The Ghosts of Troy

Oh wow, what a tragic tale. I really loved how you used the one O2A2 sprite but had the transformations. They really added to the story. I love a good story that has a bad ending vs an even worse one!

Dude. DUDE.

Your mythology games always hit like a truck. The Ghosts of Troy is such a poignant game in such a short amount of words - every one of them is like a sniper rifle and Vanessa did such an incredible job voicing this. The heartbreak, the grief, the betrayal, the going back and forth on her decision to ultimately kill herself to kill or save her son, to take her fate into her own hands. You can really feel her anger at the people who murdered Hector, her grief post-Troy and how much she loved her husband. 

I didn't know the story and I haven't read Andromaque, but after binging your devlog now I'm kind of tempted to do just that. My french is a bit rusty, but you're absolutely right, the English version doesn't hold a candle to the original. I don't know how or why, but Racine's words are so much punchier than the English translation?

Your game is SO well written and it really is a testament to your love of the original material. It's an incredibly tribute and I could tell how much passion went into it from the first line. I was just casually playing this with my morning coffee and I legit sat up and stopped when the first line played because it was like 'oh wow, shit just got serious' and I had to kind of shelve it to play on my laptop again because I wanted the full experience. 

Seriously, this is such a good game. You did spectacular work. The VA is stellar, the writing slaps SO hard and the music you chose is absolutely impeccable.

(Also lol, 'you can't lick your elbow' is so fucking funny to me because even though I knew that, it was enough to keep me busy during the loading screen considering if I'd attempt it again just in case something changed in human physiology.)

Well damn, poor Andromache girl got the shit draw in life. ;~; Vanessa did a great job at portraying her heartbreak of having to choose between the two most important people in her life: her deceased husband whom she wants to remain faithful to, or her living son who's been brought into this mess because of Pyrrhus and his desire to show control.

Excellent job at bringing this tragedy to life. <3

P.S. "Did you know? You can't lick your elbow." :( why you gotta make me remember that? Now I'm even more sad.

OMG, my heart... This is so heartbreaking. :')) Her lines are mesmerising, your writing is as beautiful. Her voice is so soulful, magnificent voice acting right there. Both writing and VA compliment each other wonderfully! The art is very soft and lovely, it gets us to the vibe, especially during some tenses and changes. The bgm makes everything flow. It's really lovely!

Thank you for making this, I loved the experience a lot!!!

I!! LOVE!! YOUR MYTHOLOGICAL!!! STORIES!!!! AHHH!! 

Your writing and wordplay is phenomenal, I still can't believe I can just pull up a chair and enjoy the gut-wrenching show for FREE. The voice actor was also amazing, I could really feel her agony! Again, in love with your ability to spin the story in such a captivating way. Great job! ♡

Such an amazing tale! I love how it reads just like an old play and how the background looked like the scenario of a theater as well!! The art was really pretty and the writing combined with the voice acting was super captivating!!

I just feel so bad for Andromache... such a tragic story, I wish she didn't have such a cruel fate T_T

The ghosts were very interesting. It kinda sounds like it was Andromache's guilt trying to push her into doing "what's right for everyone else" at the cost of her own happiness and life... so sad T_T

- Lady Gaga and now me.

Honestly this is so polished, every time I see you produce a new game I can just see your skills as a writer, programmer, producer etc... come to the forefront and Ghosts of Troy is no exception!

Also Andromache, nah more like Andro-SMASH what a babe through and through! Hector really did pop off with her!

The direction is always one of my favorite parts of your game as it can be hard to do so in Visual Novels especially with limitations like in O2A2 but you didn't struggle what so ever that I could tell!

This is a POWERFUL piece of art. I've always found the story of Hector and Andromache so tragic, and you've masterfully shone a spotlight on the continuation of that tragedy. I found the interactions between mother and son fascinating, with the struggle between shifting interpretations of loyalty, love, and honour. 

So many beautiful quotes, delivered with raw emotion by the voice actor (massive kudos to them!). One of my favourite lines was: "Suffocated by flames, slain by the sword's sighs".  Such evocative, lyrical phrasing.

The artwork is lovely: Andromache's facial expressiveness captures the horror of her situation. Perfect choice of music too, conveying her despair and confusion.

The repetition of the line at the beginning and end was *chef's kiss*, hammering home the bitter notion that Andromache is the "mistress of her own fate", though her only options in this moral dilemma are all devastating.

"This is my love's guiltless gambit."

GOD WHAT A LINE. I had to go back and find it again even after I had finished LOL A beautiful, powerful line for a beautiful powerful game.

I know I can always expect theatrical-style beauty when I play one of your mythology games hahaha. And this was no exception. Stunning presentation, lyrical words, painting-like artwork, and amazing voice work. I could just sit back and experience it as though attending a tragic play.

My heart wept for Andromache the whole way through. To be placed in a position like this... admittedly I may not have had to think quite as hard. Though I don't have any children myself, even imagining if it were, say, a family member of mine on the line, I would do just about anything to keep them from being killed 💦 I suppose Andromache is the same, just that a part of her simply can't reconcile the fact that Pyrrhus himself is the man who killed her husband and put her in this position to begin with... GUH. Anyway... it was a great moment to portray for this little VN to really get across her grief and pain and conflict. To get across so much agony in such a short period of time!

