Phantasmagoria: Nightmare’s End
“In the midst an elm shadowy and vast, spreads her boughs and aged arms. It is here which men say the Oneiroi hold, clinging under every leaf.”
~Virgil
When you sleep, you leave the realm of the wakefulness into a place where your greatest dreams and worst fears are all possible. You are at their mercy, as events twist and move about, neither solid nor necessarily true. The Elm of dreams is a dangerous place to rest, for in the branches above roost the Oneiroi. They are the children of Goddess Nyx who rules the night. Through the darkness these spirits fly on wings as dark as midnight, seeking the helpless minds of those who sleep. They are the daemons of dreams.
What becomes of those who sleep beneath those boughs? You’re about to find out.
- Travel though the a land of myths and nightmares with your ever present captor, one of the Oneiroi who has taken an unfortunate interest in your soul.
- Beginning with only a candle and your wits, navigate the maze successfully and meet the challenges without faltering.
- You will be watched. None may cheat their way to victory in the Oneiroi’s games.
- Meet the denizens who reside in the twilight realms. Some may be helpful, many are indifferent. Most will be more than happy to seek your demise.
- Choose your difficulty level. Did you wander into the realms by accident, did you deliberately seek to destroy the evil that haunts these lands?
- Revisit the harpie’s roost in an included mini-game.
- Battle monsters, find valuable items, answer riddles, navigate mazes. Fight, talk, evade, run away if you must!
- Try to keep your sanity and find a way out before your light fails and darkness falls forever.
- Wake and return to the world of the living… If you can.
Black background recommended for extra atmosphere 
Hi everyone. This is a random hobby project I’ve been chipping away at on and off since about 2020. I was debating when to release any of it out into the wild as I’m also getting another game ready for submission, and a previously published game edit finished up at the moment, but given I’ve been sitting on Phantasmagoria for a while and it is close to being finished (barring it needing any major edits or scenes added) so I figured I’d upload the first three chapters if anyone would like to take a look at it and let me know what you think. (Any constructive crit, spelling errors, missing things, bugs etc all very welcome! Please tell me what you think is wrong 
) Might need a bit more to it, but also very interested to know if the stat balance is ok or if it seems too hard or easy. More will be posted as I can get around to sorting out the remaining chapters so they’re complete and working.
If you have any comments about this game please speak up! I’d love to hear from you.
Genre: Dark fantasy & mythology.
Other stuff:
In the final game, the candle bars will be yellow to indicate the flame like below. I just can’t do that while it’s hosted on dashingdons for testing/updating easily.
Current status (released/unreleased written content):
At the moment the first five and a bit chapters are available to play (approx 157k words)
(Note: There’s actually almost 192k written so far on this game as of 25th April '24, each chapter just needs finishing and testing before I can release it. It will be longer than this by the time it’s done )
Anyways here the game link: Phantasmagoria Game Link
A few random notes on the game.
Are you only writing dark spookyish games now?
No, it’s just I’ve had a few games inspired by prior Ecotocomp entries. Raishall is an extension and edit of a 2019 game (this is in final beta on the forums, please consider testing if you like this game ). This one has been adapted from the idea of my 2020 Ecotomp game. I do still write lighter stuff (check out Cage Break on my itch page for an example if interested) and the next game I plan to work on from here (Dragon Chronicles) is also much lighter in tone.
Can you die/be defeated by the Oneiroi/other enemies before the end?
Yes you can. You can change up the difficulty in the start menu by allowing you to get different amounts of extra health or light on demand if you need it. Bear in mind you need to invoke these boons before you hit zero if you’re going to use them. You can also alter a few other aspects of the game such as getting hints for some sections if you want them. (Options will be presented in game or in the stats menu. I recommend giving the how to play the game in the stats menu a quick read).
Alternatively there is a storyteller mode which should prevent you from dying from loss of health and light at least (please let me know if that plays up anywhere if you use it. Thanks!) although you can be defeated by failing other tasks even in this mode. Most places will allow a do-over if you meet and early end, and there are actual story scenes for certain areas that can only be found if you “fail” so don’t be afraid of trying different things.
Can you see the whole game in a single playthrough?
No. There different ways to approach some sections and some branching. I’ve tried to mark some of the more distinctive branch points with a note. Would be great to know if that’s helpful or annoying. I may put a toggle if it’s unwanted to turn it on/off or get rid of it entirely.
Is this mythology inspired?
To an extent. There are definitely some figures from mythology (mostly Greek) that make an appearance and calls into question just where it is your captor has brought you and how real any actions you take there remain. Not all creatures/locations can be found in mythology though. The Oneiroi has a fairly vivid imagination when creating challenges for its captives to overcome.
Why a candle?
I think I probably drew some inspiration from the old Brother’s Grimm story called “Godfather Death” where each person’s remaining lifespan was represented as a candle so Death knew by the size of the candle when their flame might be saved from going out due to illness/injury and they might yet have more time to live, and when the candle was so small nothing could be done (if the natural order was followed) and the flame would go out.
Will I have to answer riddles?
Although there is a riddle contest, you can opt out by having the answers given to you via one of the options. If you do want to play them, I’m putting in a range of options so you can choose the difficulty from hardest (free text entry) to a bit easier (button press options), have 3 different types of hint systems you can set to trigger if you want them, or just ask for the answer to be given. So no one should get stuck and not be able to complete the game because of them.
There will also be a mini game where all the riddles will be aviablable to guess (unlockable after you finish a complete play through), but it is optional and does not affect the main game. If you just want to see the extra content in the mini game, again you can change the settings for the answer to be given to you.
Will you include an option to romance the Oneiroi?
No sorry, I know it’s unpopular but just doesn’t work with the story premise. It’s never been at all human in nature and kind of more interested in tormenting the souls of its victims forever, rather than settling down with a mortal and caring overly much about their happiness.
Edit: I’m possibly working on some kinda RO options in the extra mini game included (more on that to come) that will be playable after completing the main game, although given who and what they area, exactly how much is romance and how much is them playing it straight or tending towards some mind games is debatable and it’s up to you should you wish to go down that road.
The game name is too long.
Yeah I know. By one character. Still trying to decide what to do about that
Update list
22 Jan: Minor update- Grammar and minor bug fixes.
8th Feb: Major update- Grammar and bug fixes. Added a small scene if choose to turn off the main path in Chapter 2. Cheat menu for anyone having trouble finding one of the two ways out in the forest if you get lost in there. Chapter 4 released.
25th April: Major update- Various grammar and bug fixes.
Chapter 5 and the first part of chapter 6 released.
3rd May: Minor update- added extra options to access the riddle settings menu and images.
22nd July: Coverart draft uploaded.
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