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HMS Forakerby Paul Wang2018 Historical ChoiceScript
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(based on 1 rating)
1 review — 3 members have played this game. It's on 2 wishlists.
Command a royal warship and destroy your enemies at sea! As a veteran navy captain in the world of Choice of Broadsides, you’ll fend off (smugglers, slavers, and) foes of the crown to seize your place in history.
HMS Foraker is an 85,000 word interactive novel by Paul Wang, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
It’s 1813, and you’re a key sailor in the naval war between Columbia and Albion, where aggression is rewarded and cowardice can get you killed. If you seize enough treasure, you could be set for life – but hesitate against the enemy and you could end up facing the firing squad.
Board enemy ships and force them to surrender, or use your connections to stay out of the fray. Will you steer your crew to glory, or go down in infamous defeat? What mercy will you show your prisoners? Can you control your composure while fighting a war? Revenge yourself on old rivals and reward your allies for their devotion. And whatever you do…
Don’t give up the ship!
• Serve the queen or the king, with an all-male or all-female crew.
• Captain the powerful warship HMS Foraker.
• Train your crew for combat, with kindness or cruelty.
• Parley with smugglers, slavers, and other unsavoury characters for tactical advantage or personal gain.
• Inspire devotion from your crew, or sway your superiors back home.
• Confront storms, accidents, and other maritime disasters.
• Master the balance between bravery and cowardice, cunning and folly.
• Win glory, treasure, promotion, a knighthood, or even a noble title.
This game has a little bit of history, much of which I don't know. It's a sequel to the original Choice of Broadsides, a navy battle game, but by a different author, Paul Wang, author of some games I enjoy quite a bit (mostly fighting games).
The original game was low in wordcount but long in feeling, spanning an entire career in the navy by having quick narration and choices that could affect months or years at a time.
This game is longer than the original but feels shorter. It is a 3-chapter game that essentially retells a specific part of history of the War of 1812, as described by the author at the end.
I believe it is related to the free games Zip! Speedster of Valiant City and Sky Pirates of Actorius as being commisioned by Choice of Games as shorter games to offer free on the omnibus app. I may be wrong there.
I think that the reason this game feels shorter is that it reads much like the intro to a longer game. Like I said in my review of Zip! Speedster, both games feel like instead of being constructed small from the get-go, it took a larger setup and shrunk it. There are very few possible changes to stats, and the plot arc seems to start slow and never really take off.
I saw a comment on Twitter by Dan Fabulich that suggested the timespan in-game can contribute to a feeling of length in a game, and I think that's true. This game takes place over a couple of months and covers the lead-up, action, and denouement of a single action.
In any case, the historicity was fascinating, but I don't feel this game succeeded in its 'small package' design. I do enjoy the author's writing quite a bit, though, and as a game free on the omnibus app and relatively short I feel that any fan of history should try this out.