I'm making a video game

You're curled up in front of the fire reading a folk tale on a cold winter's night. Something about it seems so familiar. Have you read this before?

Explore a cosy and mysterious fantasy universe inspired by fairy tales. The old kind of fairy tales, strange and wild, before the edges were sanded off. Warm and comforting, but with parts you don't quite understand, and you don't know if you want to understand.

Make friends with 4 different fairy tale folks. 4 main routes for the Witch, the Toad, the Thief and the Mushroom.

Align yourself with G-d, Death, or the Devil. Choose your godparent and your destiny.

The Thief, the Witch, the Toad and the Mushroom is a visual novel inspired by old folk tales like the original Brothers Grimm. It uses old art from the public domain that I've cobbled together. I've completed a lot of work on it so far and I think I should be able to release it later this year. 


One of my big goals is to evoke the feeling I get from finding an old book. The author is long dead, and their perspective warps the events of the story in ways that seem strange and mysterious. Who told this story? Why did they tell it, and who was the intended audience? 

At the time, maybe people would have immediately understood what message the story is trying to convey. But that message has grown twisted and arcane with time. The plot doesn't follow the basic structures we've come to expect, and we don't understand why it twists in the way it does. It's sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre, and sometimes seems to hint at a sinister hidden meaning.

I'll continue to post bits and pieces about it here until it's complete. If you're interested in playtesting the game, please shoot me an email at jack(at)ashtowngames.com and I'd love to send you a copy. 

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