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Astrologaster
Dec. 5th, 2021 01:52 pmI have a game recommendation: < href="https://www.astrologaster.com/">Astrologaster. This one came out in 2019, so some of you may already be familiar. It’s available on iOS, Mac/PC, and Nintendo Switch for $5 to $10 and takes about 8 hours for one play through.
You play as Dr. Simon Forman, a real-life astrologist/”doctor” in 1590s London. This is based on the real records of Forman, who left an archive of over 80,000 case notes, though they are not using specific cases from the archive. The academic in charge of the archive consulted on the project.
The game play is 13 different querents come to you multiple times each seeking a medical diagnosis, life advice, or a prediction of the future. You consult the star charts and choose between 2-3 different possible readings of the stars to give an answer. Note that all the astrology here is accurate—the game designers built the star charts for the day of each of the consultations.
So it’s basically a choose your own adventure novel. There is a goal—you’re trying to get recommendations so you can get a medical license. But I found an interview with the designer saying that they have that for people who want a win condition. In other words, you can play however you want, really.
I found a review of this game that called it “dramatic irony, the game.” Each of the querents comes to you multiple times. They are all part of the same community, so increasingly through the game, people come to you to ask things that you *know*, because the people they’re asking about have told you. Like, a wife asking about the secret their husband is keeping. So you can choose to tell them, or lie to them—but you’re trying to get recommendations from both people.
Forman knows things the querents don’t, the querents know things Forman doesn’t, and sometimes the player knows things no one in the game knows—there’s more than one occasion where someone asks for a future prediction that you might just KNOW, since you know the history.
Things to know about this game:
- Every character is introduced for each consultation with a madrigal. They are EXCELLENT. (And the soundtrack is available for purchase, though don’t listen to it until you’ve played the game.)
- This is definitely more fun if you have a basic knowledge of the big historical events from 1590-1605 England. I’m talking, have taken the Beefeater tour of the Tower of London level of knowledge. What a British primary school student would know.
- This is also more fun if you have some knowledge of Shakespeare, both his works and the historical person—who is a contemporary of the game. A lot of the reviews call this a “Shakespearean” game, but it’s not really. It’s at the same time and it refers to him, but the plot line is not a Shakespearean one.
- This is delightfully anachronistic. Though everyone is talking in a kind of Elizabethan English, one character refers to someone “lordsplaining,” there’s someone who talks about forming a union, there’s even a reference to breaking the fourth wall.
- Everyone in this is TERRIBLE. Including Forman, who is often not at all objective. Though you always have multiple choice, there are times where the querent is going to do what they want no matter what you say—or where Forman is going to do what he wants, no matter what you, the player, pick.
- For the medical diagnoses, even if you correctly choose the disease—this is the 1590s. So the treatments are appalling. You might correctly see that the patient has jaundice, then Forman goes and recommends they rub mercury on themselves, or use an enema, or leeches.
- This is very solidly in the bawdy category. There is a LOT of discussion of “involuntary purging” from both ends and the privy parts and STDs. The one word usage that annoyed me was “chundering,” which came up a lot. That is Australian slang and WAY more recent than 1592.
- It is absolutely possible to kill your patients with your advice. I’ve only played through once, so I don’t know if it’s possible to avoid it…
- Content warning: Forman hits on/has relationships with several of his patients. He is a complete creep. Nothing is strictly non-consensual, but you also can’t avoid him being a creep with your choices. So if that’s a no go, give the game a pass.
All this means, since you are trying to get recommendation letters, you can choose whether to tell people truths they won’t like or tell them lies that they will—and sometimes those lies blow up on you later. You can also choose just to start shit. Multiple times people come to you thinking they’re bewitched (and they know who the witch is). You can totally tell them—yes, you’re totally bewitched—and then find out what drama you’ve started next time they come back.
If you look for reviews, you’ll find some that complain that it ends abruptly—I did not find this to be the case. Don’t know if they pushed an update, but regardless of getting all the letters I needed, it continued to play through to the end of everyone’s story lines.
