The Guiding Spirit

The Guiding Spirit is a deeply personal fantasy story-simulator where your heroes (or villains!) think for themselves. You are not the protagonist - you create them, you guide them, and... well, you might just be the reason everything goes horribly wrong.

Over a thousand handcrafted scenes and hundreds of character customization options - brought to life through hand-drawn illustrations in a classic gamebook format - ensure that your choices (and your heroes' choices!) truly matter. But what choices do you have, you ask?

Create memorable, complex characters

Your heroes (or villains!) might be strong, clever and/or perceptive. But they might also be sleepwalkers, afraid of the dark, claustrophobic or just... not the sharpest tool in the shed.

The world of Anderelm consists of many unique species, adrenaline-addict scurgs, nimble, trickster kumers, mystical nixes who juggle with fire, stone-skinned ofeys born out of magical events. Is the hero you create a warrior, a paladin or... a gravedigger? Are they greedy, impatient, maybe they complain too much? Do they favor a specific weapon or instead they are specialized in certain locks and traps? Generate complex characters with a single click or define each aspect of your characters yourself, by choosing from:* 14 ancestries
* Over 30 professions
* Over 160 personality traits
* Over 70 survival traits
* Over 65 background story elements
* Over 170 skills and specializations
* Over 100 special abilities and spells
* multiple followers, domains, constellations and moreand combining them to get a unique background story and gameplay style!

Guide your heroes through a savage land

And with that chaos intensifies... Depending on what band of misfits you created, as they discover new places and meet their inhabitants, delve into the depths of monster-infested dungeons and learn more about the world, they will try to survive. They will work together, maybe become friends or lovers, or on the contrary, they will do their best to trick, betray or even murder each other - depending on how You - the player - defined them. They will have their own rituals, their own culture, their goals might contradict each other. But the mystery around what happened to all of them might just forge them together... with your help.

How the characters think, speak and act, trying to survive on the land of Anderelm will be based on their defined aspects and the occasional push from you, their Guiding Spirit. From time to time you will be able to push your heroes into a certain direction – but it needs to be done wisely and carefully - as they might not agree with your decision!

Discover an ever-changing world

Weather changes, each biome has their own challenges, multiple ways lead to your target destination. NPCs - whether freelance bounty hunters or enigmatic Intellect-users - will react differently depending on who's in your party.

Roll the dice

What happens when each party member needs to roll a sneak check to figure out if the terrifying monster notices them and the last one in the row (the smelly, noisy paladin in full plate armor) fails the check... critically? Figure out yourself!

Critically failing or succeeding a certain check will lead to unique outcomes. Sometimes... hilarious outcomes.

Engage with your party

Immerse yourself in this engaging realm full of lore and secrets - through your party.* Peek into your heroes' inventory, read their books, check their equipment to uncover secrets and learn more about them and the world
* Keep an eye on the mood of your heroes: their motivation will change whether they like the direction they’re heading towards or not
* Watch them grow. Their skills will develop as they use them.
* Allies or enemies? Characters have a dynamically evolving relationship and if you did not play your cards right, the journey will be much shorter than you thought
* Access the Journal to keep track of ongoing quests and story beats

Death is not the end

Remember, death is not the end. Each time you create a new party, make a different decision or your luck just turns out differently... you will experience new story beats, characters, locations, twists and reveals. And if you are familiar with the basics, you can take on unique challenges to open up new ways of playing.Farewell now. Gather your party, roll the dice and be the Guiding Spirit in this epic fantasy story!