After a major screw-up leaves him broke, Roui returns to his homeland. Irritated by their local customs and superstitions, he dreams of returning to his old life, taking up his work as a jeweler again. Doing so only leads him into more trouble, though, in visual novel The Crown of Leaves.
Roui’s work as a jeweler soon gets him a job working on a bracelet for a customer’s bride, only to have the bracelet get stolen by a magical spirit called the Mad Rook. This leaves the player no choice but to go find it, solving cryptograms and item-based puzzles to track the item down so he can make enough money to hit the road.
Roui may not like his new life here, but that doesn’t mean players can’t make him more comfortable there by being nice to the locals. Players can make decisions throughout The Crown of Leaves that will endear him to various people around town, like helping them out or giving them items as gifts, or they can also be a bit of a jerk and become a villain to these people. Either way, there will be consequences and benefits to the player’s actions, so it will be up to them how they want Roui to live out their life.
The Crown of Leaves takes place in Shang-La, a land of humanoid animals where science and magic mingle. The humanoid animals are known as the sahash, of which there are five nations, each with their own customs and traditions for players to get to know as they play.
A demo is available for The Crown of Leaves on Itch.io and Steam.
Published: Jul 10, 2017 04:00 pm