

Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz
ArcanaXIX · 2025 · Werewolves, Hand-drawn, Visual Novel, Point & Click, Dark Fantasy
PC
Positive100% · 20
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About Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz
"I offer a guarantee—an absolute guarantee—that the tomes will contain the truth on the curse that afflicts you."Such is the Witch's promise. Is it worth the price she demands?Can Amadeus discover the truth within the first tome's pages before the moon Aska rises this very night?
Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee is a narrative game heavily inspired by Umineko When They Cry thematically, and Professor Layton aesthetically.
There will be 5 episodes in total. Episode 1 ~ Waltz out now.
Notebook mechanic to track hints as the story progresses 24 music tracks in a textured, melodic, dissonant, electro-acoustic soundtrack Opening cinematic All art physically hand-drawn in pencil and ink on paper Flexible point-and-click control scheme: Visual Novel QoL Features: Marimba (Spellbound Mischief) - Jay Lee Bassoon (Watchtower Interlude) - Quill Grant Cello (various) - Leo "ArcanaXIX" Mix Consultant - Sonia Mokhtari Art & Narrative
About
Play as Amadeus, a young werewolf struggling to understand his condition, as he navigates a tale woven by Witches. He is equal parts desperate and determined; determined to reclaim agency over his own self, while afflicted by a curse that steals it from him every time the greater moon draws full.Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee is a narrative game heavily inspired by Umineko When They Cry thematically, and Professor Layton aesthetically.
There will be 5 episodes in total. Episode 1 ~ Waltz out now.
Features
- A story about legacy and identity; layered with hints to a greater mystery yet to be unveiled
- 1-2 hours of linear, narrative-focused gameplay
- 9 interactive Point-and-Click scenes
- 12 pure Visual Novel scenes
- 6 tracks with dynamic layers
- 15 tracks with live instrumental performances by 5 musicians
- Fully playable with keyboard only
- Fully playable with mouse only
- Space supported as click alternative when using mouse controls
- Cursor icon changes to indicate player interactions
- "Cycle through all interactibles" hotkey
- Toggle for auto-progressing text
- Adjustable text appearance speed & auto-progression time between textboxes
- Instant text appearance option
- Backlog of previously-read text
Accessibility
- Game includes a "glitch/flicker" effect in some scenes that cannot be toggled off.
- Fonts cannot be adjusted or re-sized.
- Supports manually scaling to any window size up to screen's native resolution.
- Features discrete volume sliders for music, sound effects, and ambiences.
- Fully playable using keyboard exclusively, mouse exclusively, or any desired combination of keyboard/mouse (including hover-and-spacebar)
- Save anytime in the menu. No autosave.
- No timed inputs or quick time events.
- No audio-only cues.
Credits
Designed, Developed, Written, Composed, and Drawn by Leo "ArcanaXIX"Musicians- Amadeus's Piano Performance - ENDYSIS
- Winds (various) - Lucas Bere
- Deal with a Witch (clarinet)
- Dartmaure (clarinet)
- Spellbound Mischief (flute)
- End Credits (flute, whistle)
- Narrative Consultants - Ashlee Scheuerman, Frances Maples, Luke Tellson, Ageha Nacht
- Solea Design Consultant - Alecya Mitchell
- Proofreading - Ashlee Scheuerman
- C# Consultants - Dan Mellot, Carlos Nieto
- Logo Design Consultant - Sarah Seward
- Convention Table Assistant - Derek Allsup
- Glitch Effect Shader - Tilman Schmidt
- Playtesting - Derek, Joanna, Luke, Aaron, Ashlee, Nathalie, Ageha
- Playtesting (original prototype) - Alex, Lucas, Skipper, Nathalie, Taylor, Dan
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
For me, the story was compelling and emotionally satisfyiing. The writing, story-telling, and music, which are all wonderful individually, weave together to create a beautiful experience. <3 :)
Well-written, great pacing, very strong characterization. Enjoyed how tactile the illustrations and UI are, as well as what a wonderful job the music does at setting the mood for each scene. Also the button to highlight interactable areas is a great QoL feature. The scene early on where Amadeus wakes up after striking the deal with the witch was the exact point where I thought to myself, "I'm invested, I gotta see what this guy has gotten himself into." Very much looking forward to future episodes, and piecing everything together!
A short but sweet first chapter that immediately draws the player in. I want to see how the mystery unfolds.
I seldom ever write reviews for games, but this was amazing! I'm so glad I was able to pick it up. I am looking forward to the future chapters, and I am glad the first chapter feels like in wrapped up a nice story arc. Being able to use the I button to highlight all available points of interest so as to not miss what can be clicked on is an absolute godsend and I really with more point and click style games included such a feature. The music also goes so hard. It makes my ears happy, and the moment of the piano and cello duet was so beautiful. Funny enough, I have been learning to play piano myself, and this game really ;it a fire in me to keep it up. It's also just a very beautiful to look at game and the first leg of the story was already so touching and compelling, I look forward to seeing where it goes. Especially since I am rather invested in these characters too.
This is one of those rare games when you start playing you think "this thing needed to exist." It's hard to capture what it is that lands so well. The art style is quirky and fun, the storyline is engaging and surprising, the narrative mechanics are far richer and expressive than a typical visual novel, and the music is the best I've heard in a game since...Katamari Damacy? (Seriously, I liked the music so much I bought the soundtrack before the full game was released. I pointed a friend to it and she bought it without even playing the game.) But really it's the combination of everything that makes it land. And it's hard to explain that in a review. So go play it and see for yourself.
I first started playing this because it looked mildly interesting, but it grabbed my interest as the story developed. LOVED the artwork in the transformation scenes, and was impressed by the music of this little indie game. Especially that it looped to match however fast or slow of a reader you are, without you being aware of the looping. I always notice the music in a game, and this music was very good. See if you can find all the seeds. Evidently I missed 4 :(
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