Suffering.

This game goes out of its way to live up to its title. A game full of suffering, pain and sorrow. And yet, one of the best gaming experiences I've had the pleasure of experiencing.

A game where every choice you make comes back to bite you and where every relationship you build can just as easily crumble.

Paired with a beautiful soundtrack, a grounded, well fleshed out grimdark fantasy world and striking book-esque visuals this game is one for the ages. May the Twin Gods watch over you.

It’s a very good game, but unfortunately, like any other games, it highly depends on your choice in terms of the route you follow. Any deviation to the side and you are no longer allowed to make the choice you would like to make. I played on difficulty, where it was impossible to undo and track anything, which helped me believe in the real story of what was happening, making mistakes and correcting them in the same way. This game can definitely brighten up a couple of evenings about the poor life of Brantе.

Очень неплохая игра, но к сожалению как и любые другие игры сильно зависят от твоего выбора, в плане рута, по которому ты идешь. Любое отклонение в сторону и тебе уже не дают сделать выбор, который бы ты хотел сделать. Играл на сложности, где нельзя было ничего отменить и отследить, что помогло поверить в настоящую историю происходящего, совершая ошибки и так же исправляя их. Пару вечеров эта игра точно может скрасить о бедной жизни Бранте.

Cool idea for a narrative RPG. I liked the style, the music was also convincing. Unfortunately, at a certain point the game becomes a math exercise, where it's no longer about making your own decisions, but calculating which decision brings which advantage. Most of the time you can only choose 1 or 2 options anyway because you don't have the necessary skills.
Apart from that, I thought the writing was quite good, but unfortunately anything but subtle. The wickedness of this world is conveyed in a very in-the-face way, it could have been written more elegantly. Some consequences felt unfair and illogical. From time to time, "events" happen in the game that are based on the player's decisions. This is a cool idea, but sometimes leads to illogical situations. For example, a character has a change of heart in such an "event" and later in the main story continues to behave like the old asshole, as if he hadn't learned anything. In general, characters hardly develop at all, but remain static stereotypes. The way the game tells me a thousand times how the family is trying to be elevated to the nobility, even though I made it clear early on in the game that I didn't give a shit about that, was really annoying :D But otherwise a cool idea for a game, very branching narrative and high replay value.

Un esperimento interessante. Ho giocato tre partite in tutto, cercando di seguire sempre una logica di personificazione, agendo di ruolo per quanto possibile. Le prime tre fasi, fino alla Gioventù, sono pressoché identiche: servono unicamente a cumulare punti abilità da assegnare a l'una o l'altra caratteristica, e a determinare il tipo di relazioni che si hanno con le proprie amicizie e i propri familiari. Questa caratterizzazione serve poi per determinare i differenti percorsi intrapresi nelle ultime due fasi della vita di Brante: in questo caso ci sono, sì, più differenze che somiglianze; già solo considerando la via clericale e quella nobiliare si diramano due percorsi molto diversi l'un dall'altro, con numerosi eventi unici ma con anche molti intrecci nell'ambiente domestico (ivi accadono pressoché gli stessi eventi). Consiglio di giocare sin da subito eliminando la possibilità di sapere l'esito delle proprie scelte, così da evitare di prendere una certa direzione in base a una esplicita convenienza numerica. Il gioco prova anche a dare un senso al giocare di ruolo rendendo inaccessibili molte delle scelte, in base ai punteggi ottenuti fino a quel momento: molte volte questo ha effettivamente senso, altre volte invece mi ha restituito un'esperienza spiacevole in modo un po' troppo frustrante. Soprattutto le fasi giovanili di vita sono particolarmente lente da rigiocare; si possono, sì, prendere decisioni molto diverse ma il fatto che il gioco sia pressoché identico per i primi 20 anni di vita di Brante (fa praticamente da introduzione) è un po' noioso e un eccesso

