larger-scale issues, instead, they become all the more important. When these painfully human struggles and challenges are ultimately wiped out as life is destroyed forever, it’s a tragedy. So much so, that even Catalina can recognize it, if only for a moment, even if it never quite reaches her husband.
Which brings me to the second key point about this story: It’s a companion piece for Necromancer, and a completely brilliant one. Necromancer is a game of power. In Necromancer, the player is a world-conquoring tyrant with nothing standing in their way as they bend anyone opposing them to their will. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and it’s an emotional rush. It’s fun enough that you allow yourself to push aside the fact that this power is being used to commit horrible atrocities, and simply enjoy the ride. Necromancer is, essentially, a brilliantly-done power fantasy.
But Death Song takes Necromancer as it exists and turns it into something far more personal and powerful. Death Song shows the player Necromancer from an outside perspective, and shows them the consequences of their actions. It never gets preachy or moralistic, instead simply showing the player from an objective angle how the other people of this world are affected by the events of the plot. It slows the player down and makes them think, considering the implications of this story far more than they would with it as a standalone or a linear story. This is done most directly (and effectively) in the final scene with the narrator’s frustration and musings about the Necromancer and Catalina. The narrator at no point allows the pair any kind of forgiveness or acceptance, nor do they ever back down or try to justify themselves to him in their pursuit of global genocide. But he and Catalina are able to speak, human to human, and reach the slightest of understandings.
This is a very artistic game, and stands alone among EndMaster’s works as a much more subtle look at literary themes such as death and human power, or the lack thereof. It’s a challenging concept to tackle, but it’s done masterfully for maximum emotional impact.

Specific notes:
-I like the way the narrator’s involvement in the mercenary band is handled; he’s uncomfortable with some of their actions, but too dependent on the income to do anything about it.
-The Necromancer’s father’s inclusion on the mercenary arc adds depth to his character, and is helpful to both Necromancer and the framing of this branch. The conversation between the narrator and Captain helps give his perspective on his family and lets the reader understand him in a way they can’t while looking through his son’s eyes.
-The difference between the narrator’s personal integrity on the mercenary and army path is interesting.
-The story starts with smaller incidents, such as the conflict in the mine, before building up to events that happen in Necromancer. This helps the reader get a feel for the protagonist outside of the plot references.
-The destruction of the narrator’s lute on the mercenary path is a good plot details and shows the change in his development.
-The scenes with the mercenaries and army recruiter do a good job immediately establishing the tone of the two groups through dialogue and actions.
-The letters to home work better than most informational links, as they provide insight that would be difficult to potray through the text, and give insight into the narrator’s thoughts rather than important strategical information.
-The Quillars are an interesting fantasy race.
-Despite the fact that Zalan/Retland politics are ultimatley unimportant to the plot, I like their inclusion. It makes the world bigger.
-The narrator’s talent for music and his company’s appreciation for it is built up gradually as the situation with the necromancers becomes more severe. Fittingly, his musical talent gets much more focus on the arc with the army than with the mercenaries.
-Having the narrator survive only by fleeing is an interesitng decision, one that gives added layers of depth to his character beyond just a lucky survivor.
-The details about different types of music such as elven or dwarven help characterize the narrator and side characters.
-Warnov’s appearing twice helps show how the situation has changed.
-The narrator’s relationship with the Necromancer’s sister is well done. It’s thoughful and touching, but never overstays its welcome, and is played out realistically.
-It’s an interesting touch that the narrator’s relationship with Helena is only ever developed through the letters to home. It makes it feel all the more distant and wistful, which adds to the tone.
-The appearance of the faries is a nice break in the story. It’s touching to find a place that hasn’t yet been reached by the destruction, and all the more tragic when it’s eventually destroyed.
-The final sequence as the narrator grows old and the world dies is quite well written.
-Though like Necromancer the main branch of this story is quite linear, I think this game benefits from being a CYOA rather than a straight story. The multitude of death endings really hammer in how badly the world is being damaged and how easy it would be for the protagonist to simply die.
-It’s refreshing to play an EndMaster game with a mostly moral protagonist.

Grammar
Generally good.
Mastery of Language
Noticably better for this story. The language is much more even and balanced right from the beginning, and becomes almost poetic later in the story. The final sequences of the main path are notbaly well written.

Branching
Very little, but it’s not the point.

Player Options/fair choice
Generally good, considering the linearity of this story. Actions are foreshadowed.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
I don’t cry at books or movies, and I did not cry while reading this story. But it was a close one.

CONCLUSION: An excellent game, both on its own and as a companion piece for Necromancer. Notable for its artistry and subtlety.

