The Archives of Trevosa
"I am Ludir, oloth-til of Oreleth-cyno-taayen of Trevosa. If this signal has reached you, the situation is dire. The dreadful nyscet lies in wait to destroy, and theevei look to the solaam for an omen: who is the true heir?"
Search through the hidden archives of Trevosa, translate their cultural terms, and uncover the relationships within a complex royal family tree. Can you untangle all seven generations? A challenging narrative deduction game inspired by The Roottrees Are Dead.
How to Play
- Your goal is to identify the name and title for each of the 30 family members.
- On the right, read the documents you've discovered and search for clues.
- Search Trevosan words or family members' names to find the first three documents mentioning them.
- Click a word to search for it.
- Or go to the Search tab and type in your search.
- Based on what you learn, set each person's name and title in the tree. Once 3 people are correct, they'll lock in.

Tips
- Stuck? Enable undiscovered document count under Settings, then check the Archive. This will show how many new documents you can find by searching the words in each document.
- Click on the right side of a scroll to set a bookmark color - this is just for notetaking. Use it for documents you want to revisit, etc.
- Use the notes tab or your own notes!
- You can always use the Filter section at the top of the Archive to search for any text in the documents you've already found.

⚠️ Progress is saved to browser storage, except in Safari, which doesn't allow storage from embedded games.
Credits
Originally created in 72 hours for Ludum Dare 59. This is the post-jam version with some additional improvements.
- Bucktown did design and writing.
- Marcus did design, writing, and music.
- Celia did design, code, and UI.
- Rose did the art.
Want more Trevosa?
We have exciting plans for the game! To get the latest news, you can sign up for the Jamwitch Games mailing list. Join our Discord server to follow along with development or join in playtests.
| Updated | 12 days ago |
| Status | Released |
| Platforms | HTML5 |
| Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (961 total ratings) |
| Authors | jamwitch, AureliusWhitlock, Celia |
| Genre | Puzzle |
| Tags | deduction, Detective, language, Ludum Dare, Ludum Dare 59, Mystery, Narrative, storygame, Story Rich |
| Links | Ludum Dare |



Comments
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Really cool game!! Scratched that Obra-dinn itch for me and had me stay up late trying to figure out the solution to it all >:)
This was fantastic! There were some really cool "aha!" moments throughout the game where a new piece of information recontextualized older documents and I would get a few more names checked off.
I ended the game with 49/50 documents discovered (and the one I hadn't discovered was just information I already knew about the Stalwart, I found it with document count enabled) and I figured out who was the heir before filling in the rest of the family tree.
Lovely presentation style, very polished and well written, great game!
I didn't think I would like this, but holy shit did it sweep me off my feet. 3 hours later and I'm itching for more games like this!!!
PLAY THE ROOTREES ARE DEAD ITS JUST LIKE THIS!!!
super fun! managed to find all the information pretty smoothly and enjoyed the experience. took an hour or so to finish, and as a big fan of The Roottrees Are Dead, this was a great find :)
I never thought that being a scribe/archivist would consume me so much.
oh man this was fun. i haven't played many puzzle games but this is making me think i really ought to play more because this was just such a delight to get stuck into for an hour-ish. also when it clicked for me what the theevei were at the end i actually went :0 this game is awesome
So, after playing this twice, I only figured out the second time around what was really going on, partially due to the note at the bottom about trying to figure out why the kingdom had been hidden. based on the comments and context, I htink i have figured MOST of it out.
To this end, as I did with “my friends the monster trainers”, I have written some in-character notes as a response to our friend who sent the signal. I have tried to frame it in a way that would be the most comprehensible to him.
There was one term I haven’t fully been able to translate, also included below.
The term I have been unable to translate is Oloth/olaith/oleth-til. It litterally translates to ‘child-first’, but seems to have additional connotations? My best guess is ‘firstborn’, but I’ve also seen Oleth-Vol exactly once, so Im not sure. Im also not sure What Tale means, since Tale-Sevol is used exactly once, and tale is not used anywhere else.
