Volutian Design Announces Norse Cyberpunk Visual Novel Gods of the Twilight, First Five Chapters Arriving November 14, 2023
Ragnarök approaches in a fully-voiced story that sees players literally playing god
San Jose, CA (September 19, 2023) - The apocalypse looms as developer Volutian Design reveals the multi-season episodic visual novel Gods of the Twilight. A cyberpunk visual novel where old Norse magic returns to a futuristic, decaying world approaching Ragnarök, the first five chapters of Gods of the Twilight will be available in Steam Early Access for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux on November 14, 2023.
In Gods of the Twilight, players are thrust into New Reykjavík, a city-ship set in a futuristic world of invasive technology and ecological disaster. Play as dual protagonists Althea and Farkas, inhabitants of the city-ship and reincarnated deities who must navigate their own roles in this decaying world while evading high-tech cultists, and uncovering ancient truths and their own arcane abilities, all as the apocalypse approaches.
As each chapter unfolds, Althea and Farkas will discover their pivotal roles, developed by player choices, as the end of the world draws closer. Interdependent choices play off of each other and carry over between chapters, adding greater importance to every interaction with the game’s richly designed NPCs from every corner of society - including military intelligence officers, bartenders, billionaires, and the protagonists’ childhood friends. There’s no question that their world will end, but with hundreds of variables, you can decide how.
Told via compelling storytelling and thought-provoking choices that affect the protagonists’ stats and uncover new options, you’ll develop a wide range of relationships as the game progresses. Interact with an array of companions and choose to make friends, challenge rivals, or fall in love (including the protagonists with one another). Together, Althea and Farkas must navigate a complex network of potential allies and adversaries, which includes deities, mythical creatures, governmental bodies, powerful corporations, and criminal organizations.
“Like so many others creating their dream projects, we began working on Gods of the Twilight in 2020, but believe it or not, we began before the pandemic! The timing was uncanny, but hopefully, the rest of our work won’t be so prophetic,” said Volutian Design co-founder Ashley Micks. "Real life is already a bit of a cyberpunk dystopia, so it's interesting to explore what might come next and what it all means for our characters and their relationships. With magic in the mix, of course--the stories of our past are part of us as well. We love chatting about these things, and storytelling has a way of kicking off interesting discussions.”
“This project is the brainchild of two friends who share a deep love for roleplaying and immersive storytelling,” added Volutian Design co-founder Leandro Zantedeschi. "We spent years working on it, improving it slowly and steadily by our own efforts and those of the talented artists, voice actors, and other collaborators we hired to help us. And we did so because we believe in it--we're driven to create something heartfelt, with complex characters and themes, for an audience that shares our passion and enjoys the world we're creating as much as we do."
Key Features of Gods of the Twilight include:
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Love, Loss, or None at All: Your choices determine the protagonists' relationships with their companions and one another, including the possibility of polyamory, and each character has romance options of multiple genders
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No ‘Routes,’ Just ‘Choices’: An episodic story where choices carry over between chapters and seasons, Gods of the Twilight features a range of branching paths, including independent choices tracking overlapping consequences for unique endings
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Say it with Your Chest: All dialogue is fully voice-acted, with talent including Amina Koroma (Baldur’s Gate 3), Kelsey Jaffer (Genshin Impact), Atli Óskar Fjalarsson (The Midnight Sky), and Ellis Knight (SMITE)
Gods of the Twilight launches with its first five chapters in Steam Early Access for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux on November 14, 2023. A demo is currently available on Steam and Itch.io.
About Volutian Design
Founded in February 2020, Volutian Design is an indie studio working on their debut title Gods of the Twilight. Co-founded by friends who've played and GMed tabletop and MMO roleplaying plots together since 2014, they hope to share their passion for storytelling more broadly in the form of interactive fiction. As though they were running a tabletop session with players in person, the studio aims to bring plenty of heart and meaningful moments in stories that are personal to players and their choices.
