Gods of the Twilight, developed and published by Volutian Design, is a visual novel where mythology and cyberpunk combine. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the…apocalypse is about to happen…(?), a group of young people are inextricably brought together by forces beyond their control.
Story
Set in New Reykjavík, a city-ship floating on the ocean in a post-climate apocalypse world, two characters, Althea and Farkas, are slowly awakening to the changes in their minds and bodies. Not puberty, but magic. Specifically they may or may not, but probably are, Norse deities reincarnated onto Earth. Their presence signals the upcoming Norse apocalypse, Ragnarök.
As characters, Althea and Farkas are both well developed, with believable backstories and extensive internal monologues that offer insight into their motivations and perspectives. Players watch Althea and Farkas make difficult decisions regarding who to trust, how to act with the looming threat of Ragnarök, adjusting to their new found powers, and figuring out who they want to date.
I have logged about 10 hours into the game so far. I’m still on my first playthrough as Althea, and I haven’t rewound the dialogue to look at the different options. I’ve just been playing straight through. For the most part, I’ve had the text on auto-advance, and I’m still not at Ragnarök in the story. This speaks to the fact that the developers are actually really writing a novel here. The devs boast the early access already has over 100K words, and yes, I believe that.
Gameplay
Players have the choice to play as either Althea or Farkas at the beginning of the game, but will also spend time playing as both characters throughout the visual novel. This is an interesting choice, as who you choose at the beginning is supposed to affect players’ understanding of the story. I’ve only played as Althea so far, but even playing as Althea I have gone through Farkas’ introductory chapters. I’m interested to see how much, if any, playing as Farkas changes my understanding of the events.
Like other visual novels, the game offers several decision making moments, where players can decide what they want to say or how they want to act. With some choices, players will know immediately if it has a positive or negative affect on companion relationships. With other decisions players won’t know how it affected the story until later.
For the most part, the decisions deal with how to act in combat and who to flirt with. While the devs are teasing that the consequences for choices can have far reaching consequences, so far the choices fall into the basic categories: paragon, renegade, and ambivalent. I’ve been playing as a paragon (my usual choice), as so far it seems to be unlocking the majority of the story.
Almost every named character in the game is romanceable. Devs have gone beyond writing for same sex couples and allowed options to have poly relationships. Which makes sense, because when you’re the reincarnation of a Norse deity, there’s no reason to stop at just one partner. This choice is also refreshingly true to the source material, as the Snorri Sturluson, author of the Prose Edda where most of the Norse “mythology” has been preserved, wrote about how the Aesir were pretty cool with bed hopping.
Overall
Gods of the Twilight has put the majority of their focus on developing the story, and it shows. The devs have clearly thought about both the characters, the world, and the source material, blending it together to create a story that creates both tension and intrigue.
Beautifully illustrated, with a full cast of voice actors, Gods of the Twilight is available now for $19.99, £16.75, and €19,50, with its first five chapters in Steam Early Access for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux. An official soundtrack is also available to purchase separately for $7.99/ £6.69 / €7,79 or as part of a game + OST bundle.
You can follow the game on Twitter and join the community on Discord.
I'm a completionist gamer who just needs to find that one last object and clear that final dungeon. I love all video games, from open world sandboxes on a console to a mindless match three on my phone. In addition to gaming and writing, I am a graduate student working on a thesis about the ancient Icelandic Sagas. Feel free to ask me anything about Vikings.
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