Become Master of Spies, plant connections and agents in the underworld. Who will you join? Who may be betrayed? Decipher Letters, Solve Mysteries, Manage Businesses, Spy, Bribe, Abduct, Murder, Seduce in an experimental atmospheric hybrid of first-person & top-down espionage experience.
Players take on the role of a secret spymaster tasked with rebuilding a powerful espionage organization, the Oracles of the Night, and expanding their influence across the medieval city of Glassden. The gameplay blends first-person exploration, top-down strategy, and intricate spy management simulation.
One of the core draws is the game's strong narrative focus. Players progress through the story by engaging with fully-voiced letters and messages, deciphering coded communications, and uncovering the mysteries surrounding the various factions vying for control of the city. Reviewers praise the immersive storytelling and the well-executed presentation of the narrative.
At the heart of the gameplay is a complex spy management simulation. Players must carefully recruit, train, and deploy a network of agents, including spies, assassins, and other operatives with varying skill sets. Sending these agents out to gather intelligence, sabotage opponents, or eliminate targets is a key strategic challenge, as players must balance the capabilities of their growing network.
The decisions players make have tangible consequences, both in terms of story progression and the state of their spy network. Players can choose to ally with or betray various factions, and these choices shape how the narrative unfolds. Reviewers highlight the game's ability to present players with difficult moral dilemmas and the satisfaction of seeing the ramifications of their choices.
Interspersed throughout the gameplay are puzzle-solving and decryption mechanics, where players must decipher coded messages and uncover hidden information. These segments provide a welcome change of pace from the strategic management aspects and add an additional layer of challenge and intrigue to the experience.
The game's systems and mechanics allow for a significant degree of player agency and emergent gameplay. Rather than following a linear path, players can approach problems in multiple ways, using a variety of tools and tactics at their disposal. This, combined with the game's branching narrative, results in a high degree of replayability as players explore different approaches and outcomes.