La prima partita mi ha particolarmente tenuto incollato, merito soprattutto del world-building che è parecchio interessante e ben realizzato: molti sono i personaggi coinvolti, gli elementi fantastici si incastrano molto bene col tema fantapolitico, la base narrativa è ben solida e ci sono a disposizione anche una mappa con i vari luoghi di interesse e una legenda contenente le relazioni intraprese e i personaggi conosciuti. Belli anche il sound design e alcune particolarità restituite dalla lettura dei numerosi passaggi. Inoltre, la bellezza della scrittura risiede, sadisticamente, nei momenti più cupi e tragici: per giungerci è necessario seguire dei percorsi abbastanza precisi, altrimenti si incorre spesso in alcune strane incoerenze caratteriali del protagonista e anche in alcuni eventi che hanno poco senso (es.: finità la gioventù, ci si separa dal proprio amico Tommas ma se si sceglie di intraprendere la strada della nobiltà lo si continua a frequentare come se niente fosse). Il fatto cruciale è questo: il mondo di Sir Brante è un mondo estremamente iniquo e crudele, sia nelle sue condizioni iniziali che in quelle dove si tenta di sostenere un senso etico. Il gioco permette al giocatore di perseguire scopi più o meno onorevoli e giusti, di agire con rettitudine; gli esiti di queste azioni sono però fin troppo scoraggianti, risultando più spesso che no in conseguenze anche nefaste. Il gioco spinge, più e più volte, ad adottare una mentalità cinica, doppiogiochista, ad andare più appresso al potere che all'aiuto disinteressato. Quantomeno, richiede molto spesso di scendere a compromessi: già normale nella realtà, figurarsi in un mondo come quello

Purtroppo, non posso dire di essere stato fan delle idee di game design legate alla parametria, sia per la questione legata alla ripetitività delle partite (che ho percepito con noia e lentezza), sia perché fin troppe volte mi sono parse precluse delle vie in modo a mio dire un po' irragionevole

A fun little text-based rpg that goes from birth to about 30 years old (or true death, if you mess up). I enjoyed going through the death throes of an alien empire with just enough similarities to medieval times to make it understandable. The history and especially the religious lore is quite in depth, although at times you get blind-sided by facts like there being blue-skinned people who are kind of like divine right elves.
Your family, title, and estate are equally as important as the other broad historical events happening. You can keep your family together and powerful, or try and gut Stephan for being an annoying little shit constantly and then lose your noble title. What fun!
The weakest part of the game was the limited voice acting, which didn't add much, and the minmax feeling for early stats, which led me to focus less on the childhood choices and more on stat maxing.

Just finished my first playthrough of this game and will be going back for another.

At one point I found myself thinking that this game is just too depressing and too tragic. Then I finished it and realized that the beauty of a well-written tragedy is that it feels inevitable. And for my first playthrough at least, that's what it felt like. I played with the change indicators (idk what to call the message that tells you the effect your choices will have on the stats) off. This is maybe not the choice if you want to try to win or get a particular outcome, but I wanted my first time playing to be blind, so that I could be led less by the stats and more by the story.

It was an interesting approach and I'm glad I did it and committed to it because I got many very sad outcomes and found myself, at times, very frustrated with the options available to me. If that would ruin the game for you, I definitely recommend playing with the change indicators on, though you probably still won't get everything you want. Sacrifices must be made.

I think these feelings, and experiencing them for the characters and about the story isthe point of the game. A very good YouTuber recently said in a video: the point of art is not understanding it or knowing the most about it. The art is in the feeling it illicits in you as you experience it. (Heavily paraphrased from SuperEyepatchWolf's video The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games).

Sometimes your circumstances don't allow you to pick the optimal choice. Your actions have consequences and at many points while playing and seeing the selection I wanted greyed out, I felt those consequences.

It can be a tough play at times, like I said it is very tragic, and I did take a week and a half break at one point, but when I did go back to it I still enjoyed experiencing the game very much.

The major drawbacks are the spelling mistakes. There is a lot of text in this game and it unfolds like a book, so seeing many spelling mistakes throughout my playthrough wound up feeling jarring, and pulled me out of the story. This isn't something I normally mind, and if it were one or two I probably wouldn't mention it. However, in a game that is basically a novel, the text needs to be free of errors in my opinion, especially in a game that has been out for 3 years.

That being said, the writing really is beautiful and the art is gorgeous. The world created is harsh and difficult, but important and worth fighting for. This game made me feel a lot and I'm excited to go explore another branch of the story.

Loved this. Was just rapt the whole time and on my knees at the scope of the game.

