Westbound Travel (post-apocalyptic, surreal fantasy-western) [Updated 5/18/25, approx 100,000 words]

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BLURB
You are a wanderer in a dying realm, given a quest you do not fully understand by a Prince, bereft of other memories and purpose. Long ago the Empress Eternal sat upon her throne in the Westerne City, over the horizon, bestowing to Monarchs Authority. It has been an age and no new Monarch have been made. Starved of Authority the world is unraveling around you. You have been given a gun, and charged to walk the sunset paths, to find the Westerne City, stand before the Numinous Throne and beg for a new Monarch. Seek the west. Set right the world.

ABOUT
Westbound Travel is a surreal, fantasy-western in a dying world, inspired by Soulsborne games, the Dark Tower novel by Steven King, and the TTRPG setting Ultraviolet Grassland and the Black City by Luka Rejec. The player takes the role of a wanderer who wakes up in the dungeon of a Prince, with no memories of where they came from, and is given a quest, a gun, and a few companions to somehow fix the world. Create a wanderer who can be any gender, choose to be a knight or reject it, decide how you feel about your quest and the west, and possible even find love in a dying world.

Demo Here: CoGDemos

Update Plans

Currently the demo is clocking in at around 50,000 words. Everything is subject to change and I welcome feedback here. I plan on dropping another update when I have about this much more to add. I am about to be starting a new job, though, so I am unsure how long that will take me.

5/18/24 Update: Currently the demon is clocking in at approximately 100,000 words. I have added major chapter in the other world (our world), back in the dead city confronting the cult, a monster chapter in Castle Bridgend with many paths through, including little dates with your companions and an optional romantic encounter with Prince Geb (this is currently just a fade to black, although I reserve the right to add more adult/interactive content later). Then just a little bit more after the Castle, with your own little Band of Five. I start work tomorrow at the new job so I will probably be way, way slower to add the next, 50,000 words, but I hope to get the party to Dridgen, deal with a misadventure and major decision there, and get them a little bit more on their way west before I update again. Enjoy!

Content Warnings

Westbound Travel is a post-apocalyptic surreal cowboy-fantasy. It heavily features the ruins and discussion of war, tyranny, plague, and existential threats. It includes interpersonal violence including gun and sword violence, cults, and religious zealotry.

Route dependent content warnings include discussion of an off-screen suicide, discussions and mentions of transphobia, racism, and police violence in a modern American context. This game includes consensual sexual encounters between the player character and several other characters. All of these are entirely optional, and currently will be skipped over with a fade to black, although in later versions of this story I may make them more interactive, depending on feedback.

ROs (minor spoilers)

Cu: Male, major romance, anyone can romance. A young squire and would-be academic, had he not been born into a world where such things are no-longer valued. Appreciates PCs who act like knights and also value knowledge.
Noemi: Female, major romance, anyone can romance. A west-bound pilgrim who like you has lost her memory. She also has a wolf’s head replacing her own. Appreciates PCs who like her are single-mindedly devoted to the journey west.
The Stranger: Player-choice gender, major romance, anyone can romance. An enigmatic figure who seems to dwell in the grey fog of forgetting devouring the world.
Styx: Nonbinary, major romance, can only be romanced by trans PCs. A punk and activist from Earth who, as reality is eroded, falls into the PCs world. Tight, natural hair, shaved on the sides, out of their depth.
Prince Newt: Female, minor romance, can only be romanced by male PCs. The Prince who charges you to seek the west, and also offers to let you become her knight. Noble, graceful, beyond beautiful
Sir Passerine: [spoilers], minor romance, can only be romanced by male PCs, a masked knight who serves Prince Newt. Enigmatic but approves of everything Newt approves of.
Sir Arch: Female, minor romance, can only be romanced by non-male PCs. An at first antagonistic knight who serves Prince Geb. Red hair, green eyes, freckles, noble to a fault.
Prince Geb: Male, minor romance, can only be romanced by non-male PCs. Boyish and slight, but with an air of sadness around him that reveals how old he is, as time breaks down.

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I’ll read better when I have more time, but the setup looks interesting.

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Looks pretty wild but I like it so far

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This is really cool - the vibes/atmosphere of the world is honestly amazing.

In addition to the stated inspirations (of which I am only really familiar with The Dark Tower and Soulsbourne), it actually also kinda reminds of the Neverending Story.

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Thank you! I appreciate a lot that you commented after two years, very cool. I have never actually watched(or read? Isn’t it based on a book?) the Neverending Story so I will add it to the list!

@Dragomer Appreciate it!

@LiliArch Take your time, look forward to it.

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I haven’t stated reading yet but it sounds interesting. Is the gun our only weapon or can we get a sword?

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So far only the gun. There may be an option to pick up a sword ahead though!

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Great because the whole knight outlaw thing is interesting and i wanted to be a sword wielding outlaw

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Next update then!

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Also wondering - does the MC have a plot-relevant backstory, or will everything that happened before they talked to the stranger remain lost?

(And yeah, Neverending Story is based on a book - in fact, I had kinda forgotten it even had a film adaptation.)

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Kinda an involved spoiler-y thing, but, dependent on choices the player character will eventually be able to claim to be the sole survivor of the party mentioned in the opening epigraph of chapter one, or, alternatively, reject that, in which case they may have less specific memories of a homeland somewhere else. Spoiler less version: it will depend on player choice, and even if the player chooses a plot-relevant backstory as opposed to having their past remain lost, they will have several different pasts to choose from.

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Soulsborn inspired game ? give me the papers i will sign anything, and silly and Spoilers below

Summary

nothing really important
but do you really have to name a charcter cu ? Means Butthole in portuguese,

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Well poop now I gotta reconsider that. Was naming him after Cu Chulainn from Irish myth but, well, we’ll see now.

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You might also want to consider sir thrush-in English that is a yeast infection

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Sounds interesting

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uh oh, yeah, I gotta change that

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I hope you can give us more descriptions for ROs.

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Sure thing, I’ll work on updating that soon, after I finish writing and update with the next few chapters (which will introduce the last RO). Is there anything in particular you’d want to see in those descriptions?

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Just how you imagined them. Height, eyes, skin, body type and is does naomi really have a wolf head and normal human body or is she like the animals from beaststars?

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I’ll update the post when I have the next update, although hopefully the descriptions in the game paint a better picture! Although I may avoid giving like, weight and body descriptions unless it feels relevant or useful in universe? For instance I do point out Cu’s youth, a long black hair, since both feel relevant, but I don’t super want to give his height since it could be percieved differently by different heights of MC, which I don’t want to code, and also the world he’s in probably doesn’t use our height. Of average height, then, not something to be remarked on.

For Noemi, I will say she literally does just have a wolf’s head. She’s not a werewolf, she doesn’t have paws, she just is, well, like the depictions of therianthropy from medieval illuminations. Hope that helps!

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