I also have not been able to figure out exactly where trevosa begins and ends. I believe it is within my house, but I am unsure if the new solaam-varelen(roughly translated to giant/god family) is within another house or not. However, I have deduced that the seelot are worms, the fanaat are either cockroachs or ants, likely the latter, the yefscet are flies, and the efscet are probably snakes. as far as I can tell, this ‘solaam’ has a garden, being the field of beasts. Or atleast a backyard. I think the Nyscet, considering its eating of mascet and fur, is probably a cat. This response is based off those assumptions.
To Ludir, oloth-til of Oreleth-cyno-taayen of Trevosa. My hope is, with time, you will be able to understand this message.
You are the first of the theevei to truly attempt to speak to me this way. There are many things I could tell you, but most of it would be knowledge you would have no use for or be unequipped to understand. Nonetheless, I do have wisdom to impart.
Though Lonara is the true heir, and your claim she will be a good one is not a lie, varelen is not a guarantee of virtue, nor is it a guarantee of wickedness. In the future, there may be a Cyne who was chosen according to your laws, but is unfit and unworthy. A Cyne must serve the theevei, not the other way around. If they fail to do this and enrich themselves at the cost of those under them, they are unworthy.
Lastly, as you have made a request of me, I have a request for you that I wish you to spread to Trevosa at large. Please make sure the mascet the theevei train and use are washed and cleaned as often as possible, and that any waste they leave behind is cleaned up. For as long as this is done, I will keep the nyscet at bay.
tale is the gender neutral for parent i believe, so tale-sevol would be uncle (literally parent-brother). I also agree that oloth-til is firstborn
Generally, it seems that o as a suffix is masculine, with ai as feminine and e as gender neutral. Hence why oloth differs from olaith differs from oleth, but all are relatively interchangeable. Oloth means son. The added "til" is a number: one. You can see all the numbers by how they are listed for the rulers and in the rules of the realm document. Oloth-Til then means first-born son. Oloth-Vol would be second-born son.
I love the letter, thanks for engaging with the game! I’m glad you liked it.
This was so good!! It had so much going on and I was thoroughly invested.
this game was so fun!! I disagree with anyone saying you had to guess on the titles as i was able to find the needed information every time. I only got slightly confused on the vanquished and curator (i was thinking of it in the wrong context) but figured it out. I made a whole list in my notebook about the context for all of the words and how
Spoiler for the linguistics
ai= feminine
o=masculine
et=gender neutral
like how beirvait is wife, beirvot is husband, and beirvet is partner. As someone who feels bad at comprehending languages this helped so much and might be a good way for me to learn actual languages! Either way i loved this game and will recommend it to my friends!!
all my homies hate Yoret Lemal
4.5/5 stars
I would recommend this to people who like lore and puzzles.
I spent a good 3-ish hours sorting this mess out, Although I did get lost several times there was a few things I found that helped me pick back up the pace. Being able to correctly guess the titles and names was very satisfying and allowed the mess to open some more. I tried to read as much as I could and even now I admit I'm a bit lost on the lore. But, It gave enough information and details to help find the awnser even though it would be nice if I didn't have to guess 95% of the titles.
Overall good game and inspiring story, as a GM for D&D, I definitely got a good amount of ideas based on this while going through it. I look forward to exploring future games y'all make.
This was super fun! I was just watching a video on The Return of the Obra Dinn, and that gameplay was really interesting to me, so when I found this game, I was thrilled to try it out! This game was fun, interesting, and satisfying. Those Aha moments really stood out to me, and I will def be looking for more games like this, adn keep an eye out on what the creators make next!
My absolute favorite type of gameeee!!!!! The deduction difficulty level is perfect to progress at a nice pace and feel like a genius translator lol
Spoilers!!!! These are the translations I made over the course of the game but I probably missed terms I didn't end up writing down
Beelain: Queen consort
Beelen: Royal consort
Beelon: Prince consort
Beirvet: Spouse
Bervait: Wife
Beirvot: Husband
Calseraim: Godmother
Calserom: Godfather
Cyne: Ruler
Efscet: Snake
Olesata: Coming of age expedition/adventure?