I think a lot of us engage with art, with games, to Feel. Games sort of primarily make the player feel power, agency, a sort of strength they can't really get or experience in real life, but Sir Brante... doesn't exactly let you feel that. It does and most definitely can. In fact, a lot of friends I recommended the game to that went through it shared with me their triumphs at pivotal moments in their version of the titular character's life. My playthrough, however, was one marked by sorrow and loss.

The game is full of failures, of ways your character's adult life can fall apart, of ways childhood innocence peels away, of compromises that must be made and injustices easy to ignore. Sir Brante made me suffer. In my eight hour playthrough, it gave me a turbulent life growing up in a rich, fascinating fantasy world in NotFrance on the verge of revolution, made me experience hope and wonder in my virtual adolescence before crushing me with a brutal life of corrupt adulthood, leaving me having lost everything as a result of my choices.

The ending I was led to and the emotional devastation, all on me, left me in awe. Of course, I went back and played again, did other routes, did everything right, had a triumphant life, and that was all great, but...nothing can replace first playthrough, that first route, that experience of getting to the end utterly defeated, but having lived a full life.

En fin de vie, Sir Brante est attablé pour écrire ses mémoires. Il se bute à une question philosophique : qu’est-ce qui détermine la vie d’un être humain ? À moi de répondre à même le livre : l’individu lui-même, le monde qui l’entoure, une force supérieure ou le hasard. La page suivante décrit la naissance de Brante et celles d’après font état de son parcours de vie, de l’enfance à la vie adulte, les chapitres étant divisés selon les moments fatidiques dans lesquels je peux intervenir à sa place. Le ton est donné : c’est l’individu, moi, le joueur, qui exerce des choix et va façonner la vie de Brante. Je prends des décisions, développe les traits de personnalité du personnage, déverrouille des conditions à des choix futurs, ouvre le champ des possibles jusqu’à tout se retourne contre moi. Brante évolue dans un monde brutal, violent, impitoyable. Je dois naviguer à travers les valeurs divergentes de chaque membre de sa famille, la scission qui s’opère au sein de la société, les machinations politiques et plus encore. J’ai voulu jouer un Brante toute en nuance, à la fois en recherche de vérités théologiques et loyal envers les êtres les plus authentiques et bienveillants. Mais ma partie s’est terminée en bain de sang. Une fin horrible, éradiquant tout ce que j’avais essayé de mettre en place dans le monde. Qu’est-ce qui détermine la vie d’un être humain, donc ? J’ai changé d’idée.

Единственная текстовая RPG, в которую я играл. На протяжении игры предстоит принимать решения, влияющие на множество характеристик. Эти характеристики и определяют уникальное развитие истории каждого игрока. Идея сюжета, на который игрок может повлиять очень заманчива. Отличная возможность проявить себя и игровая индустрия иногда предоставляет её. Жизнь Бранте выделяется среди таких проектов большой разветвлённостью.

Действия игры разворачиваются в средневековом фэнтезийном сеттинге во время обострения конфликта в обществе, жёстко поделённым на классы. Грубо говоря, простолюдины против дворян. Разветвлённость позволяет взглянуть на этот конфликт с нескольких абсолютно разных сторон, на каждой из которых встречаются не только особые события и персонажи, но и раскрываются разные детали лора и мироустройства. В итоге, проходя игру раз за разом, складывается пазл из частичек информации о мире игры. Исследовать его очень интересно. Однако тут есть момент, который меня смущает. Игра действительно сильно разветвлена, действительно имеет множество выборов, действительно даёт игроку выразить себя, но при этом чувства свободы в ней нет. Каждое решение влияет на упомянутые характеристики. Характеристики открывают доступ к разным вариантам развития событий, в общем, скиллчеки. Так вот, эти скиллчеки очень жёсткие. Баланс не позволяет расслабиться и сделать какой-то выбор на "авось". Каждая единичка той или иной, в зависимости от выбранной ветки сюжета, характеристики жизненно важна. Именно единички зачастую игроку может не хватить для следования своей линии поведения. И необходимость заранее просчитывать характеристики прям в притык очень раздражает при первом прохождении, когда эта особенность ещё неизвестна. А когда известна, игра превращается в задачку, где с помощью калькулятора нужно заранее определить свои выборы, чтоб подкачать требуемые характеристики к определённому скиллчеку-событию. К сожалению, первое прохождение, особенно без отображения последствий, всегда будет скомканным провалом, где игрок скорее всего даже не дойдёт до последней главы. В итоге останутся неприятные впечатления от прохождения. А при перепрохождении человек будет руководствоваться не моральным выбором, а математическим. Решения, принимаемые вслепую, просто по хотелке игрока, вряд ли куда-то приведут.