I recently realized that I never reviewed this after reading a few months ago. So I decided to read through just one path as a refresher before writing up a review. I should have known I would be unable to stop at one. The only thing keeping me from rereading the whole, beautiful thing was the reminder that I had sworn to have the review written before bed.
And it truly is a beautiful story. It has a quite different tone from Necromancer, yet is structurally quite similar. While it seems to be the "Gloomy Sunday" of CYS, this story did not leave me with a crippling depression of any sort. However, I cannot say that I did not find the endings absolutely haunting--especially when he hummed a tune to bring himself to a different place before he died.
The story itself is very engaging. Reading it after Necromancer was a good choice, I believe, as that allowed me to enjoy the full SMITING OF THE ENEMIES to full effect before seeing the other side. I am sure my eventual rereading Necromancer will be an altered experience, and that's not a bad thing. It was also nice to see characters such as the vampires and the sister from another perspective.
The pacing was very well-done, and I enjoyed reading the letters to home. They added to the emotional impact too. None of the endings felt sloppy or rushed and as always, I enjoyed the Cave of Time branching style.
If you are looking for a light, feel-good story, Death Song is not for you. However, it is far from depressing. It is more like going through pictures of a dead loved one.
Thank you for this fine story.

After reading Necromancer and finding it the best and most touching multiple choice story I ever reed, it was only natural that I soon followed with Death Song. This story, as explained in the description, is an equal to Necromancer, so there will be references to it.

On with the review:

Characters:
Being the characters one of the most important thing for me, I’ll start with them. The characters in Death Song are all fleshed out, even when most of them lack names. This is in part due to Necromancer not having names either, most characters in both of these stories are spoken to or about with titles. Still, this is completely intentional, as this kind of anonymity amplifies the “nature” of each character.

I can relate very well to the emotions of the main character, because these are pretty simple. He just wants to help his family and do what he loves most: play music. It is, in this sense, the most normal of Endmaster’s protagonist, as he is an everyman rather than someone exceptional (although some of the things he does could be considered as such).

Plot:
There is a lot to be said about this one. The game doesn’t have a definite plot, and it could be simplified as helping your family whilst getting into terrible situations you have no control over. However there is far more beyond this, or at least that is my perception.

It really deals with the tragedy of human existence: death. Death is everywhere in this story, it surrounds the character until it finally gets him, no matter what he does. The take on this is masterfully executed by characterising death with a single individual, someone who everyone wants to stop as in the very embodiment of death itself. By doing this, it follows the finest tradition of science fiction and to a lesser extent fantasy by putting such philosophical thoughts in a distant story so that they can be understood.

The tone is very dark, serious and depressing, making Death Song a very distinct and unique story compared to others from Endmaster. This doesn’t detract from it, though, in fact, it does quite the contrary. It is the perfect tone to accompany such a tale, and it shows that the author can not only write well in one style but also excel at plenty others.

The main ending is probably one of the best endings I have ever seen. It is absolutely fabulous and it would be worth playing the entire story just for it (even if the rest wasn’t worthy, which is not the case).

My only complain about the plot would be the second way. While it is very interesting too, it is very short in comparison to the main one, and the ending isn’t quite as satisfying. It changes the atmosphere quite a lot, similarly as the alternate way in Necromancer, but that isn’t a bad thing.

Consequence:
It is important for a fictional world to have definite rules that are followed all the time; otherwise, it is inconsequential and its choices become just random luck. This isn’t generally the case with Death Song, as with Necromancer. There is something I don’t quite understand though, and it is the rules of the afterlife. Do bad people go to Hell always, or only when a demon kills them? It is implied that they always do, but this is the first time this is mentioned in this particular world. It can still be understood, so it isn’t a major problem.

Writing and vocabulary:
The vocabulary in Death Song is very rich and adequate, even more so than with the rest of Endmaster’s stories, although that is logical given in the general tone of this story. It is as such more distant, but that isn’t a problem as it feels pretty close despite this and it is still more appropriate to the tone. It can be read very easily, like the rest of these stories.

Technical details:
There are no noticeable grammatical or orthographical errors and the layout is just fine.

Tying:
This is a special thing to rate. This story is supposed to be an equal to Necromancer, so it should then have perfect correlation with it. It has to a great extent, as it follows the “true” path of Necromancer flawlessly. As such, you should really read it before this one, as it will contain major spoilers.

Conclusions:
This is a great story on it’s own right and a great equal to Necromancer, despite being completely different in tone and style. The main branch definitely deserves an 8/8, but since the side one doesn’t really keep up as well, It should be lowered to a 7/8. Then again I can't bear to rate such a grat story like that, and I am a very big hypocrite, so it gets the 8. Despite all this, I really recommend anyone who isn’t depressed to read it, you will thoroughly enjoy it. Do not take this warning as a joke, though, it is not. The tone is really, really depressing, and you probably shouldn’t play it if you already feel like this.

Also, thanks again to Endmaster for keeping the quality on all of his stories. This is definitely one of your best and I did really enjoy reading it.

Such an amazing epic

This is a work of art. That's it. And playing Necromancer afterwards lets you truly appreciate what's going on. You get to see all these characters interact with each other and see things from a different perspective.

Ah, sad as well, just like Necromancer. At least our hero had music. I'll need to find someone to hug tonight.

really cool.

awesome

Decent but a sequel to necromancer would’ve been better

It's really fun, the writing is stilted at times but I think it's worth it.