Talking about visual novels such as Umineko / When They Cry got me thinking about other games that have haunted my memories, made me feel for the characters and setting. Games that have told stories, and invited me to work my way through them: games where I became invested in the horror, or the mystery, of it all.
The game that tops my list isn’t actually its own game. It also debuted about 10 years ago, in November 2003.
It’s Excrucio Eternum, a fan-made module made by Stefan “Twoflower” Gagne, built on the Neverwinter Nights’ Aurora engine. From the official description of the module:
The nightmare behind you could never prepare you for the nightmares ahead of you. Sleepwalking through horror wrought by your own hands, struggling to save yourself from a force you cannot possibly overcome… The only constant you can rely on is pain. The only power you were given is change. Be you a savior or a destroyer, you must escape this place, or suffer forever…
-a dramatic roleplaying-driven module, by stefan gagne.
The story starts by your character walking on a path, seemingly between adventures; a mysterious man in a dark green suit greets you on the path, a fellow traveler on the road -
- until the mysterious man captures you and the magical artifact, and you wake up in a strange room after flashes of – interrogation? Torture? You doing horrible things to others. You can’t remember. You don’t have your usual gear. Rusted and bloody shackles are on the floor. Guards in the building refer you as an agent, and a woman in a green dress insinuates you were an unthinking minion.
This is only the beginning.
Thus begins Excrucio Eternum.
Clik here to view.
Excrucio Eternum – Lobby.