Oleth: Child
Oloth-vol's beirvait's leevoth: younger sons wife's younger brother
Olaith: Princess
Olaith-til: Crown princess
Olaith-obrao: Granddaughter
Oloth: Prince
Oloth-til: Crown prince
Oloth-obrao: Grandson
Oloth-vol: Younger son?
Leeveth: Younger sibling
Leevaith: Younger sister
Leevoth: Younger brother
Seilait: Niece
Seilot: Nephew
Sevel: Sibling
Sevol: Older brother
Solaam: Some kind of giant creature
Tale-sevol: Parent-older brother?
Todii: Idiot
Tabeir: Marriage
Talai: Mother
Talai-obrao: Grandmother
Talo: Father
Talo-obrao: Grandfather
Theevi: The kingdoms subjects
Vaiteth: Enemies
Varalen: Family/House
Varvei: Celebration
Varvei-cynvei: Coronation
Varvei-tabeir: Wedding
RULES OF SUCCESSION
When the current cyne (ruler) dies or is no longer able to perform their duties, their youngest oleth (child) who has a beirvet (spouse) or is betrothed and has passed their olesata (coming of age trial) is heir and shall become cyne (ruler). If they do not have an oleth (child) that is a suitable heir, then succession passes to their youngest sevel (sibling), or that sevel's (siblings) descendants if needed.
Gonna play every other game jamwitch have made now :)))
Your prince/princess translations are off, as they don't refer to "children of royals", just plain "children", as you correctly translated the neutral form and the grand-counterparts.
Oleth-til/-vol/-yen/etc. function exactly the same as cyne-til/-vol/-yen/etc. so an oloth-vol is the leevoth of an olaith-til, but the sevol of an olaith-yen.
As such, your "crown prince/princess" translation is particularly inaccurate, since the oleth-til is the eldest, while the rules of succession call for the youngest oleth past their olesata with a beirvet (hence why the olaith-yen became cynai among the group of three oleth).
As for "tale-sevel", if you had one, you could be said to be their "sevel-oleth", or more simply their "seilet".
Wow thank you for the in-depth explanation! Language and translation is so cool :)
Yes, I must have gotten carried away translating the prince/princess words by giving them their possible royal titles instead of just son/daughter.
Super helpful!
Wow! I just finished this game and my list of translated words pales in comparison.
this game was really what i was looking for after chants of senaar. I really enjoyed the early stages of trying to learn the language a bit and then eventually catching on and just enjoying the complex story of family lines. Really curious for any follow up of this
so fun and just challenging enough to keep me hooked. had to go back once I solved the puzzle and figure out the fact that they're like mini people
This game was so much fun!!!!
This was great! I really enjoyed this! Does the ending change if you swap the true/false heirs?
No, that would just not lock in since it’s incorrect.
But they don't know that ;)
In seriousness though, it might be a fun way to make a bad end
What engine/code base was this made in? It was a lot of fun
It’s plain old HTML/Javascript, which I always use for jam games because it’s so quick to get started and works great for a UI-focused game.
Incredibly fun! My first game of this kind and I loved it, even as someone with little experience with even just puzzle games in general. Trying to keep track of what you'd already read was somewhat difficult, but never in a way that made me want to stop playing.
Took me until the end to realize that THEY'RE IN MY WALLS!!! THEY'RE IN MY WALLS!!!!
Obsessed with this!!! I really love the lore and how our role in figuring out the lineage is not only useful for us but for the people of Tresova themselves. The gameplay is so fun and I loved reading, and deciphering the language – the culture is so well fleshed and I felt as though I really was a translator for an existing civilization!
this was so fun!!! greatly enjoyed it, and even though i didn't 100% understand every word i got enough of it to solve the puzzles!
cool
this is so good... i love how the story's filled with mysteries, so u wanna keep going
I loved it can't wait for more like this
Loved this! I was definitely getting "Her Story" vibes (and was glad to be proven right by your updates post)! I'll have to try out the other games you mentioned as inspirations. Thank you for sharing this game for free! If you ever make another game along these lines, I'd love to play it!
i really enjoyed this!
