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View Full Version : "Chzo Mythos" by Yahtzee. Now with free special editions!



Comet
2009-07-29, 01:17 PM
Just thought I'd let you know that this adventure game series by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is now available as a special edition package, free for anyone!
Previously you had to pay a couple of bucks to get these, but since Yahtzee's getting a regular paycheck at Escapist he decided to let us download the SEs for free.

Get them here (http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/donate.htm). (You can also grab 1213 Special Edition, which is a Flashback/Prince of Persia style platformer experiment.)

The Chzo Mythos is a supernatural suspense story with a good mix of ghost stories, science fiction and Lovecraft-style elder god horror.

5 Days a Stranger starts the series off and is a pretty basic ghost story. You play as a gentleman thief, Trilby, who gets stuck in an empty mansion with some other unfortunate englishmen. However, there is something else in the house. Something dangerous.
The game is pretty old and the music is ripped from RPG maker, but it's still good fun.

7 Days a Skeptic is a science fiction tale. You are aboard a spaceship that does scoutruns across the galaxy. The crew hauls in a mysterious metal box floating in space, which turns out to be a bad idea. Horror ensues.

Trilby's Notes is set between 5DaS and 7DaS and continues the story of our favourite gentleman thief. A strange twist of fate forces the burglar to face his past again, as the memories of the haunted mansion refuse to let him go. He travels to a remote english island to track down the cause of the horror. He finds much more than he bargained for.
This game features a text parser interface and an unique audio track by Mark Lovegrove.

Finally, 6 Days a Sacrifice finishes the story with a bang (a bang that you can actually make sense of thanks to the extra content of the Special Edition). Theodore Dacabe, an innocent property inspector, ends up in a conflict with a mysterious cult that seems to worship some grotesque god of pain from beyond this world. He runs into several familiar characters, finds out what the whole century-spanning story has always been really about and finds his true destiny along the way.
Once again, excellent soundtrack and overall good production values for an independent game.

The Special Editions include:
-Extra content (especially for 6DaS)
-Running commentary by Yahtzee (use this option only after completing the games. The commentary contains spoilers)
-Soundtracks for download
-Some nice presents here and there for the fanboys and girls
-Something more that I've forgotten, for sure

The games are in the horror genre, so expect blood and innards and suspenful scenes and other such stuff. It's also in the adventure game genre, so expect lots of clicking and having to use your braincells.

If you have already played the series, I highly recommend the author's commentary. It clarifies certain things, contains a good amount of humour and tells us a little bit about Yahtzee's game design manners.

For the rest of you, pick up these games in the order listed above and start playing. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy them if you're into the genre.

Edit: Well that turned out long, didn't it?

Green-Shirt Q
2009-07-29, 01:24 PM
Man, I wonder what will win out. My fanboyish love for Yahtzee's "Zero Punctuation", or my crippling fear of downloading stuff. :smalleek:

PanNarrans
2009-07-29, 01:27 PM
I loved these! Now free special editions, woo!
I still find myself whistling Cabadath's theme and giving myself the shivers.

Optimystik
2009-07-29, 02:06 PM
Man, I wonder what will win out. My fanboyish love for Yahtzee's "Zero Punctuation", or my crippling fear of downloading stuff. :smalleek:

Your avatar is creepy enough to scare off any malware you might come across :smalltongue:

I *love* ZP, but Yahtzee's taste in games is another matter entirely. How can he not like real-time strategy?

factotum
2009-07-29, 03:53 PM
I *love* ZP, but Yahtzee's taste in games is another matter entirely. How can he not like real-time strategy?

Because not everyone DOES like them? I mean, I think Starcraft is an excellent game, but I still prefer a good turn-based strategy game simply because they give you more thinking time...compressing all your base building and strategy decisions into a mission lasting maybe a couple of hours at most never struck me as all that realistic.

Besides, it's JRPGs that he reserves his special hatred for...

Jahkaivah
2009-07-29, 05:00 PM
I *love* ZP, but Yahtzee's taste in games is another matter entirely. How can he not like real-time strategy?

The only real connection I tend to see between Yahtzee's opinion in games on Zero Punctuation and the adventure games he devloped is his love for the older Silent Hill games which his Chzo Mythos series often take inspiration from. Otherwise he's actually occasionallly criticised/poked fun at game devlopers for things he's done himself.

That said, I still like Zero Punctuation and Chzo Mythos alike.

Linkavitch
2009-08-01, 07:27 PM
First thing I thought when I saw the title of the thread was, 'Cool! Someone's writing Metroid fanfiction about the Chozos for once! Too bad about the typo...'

Cyrano
2009-08-01, 07:30 PM
Will these work on a Mac with a minimum of (read: no) effort?