Chronicles of Taldun: The Remainder

This is one of the most nuanced visual novels I've ever played. It immediately gripped me with the dark, mysterious atmosphere created by the stunning and unique art, the otherworldy soundtrack and the beautifully composed writing. It's also quite challenging in the best way, so be prepared to stumble around for a while making decisions that lead to even more questions instead of answers or - also very likely - to your demise in a lot of unpleasant ways. But once you got more grip on the world and the narrative, you can make more calculated decisions and use your collected knowledge to progress towards answers. I really loved the way the story worked. It relies a lot on player knowledge instead of the protagonist's, which means you yourself have to figure out the meaning of the clues and piece them together to get the full picture. And once you do, you see already experienced scenes and barely noticed details in a different way. And you realise that the truth was sometimes right before your nose, you just didn't know what to do with it. The two protagonists Vyn and Ilar are extremely well-written, complex characters with an ever-changing dynamic that depends entirely on your own c…

In short: much to like, but the writing is not good. The positive: [list] [*] Visually excellent; the art is beautiful and moody and creates this ominous, magical, ornate impression of the world and story. I also love Ilar's character design—they're attractive. [*] I like the overall idea of the story. I liked learning about Ilar and the main character's relationship, and I think it has some decent emotional weight. Near the end of the game when I was learning what's really happening, I was engaged and found the reveals compelling. I'll be thinking about the story for a while. [*] The ability to [spoiler]cast spells[/spoiler] was a surprising and cool mechanic. [/list] The neutral: [list] [*] The world is a very complex behemoth of lore, some necessary to understand what's happening, some just because the creators clearly liked building the world. I like that I could clearly tell that the world expands far beyond the bounds of this game. I love the sense of magic in this world—it's intricate, strange, dangerous, and cruel. But some aspects of the magic seemed overly convoluted to justify the events of the game. [/list] The negative: [list] [*]The writing is overwrought. It sacri…

This game filled the hole that Signalis left in my heart. I would also compare it to Slay the Princess in terms of mechanics, but I personally enjoyed this game so much more. I think it's a completely different feeling that it leaves you with. It felt so rewarding to uncover little pieces of the past, see how they shape the entire story and its characters. It's one of those games that tells you to sit with it, listen to what it has to share with you, and see where it takes you, without relying on previous experience with games. I loved it so much it's one of my top 10 now for sure.

Chronicles of Taldun: The Remainder is one of the best narrative-first games on the internet. If you're a fan of queer wizards, non-linear storytelling (Alice in Wonderland meets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets Groundhog Day), philosophy, poetry, and cats, you should treat yourself to this title. This is a choose-your-own-adventure game that often gets compared to otome games despite being a very serious and at times horrific sci-fi/fantasy story with compelling themes of identity, absurdity, and trauma. You will die a lot as you learn more clues about the universe. Take notes, remember important details. Ilar is one of the most interesting romantic options in the history of video games. You'll feel the madness of this world begin to slowly unravel your psyche as you keep trying to find a way out of your predicament. As a lover of high dark fantasy with Victorian vibes and messy wizard gays in my own writing, this game scratches a VERY particular itch that's difficult to find in any medium, let alone video games. Sweet game maker, thank you for blessing my mind with your world. This story was an inspiration. Please never stop creating. Your work is incredible and CRIMINALLY re…

The true ending has GOT to be ragebait you cannot convince me there weren't hallucinogens involved in the writing of whatever that was [spoiler]Boning and getting romantically involved with the demon you barely know who ate your long-time lover is insanely abrupt and unsatisfying like WOW they had me in the first half and then everything quickly went to ♥♥♥♥ after you discovered Erastros[/spoiler]

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