This was heaps of fun and I'd love to see a sequel!
this was great! had to resort to brute forcing the last 3 but spent a good few hours on this, would love a sequel
I really had fun solving this
Excellent game - just wanted to add some overarching lore thoughts (there's a couple of comments that reference it from a month or so ago, also sorry if I don't spell everything correctly.)
Solaam - its used in a few ways - it's mentioned that they can step on people, but also that they seem to provide food. Also, Ludir is asking "solaam" to help solve the crisis... they also use solaam when referring to prophecies (or omens I guess). Lastly there's reference to a new Solaam varelent (sp) that gives more food...
I think that Solaam are regular humans, and that the theveii are tiny people (like secret of arriety). They don't seem to grow their own food, and scavenge/forage which is why they are running out of food. They have specific rules about not staying out in the open and keeping quiet, im assuming the threshold is the front door of a house and the field of beasts is the backyard
Seems like the animal that killed the 2nd queen is snake (spine and scales but no legs) but they specifically describe it as large. Thinking the mascet are maybe mice or rats (the seelot are worms, and rodent tails kind of look like worms). And thinking the big monster is a new family cat (or dog) that's eating their mice mounts.
An absolute delight
This was great! Took a few hours but I managed to solve everything. I loved how everytime you learned a new word, I reread the old text and was able to figure out so much more. Can't wait for more!
sooooo fun estin basheel is just like me fr
So fun! It starts off kind of hard but once you get into it it's awesome. I'm probably going to go back and read all the lore since it seemed very interesting. The second and third generations are the best.
I CANNOT RECCOMEND THIS GAME ENOUGH!!
★★★★★ / ★★★★★
(my thoughts + tips below)
if not for the puzzle aspect, FOR THE LORE!
this game took me about 3-4 hours (i did not skip ANY lore and I read through every document a few times. lore skipping will probably result in 45min~2hrs of playtime)
i cannot believe that such an amazing game was made in such a short amount of time. the dev team did absolutely wonderful and i hope you guys continue to make more wonderful little games like this!
some small tips to help you: (these aren't spoilers, they will just make the game a little easier!)
(keep scrolling to see my interpretation of the words! while some of them may not be accurate, it helped me a ton!)
!! SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD !!
!! BE WARNED !!
here's my deduction of word meanings:
leevoth = brother
leevaith = sister
leeveth = sibling
talo = (grand)father
talai = (grand)mother
tale = (grand)parent
oloth-til = son
olaith-til = daughter
olethtil = child
oloth-obrao = grandson
olaith-obrao = granddaughter
oleth-obrao = child
calserom = protective male figure / godfather
calseraim = protective female figure / godmother
olesata = exam to become heir
varvei-tabeir = wedding
varvei-cynvei = funeral
cynai = queen
cyno = king
cyne = current royalty
varelen = friend / co-worker?
beelon = king (partner to royalty)
beelen = partner to royalty
beelain = queen (partner to royalty)
todii = unimporant / outsider
theevei = people of the kingdom
oltev = project to get food, founded by sartina
tysetei = record of anything (writing, speeches, etc.) created by cyne
happy solving!
"coming of age"? - but context is not sufficient to know for sure I think and "consort" is the word you are looking for ;)
P.S. One of your translations is definitely politer than context would suggest! ;)
Varvei-cynvei seemed to mean "coronation" to me and Varelen seems to mean "family" or "house" and while Oltev could just be the plan or project to get access to food, I took the literal translation to be tunnel or passage.
Todii I took to mean "fool." But I think all of these are vague enough that different interpretations are valid.
I think varvei is the term for celebrations in general because of how it was used in Threatening Note, referring to nightly varvei. Then cynvei = coronation and tabeir = wedding goes along fine with varvei.
This game was a lot of fun lol, all these people messy and good of Ludir!
Ngl I think my favourite generation is the one with the dysfunctional siblings who shade each other constantly. No wonder shit immediately fell apart.
really great combination of language and relation deduction :D I had a great time with it
This was really really really great!! I deeply love deduction games like this: a little bit challenging, but I could still figure it out in the end. Thank you for this great game!