The Necromancer's Tale

The Necromancer's Tale is a story-rich, top-down RPG set in an alternative-history kingdom near Venice and the Adriatic Sea in 1733. You play a minor noble who is drawn into necromancy while seeking knowledge and revenge, gradually learning the Dark Arts and their rites of death and reanimation. Your rise to power involves sneaking and studying, and the story explores what you will do to gain power and how it changes you.

The kingdom and its people

The setting lies at a crossroads of rational thought and superstition, science and magic. Courtly intrigue unfolds alongside black magic as chemistry begins to emerge from alchemy. The game contains 400,000 words of narrative and lore, and you can converse with more than 180 characters. You investigate, negotiate, coerce and flatter to advance your aims.

Your choices, including what you say in conversations, affect the townsfolk's trust in you. If their trust falls too low, it can limit your choices; if it falls further, you may be tried in court and hanged or lynched by a mob.

Shape your character

You create your character through an interactive, fully voiced backstory that defines your gender, early life, skills and career. You choose a military, diplomatic or academic career, and these decisions affect the narrative options available during the main game.

Learn and fight

You decipher a spellbook and master its rituals while trying to avoid losing your mind or being discovered by the townsfolk. Progress calls for determination, cunning and secrecy. Tactical, turn-based battles pit you and your allies, including your undead minions, against natural and supernatural enemies. You use weapons, rituals and battle spells to defeat them, or choose automatic combat resolution instead.

Story and endings

A playthrough takes between 25 and 50 hours, depending on how much side content and world exploration you pursue and whether you play battles or resolve them automatically. Multiple endings show how your choices shape what happens in the future.