A Study in Steampunk: Choice by Gaslight
By Heather Albano
☆ (9/10)
There’s no reason for A Study in Steampunk: Choice by Gaslight to be this good. No reason at all. It’s a Victorian steampunk setting—with magic. And not your usual “waving wand” magic, but an actual unique magic system that involves “the sun-touched” and “life-eaters” (more on that later). These two aspects should contradict each other, but it somehow is married so beautifully. Additionally, the plot literally grabbed me by my hair and shook me back and forth. I thought this was a simple mystery game. Oh, no. My poor main character went through an amazing story arc: war veteran with PTSD to secret agent to community doctor to secret agent to priest then to depressed. I can’t say more, but I have never been so emotionally affected by a CoG title before. I mean, I had fun, I guess? But I was distraught and horrified and almost brought to tears—by my own choices. I honestly felt depressed after finishing the game. There are no happy endings. I will NOT be replaying this game, so props to Heather Albano because my heart just hurts. I only have a couple quibbles regarding the romance, but that’s such a small con.
Pros:
Atmosphere. The game gets Victorian steampunk. Smog-choked streets, class tension, secret societies, and that ever-present sense that something powerful is humming just beneath the surface. The tone is dark without being edgy. The tone is dark and grim without being over-the-top edgy. Magic doesn’t make things cooler or safer—it’s another tool to hurt others. The game really leans into the idea that advancement comes at a human cost. People are tired. Systems are broken. Resistance exists, but it’s messy and compromised, and even doing the “right” thing often feels like damage control rather than a win.
Magic system. The writing is just brilliant, as there are so many different morally grey areas. A central focus on the game’s lore revolves around a group of people known as “the sun-touched” who possess the ability to drain or give life force to other people. Through this ability, the sun-touched and the vampiric “light-eaters” have created a feudal society at the expense of treating commoners as nothing more than cattle and serfs. On the other hand, your country, Mercia, has entered an “Enlightened Age.” Your country believes in modern medicine and technology, ushering in great inventions at the cost of constant pleas for labor reform and unions. The problem is you are secretly sun-touched. What will you do with your gift—or curse?
The magic system works so well because it’s unique and logical. Life energy isn’t created out of thin air; it’s transferred, stolen, or preserved. That single rule explains everything: why society turns feudal, why the sun-touched sit at the top, and why exploitation becomes tradition rather than villainy. Magic actively influences politics or class. What makes it especially compelling is how cleanly this mirrors Mercia’s industrial revolution: different tools, same inequality, just dressed up as progress.
Layered story with political intrigue, magic, spies, murder mysteries, and rebels! You are not just a simple secret agent, like I thought. You’re a doctor and a fighter. You’re a spy and a magic user. You can even be a killer. You treat the powerful and the powerless, rub shoulders with the royal family, then turn around and patch up the poor, all while navigating conspiracies that feel much bigger than you. Depending on your actions, your friends will support or abandon you. You might gain new allies or enemies. I genuinely couldn’t tell where the plot was heading because I could not stop reading!
Choices that matter. For an early CoG title, the story will veer sharply off the rails if you like. You can get your grubby hands everywhere. I went in expecting something fairly shallow, but I came away so emotionally affected by the events that happened to my character. Most games only emphasize the divergent paths at the climax, but in this game, Albano manages to weave three or four different factions to side with. And the choices are not easy, either. Does the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Would you kill to protect someone you love? What is the main goal of a doctor? I also appreciated how the author gave a wide variety of responses, so you don’t feel forced into extremes like many other titles.
Emotional. I swear I’m not affected by sad events in games that much—but this one got me. Not in a big, dramatic way, but in that quiet, lingering way where you keep thinking about your choices after you’ve put the game down. Because A Study in Steampunk: Choice by Gaslight gives you so much agency, the consequences feel personal. When things go wrong, it doesn’t feel like “the plot being tragic”; it feels like you messed up, or at least accepted a cost you knew was coming. It made me sit there for a bit and just process what I’d done, which is not something I can say about most games in this genre.
Checkpoint system. A genuine QOL blessing! Being able to roll back without replaying half the game makes experimenting with choices feel encouraged rather than punished. More IF games should take notes here.
Mixed:
Male-only protagonist. This didn’t completely ruin the experience for me, but it’s noticeable. The story is written with a male protagonist, and it does affect your relationship with others and your class status. While the characterization is strong enough that I could roll with it, the lack of gender choice might feel limiting to other players. It’s understandable for an older CoG title, but it’s something to be aware of going in.
Cons:
Limited ROs. As far as I could tell, you must side with the corresponding faction to romance two out of three ROs. It makes sense narratively, but I was interested in Alexandra and did not have any content with her.
Grace treatment. This is my biggest con. First, Grace is an absolutely wonderful RO, a strong woman with a brilliant mind and caring side. The romance was a bit fast—you skip to courting, then proposing, then living together. No big deal, I can live with that because the narrative is so strong. MAJOR SPOILERS, but I was honestly outraged by Grace’s role after the halfway mark. So Grace gets ill with cholera. F*ck me, I guess. I use my life-eating magic to, ya know. Eat some bum’s life to heal her. She survives, yay! But because I killed someone, she divorces me by letter and ups and leaves???. I don’t mind that my actions have consequences at all, but that choice feels so rushed and abrupt. There’s no real confrontation, no space for argument or grief—just a sudden exit that flattens what had been a nuanced, meaningful relationship into a shock beat. It made me feel like the other ROs were the more “canon” choice. I would have loved an actual scene trying to explain, or a later scene where you win her back.
Older game design. Because the game was published in 2015, it doesn’t have the usual bells and whistles I’m used to. The stats page only has personality traits, and there are no relationship bars or banners.