"The Dragon and the Djinn"—You hold a djinn in a bottle. Make a wish!

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We’re proud to announce that The Dragon and the Djinn, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 40% off until August 4th!

You hold a djinn in a bottle. Make a wish! Will you slay the dragon, or overthrow the emir? Or will you free the djinn, and accept the consequences?

The Dragon and the Djinn is a 710,000 word interactive Arab epic fantasy novel by Athar Fikry, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

A dragon terrorizes the grand city of Ghariba - the same dragon that slew the city’s emira. Now a new emir, Alaaeldin, sits upon the throne. He throws lavish parties for the nobility while religious and social unrest churns beneath the city’s surface - and as the dragon’s devastating attacks worsen day by day.

You have come to Ghariba in pursuit of your sister. She stole the magical sword that you made, claiming that it is her destiny to slay the dragon.

But your destiny finds you instead. Jaafar, the Grand Wazir, hands you an unexplained gift, the most precious and dangerous thing of all: a djinn who will grant your every wish. (You may wish as many times as you like! Wish and wish and wish, until your djinn has had enough, twists your words against you, and destroys you with your own wishes.)

With your djinn in your hands, every faction is now vying for your aid. You must use your wits, your words, your strength, and your magic to navigate the politics of the palace, the city, and even the world beyond.

How will you use your wishes? Will you protect Ghariba from the dragon by helping your sister? Will you slay the dragon yourself? Will you listen to those who consider it sacred and want to keep it safe? Will you be able to unravel the mystery behind the dragon’s sudden appearance? Or will you simply take advantage of the chaos to make yourself the richest person in Ghariba?

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi; cis or trans; aromantic, asexual, or both, with many shadings of asexuality!
• Race through the skies on a magic carpet.
• Use your djinn to wish for information, wealth, and more - or free the djinn and discover even more wonders.
• Slay a dragon - or save it, and help it speak so that it can tell you its secrets.
• Achieve your destiny as a grand magician, a silver-tongued poet, the protector of the realm, or something even greater.
• Secure the reign of Emir Alaaeldin or join forces with those who would depose him—and even take the throne for yourself!
• Find love with a dragon-slaying warrior, a charming court poet, an idealistic prophet, a lofty priestess, a wealthy noble—or even a djinn!

Be careful what you wish for…

We hope you enjoy playing The Dragon and the Djinn. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

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I’m so excited to play this one, it looks so good!

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Very exciteeed

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Looking forward to trying this!

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I didn’t know what to expect of this game, but I just finished the demo and it’s very good. I want my magic carpet :sweat_smile:

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I’ve just finished now and wow, it’s brilliant!

I love the world, the storytelling and, most of all, how well-written the relationship with our sister is. I know there’s only a few scenes, but it’s got to be one of the most enthralling relationships I’ve seen in a game! I found the ending nicely detailed, too, which I find some games lack sometimes.

All in all, 10/10!

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I can definitely trace the Discworld influence, not only in the tone but in the plot being so intricately woven and complex between all the various players. I haven’t finished it quite yet, but I’m eager to get to the ending, and I’m already expecting this game to be one of my all-time favorites.

I think I might have encountered a bug, though. Near the end, I’m awaiting the wedding with Murad and Aziza, and although I’ve been romancing Iskander and decidedly not anyone else, I seem to have fallen into a scene where I’m propositioning Aziza. It’s possible I accidentally misclicked without noticing, but I dont think I did. I’ll try to recreate the bug and see.

EDIT: I was able to recreate it, and can send the exhaustive list of choices I took to get there if need be

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You sent it to support@choiceofgames.com, right? That’s the best way of making sure it gets to the people who can fix it.

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I did not! I’ll be sure to do that

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I love this a lot. It’s refreshing in the way that it’s not the usual fantasy, place, names or time period I see in COGs. every choice is meaningful and going to different places seems to change the approach of the story. I haven’t finished yet so ill withhold a full review but I have a question.

Am I mistaken or… there’s only one male romance option, Iskander for women? I’ve been going for Murad but apparently he’s not interested in women, so maybe he’s gay?

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I think so, actually.

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This one was fun. I liked the sister and the priestess. Basically did a pacifist playthrough, which is not my norm. Very cool to see a different culture in a COG game.

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Weird situation. In Chapter 5, I go out on a date with Yusr and we talk boundaries - in short, we’re together. In Chapter 7, I ask Yusr for help, and it asks me whether I’m romantically interested in her. Aren’t we past that by now?

Worse: When I’m planning to kill the dragon in Chapter 11, it suddenly decides I’m on her side and helping her escape. I probably tripped over something in the narrative. (For what it’s worth, I agreed to help Murad, but I’ve been double-agenting for Jaafar.)

More continuity chaos: In the epilogue, Durreya is alive but still a dragon, and apparently the game thinks I’m her ally. No, I just tried and failed to murder her.

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I do love a story that gives something fresh to this form of media, and this definitely fits the bill.

I’ll give a more detailed review once I get less busy(and get a few more runs in), but here are my two cents for now:

-Arabic culture is something that I haven’t really touched at all(most is a mix of Disney’s Aladdin, inklings of Scheherazade, and slight knowledge of Djinns from tabletop ), so the glossary was very much appreciated. Helped me get my footing.

-Tied to the first point, it was quite nice immersing myself a bit into the tales and vibe of it all, while equating it enough with Western analogs to not get lost in it all.

-It was very nice to have a grand twist on what is thought off as the most famous of the 1001 nights’ tales-and also differing from Twisted(though Jaffar still seems much less antagonistic here) in that it is the Djinn that is the source of Aladdin being antagonistic…and yet still garners sympathy. Also, the princess being the dragon take is one I haven’t seen much off, so props to that as well.

-Speaking of Djinn, man, you really brought them to life. And while, I was feeling for a bit why the Djinn parts were not as prevalent as expected, not only does it make it all the sweeter when they do come, but it also gives the actual humans some good development. Slightly regretting not going on to Aziza more for the end, but all the more reason to go for another run to know more about her and so I can finally free the set.

-and finally, what other game lets you romance a djinn?

Very well done here, author.

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Question. Is the Djinn’s Gender predetermined? Or is it based on choice? I received no prompt relating to the later, He just introduced himself as Khalid. Just out of curiosity.

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If I remember correctly, the Djinn’s gender is always the same as the PC’s.

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Correct.

Interestingly, in this game, heterosexual romance options do not exist. Every RO is either bi or gay.

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Alright, cool. Right on.

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Gotcha. No worries, just seemed like something it was building up to and then the djinn was all “Hey. I hate you.” And I was like “Bruh… Okay. Vibes. You do you, I gotta save a city of some ish. I promise I’m not a jerkface.” He didn’t seem to care either way lol.
But to give a preliminary review, I am really enjoying the world. Very immersed. Lots of different options to consider and many characters who are intriguing, mysterious and occasionally lovably annoying (ie Roaa).

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There was a lot I liked about the way sexuality and gender were handled in this game. For the most part, it felt very consistent and organic. I like it that there are major characters who are gay or trans but it’s not made a big deal, and in fact it doesn’t necessarily come up in every playthrough. I liked that the author put some thought into what transition might be like in a world with magic, but not modern medicine. I liked the details about how gendered language works in this society.

The only thing in the worldbuilding that felt somewhat false to me was the implication that homophobia and transphobia exist in this society, despite the fact that actual cishet people seem to be few and far between.

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