I found this a blast, and will probably do at least one more play through. And there are definitely people I know that will get a heck of a kick out of this. I only wish this were a big enough game to have a proper wiki—I’d love to see all the possible endings to each character’s story, but it appears no one’s put that together. The playthroughs are just lists of the “best” choices—which thoroughly misses the point in this game.
You play as Dr. Simon Forman, a real-life astrologist/”doctor” in 1590s London. This is based on the real records of Forman, who left an archive of over 80,000 case notes, though they are not using specific cases from the archive. The academic in charge of the archive consulted on the project.
The game play is 13 different querents come to you multiple times each seeking a medical diagnosis, life advice, or a prediction of the future. You consult the star charts and choose between 2-3 different possible readings of the stars to give an answer. Note that all the astrology here is accurate—the game designers built the star charts for the day of each of the consultations.
So it’s basically a choose your own adventure novel. There is a goal—you’re trying to get recommendations so you can get a medical license. But I found an interview with the designer saying that they have that for people who want a win condition. In other words, you can play however you want, really.
I found a review of this game that called it “dramatic irony, the game.” Each of the querents comes to you multiple times. They are all part of the same community, so increasingly through the game, people come to you to ask things that you *know*, because the people they’re asking about have told you. Like, a wife asking about the secret their husband is keeping. So you can choose to tell them, or lie to them—but you’re trying to get recommendations from both people.
Forman knows things the querents don’t, the querents know things Forman doesn’t, and sometimes the player knows things no one in the game knows—there’s more than one occasion where someone asks for a future prediction that you might just KNOW, since you know the history.
Things to know about this game:
- Every character is introduced for each consultation with a madrigal. They are EXCELLENT. (And the soundtrack is available for purchase, though don’t listen to it until you’ve played the game.)
- This is definitely more fun if you have a basic knowledge of the big historical events from 1590-1605 England. I’m talking, have taken the Beefeater tour of the Tower of London level of knowledge. What a British primary school student would know.
- This is also more fun if you have some knowledge of Shakespeare, both his works and the historical person—who is a contemporary of the game. A lot of the reviews call this a “Shakespearean” game, but it’s not really. It’s at the same time and it refers to him, but the plot line is not a Shakespearean one.
- This is delightfully anachronistic. Though everyone is talking in a kind of Elizabethan English, one character refers to someone “lordsplaining,” there’s someone who talks about forming a union, there’s even a reference to breaking the fourth wall.
- Everyone in this is TERRIBLE. Including Forman, who is often not at all objective. Though you always have multiple choice, there are times where the querent is going to do what they want no matter what you say—or where Forman is going to do what he wants, no matter what you, the player, pick.
- For the medical diagnoses, even if you correctly choose the disease—this is the 1590s. So the treatments are appalling. You might correctly see that the patient has jaundice, then Forman goes and recommends they rub mercury on themselves, or use an enema, or leeches.
- This is very solidly in the bawdy category. There is a LOT of discussion of “involuntary purging” from both ends and the privy parts and STDs. The one word usage that annoyed me was “chundering,” which came up a lot. That is Australian slang and WAY more recent than 1592.
- It is absolutely possible to kill your patients with your advice. I’ve only played through once, so I don’t know if it’s possible to avoid it…
- Content warning: Forman hits on/has relationships with several of his patients. He is a complete creep. Nothing is strictly non-consensual, but you also can’t avoid him being a creep with your choices. So if that’s a no go, give the game a pass.
All this means, since you are trying to get recommendation letters, you can choose whether to tell people truths they won’t like or tell them lies that they will—and sometimes those lies blow up on you later. You can also choose just to start shit. Multiple times people come to you thinking they’re bewitched (and they know who the witch is). You can totally tell them—yes, you’re totally bewitched—and then find out what drama you’ve started next time they come back.
If you look for reviews, you’ll find some that complain that it ends abruptly—I did not find this to be the case. Don’t know if they pushed an update, but regardless of getting all the letters I needed, it continued to play through to the end of everyone’s story lines.
I found this a blast, and will probably do at least one more play through. And there are definitely people I know that will get a heck of a kick out of this. I only wish this were a big enough game to have a proper wiki—I’d love to see all the possible endings to each character’s story, but it appears no one’s put that together. The playthroughs are just lists of the “best” choices—which thoroughly misses the point in this game.
