New release: Unrest

Pyrodactyl Games has now released Unrest, a sort of wRPG-ish chat-em-up set in a fantastical variant of an ancient Indian city.

The premise:

Set in a fantasy interpretation of ancient India, Unrest is an adventure RPG focused on story and choices. Play as five ordinary people who are struggling to get by in the in the famine-stricken city-state of Bhimra.

Brave poverty, disease, treason, political and social upheaval. Face unique burdens and gripping dilemmas as you struggle to survive in each chapter…but choices made to help one character may well make life harder for another.

In Unrest, there are no heroes of legend, there is no mystical quest, and fate has not chosen you. You’re on your own.

The game makes very sparse use of combat, instead giving you access to a number of branching dialog trees that affect the way you get through the game. Reportedly, Unrest adapts to reflect characters deaths and dialog choices you’ve made. In fact, your character can straight-up die and the story will continue on without them.

I played the first hour or so, and offered my preliminary thoughts on the game here. For a shorter snapshot of the game, here is a trailer:

Unrest reportedly comes with mod support, which is quite interesting; I haven’t seen much in the way of details about what can be edited and what tools come with the game to effectuate said editing, however.

One bit of housekeeping before I get to the details on how to buy it: it has come to my attention that Unrest has a publisher, “Kiss” (not the glam rock band, presumably, although that would be amazing if it were). I spoke to Pyrodactyl, and luckily, it seems this was purely a “come in at the end of development and help with distribution” arrangement–thus, Unrest qualifies as an indie title under my rubric.

Unrest runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. It costs $14.99, with a launch discount on many platforms. You can purchase Unrest direct from the developer, on Steam, on GOG, on the Humble Store, on Gamers Gate, and on Green Man Gaming. Or, if you’re on the fence, go download a free demo from the game’s Steam page.