Embers of the Evening

Embers of the Evening is a first-person psychological horror game that takes place aboard a ship sailing across the black sea of a sunless world. As the player character, Ludwig, you will have to struggle every day to fend off the darkness that is engulfing both the ship and your mind. And yet, the worst challenge will always come once you close your eyes: you will plunge into a nightmare, travel to a different ship, and your previous actions will determine whether you can escape the nightmare, or will be forever trapped within it.
 
Soon, you will have to ask: are you a sailor dreaming of a nightmarish world, or are you trapped in a nightmare dreaming of being a sailor?

GAMEPLAY

Wake, sleep, dream, escape.
 
During your waking hours you are Ludwig, the engineer of the ship tasked with the maintenance of the engine, and every other lowly errand you deserve. You will talk to the crew, uncover their goals and identities, make decisions about how you tackle each circumstance, and remain in the light of a ship that is ever darker.

But then you fall asleep, and you no longer know who you are. Every so often, you will be transported to a different ship inhabited by creatures from another world. Here the rules don’t apply, and anything can happen. Your actions throughout your waking hours will determine what happens during this time, resulting in you awaking back to the world you call reality, or getting forever trapped within the nightmare.
 

STORY

The whales are becoming more and more uncommon, humanity’s oil reserves are dwindling, and the beginning of a new era without light seems unavoidable. Before this uncertain future, different people tackle their grieves and fears in different ways. Some join the sect of the Red Chrysanthemum to believe in a world of light after death, some submit to drugs and self-induced amnesia, and some venture to the ends of the black ocean never to return.

And a very few, like Ludwig, go through all of them.

The expedition he has embarked on only has enough fuel for a one-way trip, wherein they will either find the famed lighthouse at the edge of the world, or will be swallowed up by the waves before they arrive. However, the fuel and the waves are the least of Ludwig’s worries. Something very serious is amiss with the expedition. The captain doesn’t show himself; the room adjacent to Ludwig’s is locked, yet sounds emerge from within; and visions of creatures from other worlds haunt him in his sleep.