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 three people are correct, they'll lock in.
Tips
- Stuck? Enable undiscovered document hints under the Filter section of 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!
- Starting tip: Some people in the tree have an additional title. Try searching for those as a starting point.
⚠️ 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. Click here for the jam version of the game.
- Bucktown did design and writing.
- Marcus did design and writing.
- Celia did design, code, and UI.
- Rose did the art.
- Music was composed by Marcus prior to the jam.
Thanks for playing! We have more plans for the game, so follow Jamwitch if you want to be notified of future updates.
Comments
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super super delightful game, enjoyed it from start to finish!
great
This was awesome! Beautifully done!
loved this game!! amazing work <3
Absolutely wonderful game! The sound I made figuring out who was the gate opener... unfolding the drama was super fun and each of the characters are very endearing
This game is really nice! I have exams coming up, but I still couldn’t stop myself from playing through the whole thing XD
Really nice game, I had a good time trying to figure out who was who !
It gets easier as we play, obviously, but no less fun
I was almost sorry to complete the whole puzzle since it kept me really entertained !
This game was so much fun! Thanks for making it
Really fun game. Everything felt logical and well put together.
Hidden gem actually!1! The vocabulary is logical and everything makes sense, it felt like watching drama unfold in real time
Amazing game! Took me about an hour and a half to figure everything out, but if you keep a vocab sheet it's more than doable. I actually got really attached to the characters lol. Hope to see more from this universe, or at least a similar style of game!
amazing work!!
This game was so good, I spent like 2 hours on it to figure everything out. I had to draw the family tree myself and basically make a vocabulary list haha, plenty of papers on my table rn. I haven't locked in on a game like that in a long time.
Very cool game!
this was insanely good, took me like 5 hours, ive always wanted to play this type of game
I loved it! I think I might use this to torture my EFL students! (Just imagine playing this game when you need a dictionary for the english words too)
This is baller, I had so much fun! One question---I was able to deduce everything from the notes, but I'm not sure in which note it mentions that Lemal is the gate opener, or what the gate opening was. Am I just missing something completely?
WAIT NEVERMIND I FIGURED IT OUT it's the opening.
this is similar to The Roottrees are Dead. i really like this as well as that game. Props.
Amazing game! I love love LOVE this kind of narrative, fill-in-the-blank style mystery game and you really knocked it out of the park! Along with Dungeon Descent and Monster Trainers you all have made some really awesome deduction games and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!
this was a lot of fun, thank you so much for making it!
very fun game
Time to feed my furry nyscet. It's always the time...
This was very fun, I spent way more time then I thought I would on this, I did have to work so I'm blaming it on that LoL. when can we see more?
Very cute! Wish I were also quizzed on all the family terms etc, not just names :)
PEAK game
I adored this game I would love to see more like it :D
This game was really fun, thank you!
i loved this game!! thank you so much!!
Very cool little language puzzle!
I loved the game!! If you pursue a more refined version of the game my only proposition would be an integrated translator like in Chants of Senaar, i.e. you have a menu where you can look at all foreign words and write your own translation for them, and then in the text the foreign words have a note in parentheses that display your translation. It could also display it on mouse hover.
Stunning work! I don't play deducation games often but this got me hooked. It truly felt overwhelming in the beginning but figuring out the language on top of the connections was incredibly fun.
Thoroughly absorbing and interesting. I loved figuring out the language as well as the names and titles. The story was intriguing and it revealed itself as the language became gradually more available to me. With the titles, the individuals had a personality and their own little story.
so fun!! been hooked on deduction games, and this one had the perfect balance of leaving you breadcrumbs to follow while also not being Too handholdy. having to also piece together the language along the way was also SO satisfying, esp as you start to piece together a few rules here and there (so many people have made this connection already, but it really does feel so roottrees are dead x chants of semnaar)
but wow its so good!! looking forward to more from the devs :D <3
(if i could make one request though, would love a way to increase the font size. my eyes are bad and my monitor is too big LOL)
Thank you! And noted about the font size. For now, zooming in should work - I just fixed the tree so it can scroll horizontally if needed.
Loved it. One of the very few games who actually got me reading! Loved discovering the lore and relationships between each of them. The titles were a bit tricky sometimes, and I have to admit I nailed a few from luck alone, but overall a very nice game, totally worth playing it!
Awesome game, I had a lot of fun playing it!
I LOVED THIS oh my goodness I was itching to play more games like this after the roottrees are dead!! so well done, so much fun deciphering the language
this was ridiculously fun! i'm a big fan of these deduction puzzle games. this was really well-written. i caught on quickly to the naming conventions and enjoyed piecing things together through context. i can tell this was crafted with love. excited to see what you do next!
Hello fellow players and devs
I've been trying to figure out the last two generations - the six other than Lysna (she's already locked in place). I know for a fact that Ervala and Oreleth are 100 percent right (their title and name both are given pretty plainly in the documents). Temig should also be in the right place and with his right title. Hint pls? I'm so confused and it's been about an hour atp TT
Before someone tries to tell me to brute-force my way to the end - I've already switched around their titles numerous times to no avail.
Sincerely,
A very frustrated player
Hi!! Try to pay some closer attention to the document "Letter to Talai" for Temig hints.
For the other generation (the one right above) I'd suggest "The Reign of the Stalwart" both part 1 and 2 and "Funeral Diary Entry"
Good luck!
Have you identified the false/true heir?
nope TT
Really great game kind of "Obra dinn" like.
I love that you have a notebook directly in the game.
It could be incredible to have acces to translated log after you've completed the game
Excellent game. I cannot stress this enough. I would be obsessed with a series of games like this one about different scenarios: corporative politics, medieval intrigue, a childhood friend group's relations and breakups throughout the years... It just feels like this gameplay lends itself to become a great franchise.
Thanks!
For corporate politics, or at least office politics, try the very entertaining and engrossing narrative deduction game A Case of Fraud. 🙂
And for this kind of gameplay about children's friend group relations, among other things, try The Case Of The Worst Day Ever!
Little Problems is another one in a similarly low-stakes setting, mostly filling in the diary of a college student.