Wind in the Crown is a free role-playing video game that puts you into a deadly game of survival. Developed by IDHAS Studios, this game is a visual novel and transforms the RPG elements into a  text-based adventure that relies on the players’ timely voting. Unlike most VNs that are released with a full story, this one is episodic and encourages the player community to help influence the story for the next installment.

Wait for every chapter

Wind in the Crown tells the story of Aku Hobson, a powerful mage instructor who had recently been having strange dreams about an alternate world where no magic exists. After stumbling upon a mysterious storybook, she first thought that she may have been transported to that alternate life of hers, but quickly realizes that this new world was the book’s instead. She must now finish the story and win to return home.

The plot is similar to that of the Hunger Games series and looks straightforward at first. However, due to Aku’s knowledge of it being all an illusion, events quickly change to oppose this advantage she would’ve had. Episode One: Turning the Page stops before you can choose who your allies will be and players can vote on the team compositions they’d like for Episode Two for a limited time. Unfortunately, not all combinations are allowed.

Aside from that, the story itself can be a bit hard to follow at first because of the minimal art sprites and animations. There’s not a lot of variation in posing for the characters and some aren’t shown much in a scene, even with just their silhouettes. There’s also a distinct lack of sound effects, either for actions or background noise. Thus, the game doesn’t feel alive much and the text exposition gets really heavy.

Just like the book intended

Wind in the Crown’s plot direction and its cast of interesting characters actually show some potential. Plus, the idea of a community helping shape the story with their votes and saving the developers some time in creating character interactions is great. However, this also hinders the possible routes the story could go—since you can’t choose for yourself in the game—and the art can feel dull without much variety in visuals.