С одной стороны, мы получаем сюжет, где игрок самостоятельно без подсказок не сможет полностью раскрыть историю. С другой, целясь в определённые будущие события, игрок выстраивает логичную историю, делая выборы, ведущие к этому событию. Но отступлений тут никаких не позволено. В общем, Жизнь Бранте рассказывает одну историю с разных сторон, а не вашу личную историю. Вы выбираете только какую прочитаете сейчас. Такое впечатление у меня создалось. Что касается качества сюжета, текста и темпа повествования, всё очень здорово. Игра захватывает с головой. Чтение не наскучивает. А выборы предоставляются каждые 5-7 минут. Удивительно насколько легко мне было её читать. Сама концепция выборов хороша, а в данном случае она ещё и скрашена достойной реализацией. Определённо жду следующую игру разработчиков.

Sorry but this thing is flawed potential at best. It shouldn't show you unavailable choices, what does this serve besides creating frustration and a sense of 'not playing'? Many of the relational statuses become irrelevant based on story beats also (like having a character who is -1 indifferent to me or whatever declare their desperately in love with me). I'd rethink the unlocked door symbol next to options also, and this sense of having "unlocked" or "earned" new choices. This is too gamer-y imo. The idea of unlocking something will also feel like a positive in a game context, instead of choices being presented simply as consequences or results, like how they are in life. In the end the game is unbalanced in the way it will always funnel you towards middle-of-the-road, compromised and schizophrenic (your character is inconsistent/incoherent as are the ways characters react to him) playthroughs. Why is this idea of making compromises seen as interesting? Why not design paths that are exciting and make you feel full ownership of your choices every time?

I really enjoyed my first playthrough and most of my second, but I ended up rage quitting when I realized how narrow most win conditions are. For a game with at least a dozen big ending beats and achievements, its funny how you can do 2 playthroughs with nearly opposite choices and careers and still end up with a broken family lol.

But I dont want this to sour the entire game. For the most part I still feel it is very well done and has a great story and atmosphere. There are tons of interesting avenues to explore, too. But basically what everyone says is true- the strict ganeplay does lock you out of many branching options. You practically have to make up your mind from year one and you almost cant achieve more than one thing per playthrough tbh

An original and interesting world, multi-layered characters, investing story and setting, choices which impact the game and most importantly exceptional writing. At times I was more invested in this game than in any other piece of media I engaged with in recent memory. It actually felt like I was forging my own path within the difficult world of the game, based off the principles and ideals I (Brante) acquired and I absoulutely loved that. What I love even more is how open-minded the game is if you decide to take a more questionable path or make an immoral choice - it doesn't judge you, but instead just alters the narrative in a way that would be respectful of your choices.

Long story short - this would have been the best game I've played this year. But then I tried to replay it.

It seriously baffles me how a game with so many possible outcomes can have such a fucked up save system. In the final chapter of the game I had 3 different paths to choose from. I initially went with one of them and finished the game. Then to play through the other two, I had to play through the ENTIRE CHAPTER twice as well. For some reason (presumably because it could make farming achievements too easy? but I honestly have no fucking clue) the game overwrites your save whenever a new event starts and then if you want to make other choices you can only do that by replaying the entire chapter from the start. Manual saves would easily fix the entire issue, so I don't know why the devs went for such a stupid choice. I would honestly replay the game a couple of times if I didn't have to sit through all of this stuff. There is so much content in it, but it somehow feels like the devs don't care enough to give you access to it.

Still, if you only do one playthrough (which is even somewhat thematically fitting - you know, every person has one life etc.) the game is definitely worth your attention - even with the lacking design. It's thought-provoking, it's original, it's very well-written and it's a very good game / interactive book.