Choice of the Petal Throne

I’m giving this five stars because it’s very well written and the devs clearly did their homework on a very obscure pen and paper classic. This game is an excellent recreation of M.A.R Barker’s world of Tekumel. While the writing is excellent and the lore is rich, it’s fair to say newcomers to this world may find this particular game difficult to jump right into. I would suggest that the devs provide a slight intro in the beginning that explains (in a basic sense) the point of clans, or perhaps a brief description of current events to set the scene and the tone of the world. That said, thank you for the story, it was a blast!

So I have mixed thoughts about this game. First the Pros: The writing is solid all the way around (not a guarantee at all in CoG games) and the world building is quite unique and interesting and I kept wanting to know more about it. Also there’s some nice degree of choice and how the plot moves forward can very much alter with your failures and/or successes. Some of the encounters or events are quite imaginative. I was particularly taken with a sequence in which you encounter a “whimpered” which I think is one of the more chilling types of monsters I’ve ever encountered in a game like this. The cons: The game is short. Way too short. I felt like I was about getting to the halfway point when the game suddenly ends with barely a resolution, and that’s on a “good” ending. This to was it’s ultimate crime. I felt at the end, regardless of what choices I made, that I barely impacted the overall resolution of the story, and that’s because at the end of the day, your character IS tangential to the larger narrative (The game of the Petal Thrones). I mean sure, you get to side with one royal or the other in who gets a particular maguffin (whose importance is never explained) but you’re left to your own imagination how that pans out. I recognize that writing these branching stories is an arduous and time consuming process but I really felt short changed, especially when there are so many other CoG games that feel truly developed and are easy to invest in. The same goes for the relationships you have in the story. Completely underdeveloped and while your two relationships have great baring on the ending of the game, it doesn’t seem to matter how well or badly you’ve treated them, they’re going to make the same choices, and you spent such little time with them that they feel fairly personality-less. One other thing: I appreciate the thought that went into the world building. It’s great. But EVERYTHING has a weird name in a made up language, and I can’t tell you how often I had to consult the glossary, which itself was filled with MORE weird terms in the made up language. If the game had been longer and I felt like it was important to know this stuff to make smart decisions, I think I would have happily looked past it, but for as slight as the story winds up being, it seems like an awfully big ask to require your readers to learn a made up language for the purposes of what is essentially a short and uninvolving story. I know that all sounds harsh, but again the writing is good and the world is interesting, but I don’t think that’s enough. Especially when there are so many other much better CoG out there.

This novel was a pleasantly unique experience. While it took some time to immerse myself in a world with such rich language, history, lore, and characters the commitment was well worth it. The story makes no apologies for its complexity and unfamiliarity and this is largely why it succeeds. While the tale itself borrows from familiar enough fantasy tropes (a solid choice given the unfamiliarity) the setting and larger events are quite fresh. All in all I can recommend this quite comfortably. Don’t shy away from the strangeness and difficulty; it’s what makes this so enjoyable.

If so, pay $3.99 for this story. This reads like a confusing Literotica story. The author has built a world that I am sure makes a great deal of sense to him or her. But as an outside looking in its bewilderingly hard to follow. Reading this, I found myself screaming “WHAT?” more than a Biloxi wrestling crowd during a bad promo. There is so much reliance on strange terms that it’s hard to glean any kind of story from Petal Throne. This ruins any sense of immersion. The “glossary” is actually four separate glossaries, that’s how much in-universe verbiage the author uses. Besides customizing your name, gender, and sexuality there is nothing here that Choice Of customarily offers and that I have come to love.

This world is truly remarkable, full of magic and a peculiar sense of honor. The game thankfully provides a glossary, which is in some ways almost indispensable. I wish that the ability to access it's contents were a little more streamlined, but this is a minor quibble. The story is a delight, and clearly offers multiple ways to play. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys unusual fantasy.

The setting for this game is very unique amongst choice games and the writing is solid. It can be very difficult to follow along with events as there are loads of made up fantasy words and hard to remember names and titles and I didn't find the glossary of terms included in the game to be particularly helpful. As others have said the ending feels incredibly abrupt. I was thinking that is just completed the first leg of a great adventure when the epilogue events started and I was surprised to see it end when it did. Still worth the price though!

I have played other Choice of games before and they have delivered - this one did not. Not sure if I am simply playing it wrong or what but due to the writing I am never sure what is going on. Additionally, it always seems like the game ends too soon so I felt like I was cheated out of the money I paid for it.

Bad ending, but otherwise very well done.

Really enjoyed my play through of this. I want more Tekumel adventures.

Some people are complaining about the abruptness of the ending, however, I think that all of the options are explored quite well. The game has good replay value, and I enjoyed it very thoroughly.