A Tale of Crowns is a browser text-based high fantasy romance game developed by cherry. It was published on itch.io on September 3, 2020. It can be played on PC and mobile.
Premise[]
Their parents murdered and the previous Crown of Arsur assassinated, your character finds themselves on the run as they’ve been bestowed with the golden eyes that mark them as the new Crown.
Gameplay[]
The game is entirely text-based and choices throughout to shape both the main character’s personality and skills, as well as influence their relationships with others.
The player character can choose their sexual orientation, and has four choices of romance, who are either male or female depending on their choice.
Setting[]
The story takes place in Arsur, a fictional empire within a fantasy universe that draws inspiration from historical settings in the Middle East. Much of it is based on Kurdish culture, drawing from my own experience as a Kurdish woman.
The player character is 25 years old and was born and raised in Arsur, where magic is considered a skill no different from reading or writing. Gender, sexual orientation, and race have no bearing on social position or class; it is instead only based on wealth and level of education.
The Arsurian Empire itself is overseen by a single ruler known as the Crown. Unlike traditional monarchies, however, the title is not inherited through blood. Whenever the Crown dies, their famed golden eyes pass on to the one chosen by the spirits of this world to be the new Crown: this appears to happen at random, as Crowns in the past have ranged from the poorest farmer to the wealthiest noble.
Customization[]
At the beginning of the story, you’ll have the opportunity to customize your Crown’s name, pronouns, sexual orientation, and their skill in magic. You can also customize many parts of your Crown’s appearance: hair color, hair texture, hairstyle, skin color, height, and clothing style are all up to you and will be reflected in the story as well.
Their ethnicity and culture is locked in as Kurdish/Middle Eastern. The Crown is also locked in as a person of color, as is in line with the setting - their specific race is up to the player to imagine.
As for your Crown’s personality, there are twelve different character traits in total, six of which will be decided based on the choices you make in-game. This will subsequently change your Crown’s behavior during story and romance scenes.
Romances[]
| Title | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Sorcerer | Rêzan/Rozerîn | The Crown’s Sorcerer, widely regarded to be a prodigy and expected to become the most powerful magus in the Empire. |
| The Hero | Xelara/Xelef | A legendary mercenary and the leader of the Crescent Blades, whose exploits were chronicled in song. Also known as the Pale Sword. |
| The Protector | Ashti/Azad | Once a peerless soldier in the Imperial Army, now promoted to the Royal Protector of the Crown due to their unrivaled skill and exceptional integrity. |
| The General | Dara/Delal | The General of the Imperial Army, known for many strategic victories in warding off attacks from hostile nations. |