The art is just gorgeous. Literally like stepping into a painting. And I actually gasped at some of the effects you used, such as when the screen went red! So effective??? And how you timed it with the different thoughts. Or for instance the cracking sound and music fadeout for her son's final plea towards the end. Just so effective. Really sent chills down my spine! AND THE VOICE ACTING, GOD. It was just fantastic. SOOOOOO much emotion in some of those lines. I could actually feel as though Andromache was speaking those words of anguish right in front of me...

Great music choice as always. I love your choice of classical piano for these little games. It amps up the theatrical tragedy even more and really gives them such a powerful vibe.

Just a fantastic game. I almost struggle to call it a game because it feels more like a theatrical experience LOL But truly. Really wonderful. A polished, haunting, powerful piece.

Fantastic game.

The writing is beautiful. The voice acting is so great, I'm stunned. The VA is so cool. I love the effects too. I didn't know those were possible. Also, I learn new things about mythology every time I play your game. Thanks!

Very pretty game. loved the music, the voice actors really got into their role. Pretty art.

I've said it before but there's something special about your mythology games. They just hit. 👌

[spoilers below]

I like how well-presented the conflict is, it really pulls on your heartstrings (especially when paired with the excellent voice-acting). I think the choice Andromache has to make is tragic in its own right, but the way she approaches it is even more heartbreaking: she weighs it against the life of her son, and her loyalty to Troy and its men. And though she's against the marriage at first, what she personally wants doesn't matter in the end. She has to sacrifice herself for the greater good because that's what's expected (because gods forbid she dishonors THE MEN). So I think it's a very sad reflection on women's position even now, not just in times of conflict, but in everyday life, too.

Oh, and I liked the art! It's very pretty, and the way you used colors to change the scene, even with the jam's limitations, was very clever. I especially liked the dark sprite on the red background because of the contrast. Very nice job overall! ✨

Aaaaah that voice acting, combined with your writing is absolutely Phenomenal! The use of the jarring red and black, compared with the soft hues of the sunset at the start gives me chills, and fills me with a great sense of dread.

The interruptions of the ghosts are truly impactful, and I love seeing the change in Andromache's grief and decision-making process and how much impact the ghosts have on those things. She truly was haunted. I couldn't help but feel sorry, and yet I understood why she made that decision she did.

Amazing direction overall with the game, you did absolutely fantastic!

Chimeriquement returns with another stunning Racine fangame mythology and theater-inspired game!

The art is gorgeously rendered - the sunset hues of the background give a beautiful but foreboding tone, as day shifts into night. Andromache herself (apart from being STUNNING, my wife) is dyed with blues/violets, as if she has already fallen into night. I also love the attention to detail as the color of the text changes depending on the theming of the rest of the visuals. 

The writing is poetic, filled with regality and theatrical drama. The VA did an absolutely FANTASTIC job, smoothly able to portray both Andromache's dignified grief and tumult and her son's manipulations. The classical BGM does a very good job of setting the tone of the game, and I really liked the inventive use of color matrices to create different variations of the sprite (in particular, the one where Andromache is cloaked in shadow against a red background as ash falls in the back is very impressive). 

===SPOILERS===

The myth that this game is based on is a compelling one. Andromache, after the death of her husband, Hector, during the Trojan War, faces the dilemma of marrying her husband's enemy, Pyrrhus, or allowing her son to be killed. Throughout, she struggles between these two evils, wondering if she would betray her husband more by marrying his enemy or by failing to protect his bloodline. 

As for the ending, I'm a bit torn. In the end, Andromache concludes that she will marry Pyrrhus - and after the safety of her son is secured, she will kill herself, so that she does not have to soil her loyalty to Hector. On the one hand, you could view it as empowering - Andromache gets everything that she wants. She protects her son while also staying loyal to her deceased husband. She decides to take her life by her own volition. In a certain light, it's the best thing that she can do in a horrible situation, where there are no right answers.

On the other hand, throughout the game Andromache is haunted by the ghosts of the people around her. She continuously wonders what Hector would want, hoping that he would give her an answer. Her son speaks to her, giving her orders in the guise of Hector's will - at the end, he tells her to protect him, speaking as "the last memory of the many ghosts of Troy" - indicating that Andromache is not burdened only by the spectre of her husband, but of all the people who died in the war. In her conclusions, Andromache states that she cannot "betray a husband living anew in me" - that her peace would be stealing away the peace of the deceased. When her son concludes, at the end, that Andromache is finally "the mistress of her own fate" - it rings hollow. Her son has been manipulating her for the entire game, casting blame on her for his possible death, rather than blaming the actual culprit - Pyrrhus. Rather than being the "mistress of her own fate," it seems like Andromache has been controlled by her grief and her sense of duty, beholden to the wishes of people who are dead and gone. As a result, in the end I couldn't help but feel that Andromache was not an empowered woman, taking control of her own destiny, but a tragic figure, suffocating under the desire to serve the people around her. 

Overall, one of my favorite games from this developer, 12/10 because it stars my wife ✨