It's no secret that The Crimson Maid is a heavily story driven game. The narrative is the main raison d'être of our game. Below are some of our approaches in creating this compelling story.
Character driven story
The core of our narrative are its characters. The events in the game are all character driven, meaning everything that occurs in the game is caused by characters taking action according to their desires, not because we're trying to force our plot into their lives. Marius, Irina and the rest of the family members all have their own agendas, histories and sympathies. Our hope is that you'll have fun getting to know these characters and understanding their motivations. And ultimately strive to influence their fate, as much as one person can influence another's destiny.
Learning secrets through dialogue
The main activity in The Crimson Maid is talking. Or, rather, as a player, reading what the game's characters have to say. You'll usually have a choice to react, change the subject or dig deeper into the current topic. All this talking will often reveal secrets about your counterpart, which will otherwise remain hidden if you decide not to ask a certain question or press a certain matter.
You can, of course, focus only on the important topics, marked as such, and you will experience an interesting story with themes of lust, guilt, sin and redemption. But we assure you, if you take your time to be more thorough, the story will reveal itself to be much richer and the histories and motivations of all our protagonists much more intricate and interconnected.
Their thoughts on paper
Another great source of insights are the various documents our characters leave around the house. A reply to an inquiry about some unpaid invoices by the Rosenthals might not seem relevant at first, but a closer look might reveal something unexpected. All that being said, we take care not to overwhelm you with documents. There are no books with of tens of pages of filler text to go through in the game. So be at ease, when you find a new note, it's likely going to take you less than a minute to go through it.
Active player or passive observer?
You can experience The Crimson Maid much like reading a book or watching a movie. You don't have to get involved, just go along for the ride. Or, if you're inclined to, you can find ways to steer the story. There are plenty of moments when something you say or do can reveal new dialogues or trigger new events that will weigh on how the game evolves and ends. Speaking of which, there are four endings to discover. Which one you will get depends just as much on what you don't do as it does on what you actually do.
Intrigued by all of this? Curious to experience and influence the romance between Irina and Marius? Inclined to disregard the whims of your family or determined to understand their dynamics so you can help them patch things up? Fret not! It won't be too long before we finish making The Crimson Maid, we promise. In the meantime, please don't forget to wishlist the game.