Forget it, dear readers, it's Moreytown

Front Page Discussion
#1

Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2017/05/08/forget-it-dear-readers-its-moreytown/

iOS, Android, PC/Mac •


One of our favorite gamebook creators back in our Pocket Tactics days were the fine folks over at Choice of Games. Their gamebooks appear spartan, lacking any illustrations, but are actually deeper than just about every other piece of interactive fiction out there. This comes from their spreadsheet-like approach to tracking your choices and adjusting your character as you proceed through the story. It also comes from the fact that many of their gamebooks tell epic, sweeping stories rather than focusing on a single quest or adventure. Their latest isn’t any different.

Welcome to Moreytown puts you in the shoes of a Dr. Moreau-esque animal-human hybrid and drops you in the titular cesspool where other hybrids are being hunted down and killed. You’re mission, if you’re half-capybara enough to accept it, is to explore and determine what the hell is going on and, maybe, put an end to it.

The fun part of the Choice of Games books is just how open-world they feel. Sure, it’s a gamebook so your choices are limited, but it’s a 150,000 word gamebook which means those limits are fairly loose. Starting with their no-limits on which gender or sexual orientation you want to play, there’s also not a lot of tangents you can’t follow in each story, and where you end up is rarely where you think your story is heading.

Play as one of thirteen different species, including tiger, capybara, bear, or wolf. Infiltrate a sinister cult, or ally yourself with a gang of moreys. Choose a side and let the fur fly!
  • Play as male, female, or non-binary, gay, straight, bi, or ace
  • Fight the police or help them to bring down a terrifying enemy
  • Save your neighborhood from utter destruction
  • Take over a street gang, or even run your own cult
  • Explore multiple potential romantic relationships
Welcome to Moreytown is available for iOS, Android, and PC/Mac. It's also on sale right now, so you can get it on all platforms right now for cheap.  
#2

I am less interested in the amount of choices, the freedom of choices, the shiny veneer, etc. in game books than I am with the quality of writing. If the game reads like a bad middle-school project, I have no interest. Do these Choice of Games have quality writing backing their premises?

#3

I’ve found the writing in the books I’ve read to be good to very good. Most of them are written by established authors. This one was written by S Andrew Swann. I’ve never read any of his stuff, but it appears that he’s got quite a few books out there.

#4

I’ve played a lot of their gamebooks over the years, and while the style of writing varies from game to game, the quality is really pretty consistently high. They seem to have a solid team of editors working on their gamebooks. I don’t know Swann’s work and have not grabbed this one yet, but I can absolutely recommend the Heroes Rise trilogy.

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