The Labyrinthian

The Labyrinthian takes place in a homebrew fantasy world full of mystery, where little information about the larger world is revealed until the end of the story. The beginning of the story takes place in the Kingdom of Do. A knight is tasked by the High King of Do with crossing the fabled Labyrinthian, a maze of unparalleled proportions and complexity, to deliver a mysterious artifact to the kingdom’s forward fortress.

The player takes on the role of the knight, tasked with crossing the Labyrinthian. Their choices ultimately decide the fate of the Kingdom — and by extension, the larger world in which this story takes place.

I wanted players to be immersed in this world through descriptive language, and to feel a weighty sense of finality and high stakes with each decision made. To fulfill this goal, each and every decision has to have some form of impact on the story and the ultimate end the player meets, whether they find themselves on the death screen or one of the many endings. I also didn’t want there to be a “good” ending or a “bad” ending — much like real life, each decision had to be a give and take. 

The Labyrinthian uses links in many different ways. The most prominent example of this are the dialogue choices, which can lead to a variety of different outcomes — there are dialogue options that can reveal further information, options that perform skill checks, similar to Dungeons & Dragons, or, perhaps more similarly, the Fallout series or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as dialogue options that go to other locations, add or remove items to/from the player’s inventory, or initiate combat. 

Combat is also something I knew the game needed to have, and I accomplished a simple turn-based combat system by using links.