How Stories Die

How Stories Die is a 25–35-hour story about Horace, a prince of Alteria whose life changes when his father orders him to escort the child of prophecy to the palace. The child is destined to defeat the demon king, but when Horace reaches the meeting place, three girls each claim to be the true hero. He must uncover which one is telling the truth—or wait for his father to recover from an illness so he can hand the responsibility back. Meanwhile, a mysterious voice in Horace’s dreams calls him both “master” and “enemy,” and the army of hell draws nearer.

The three heroines

Nozomi Taara is cheerful and energetic, having spent most of her life in the forest with her mentor, a demonic magician gangster bunny. Unfamiliar with civilized society, she gets excited by small things and often misunderstands them. She is not especially sharp, but has a strong affinity for magic, which is mainly used by demons, and a seemingly endless supply of terrible jokes and puns that she tends to make at the worst times.

Riko Futukami has a short fuse and a fragile ego. A highly agile gladiator, she has won numerous championships. Her former family of gladiators disowned her for being too weak, and she plans to defeat her father in the finals and take revenge. She loves drinking, speaks like a walking thesaurus and has a drawing of Horace for some reason.

Haruka Saionji is shy and insecure, physically weak, and lives in the Capital’s slums. She is also a genius who solves riddles quickly and uses cold logic to predict what others will do. Intellectual challenges bring out a dominant, confident side of her. She holds strong political views about the royal family and conceals dark truths, some of which she does not fully understand herself.

Routes and endings

The story has three routes with different atmospheres, each based on a classic RPG role: mage, warrior or rogue. An overarching mystery offers a new take on meta, and the game has about 12 endings plus a true ending, not counting bad or comedic endings.

Art and music

The game includes over 15 drawn CGs and an original soundtrack, with variations for some plot twists.