The Familiar
== A Spring Thing 2023 Entrant ==
You are a witch's crow familiar, headstrong as anything but still young and untested.
What starts as a normal day soon takes a harrowing turn when your pacific caretaker, Valmai, is struck down by a terrible hex of mysterious origin. Now it's up to you, little bird, to cure your caretaker and discover the hex's source.
Are you up for the task?
- Beginner-friendly parser commands peppered with choice-based elements
- Limited vocabulary: you'll only need LOOK, TAKE/GET, DROP, PECK, and CAW
- Free to play; formatted for browser, tablet, and mobile
- More than 30 unique, hand-crafted pixel art scenes
- Roughly 60-90 minutes of play time
- Cute woodland animals
- Accessibility features: optional tutorial, dynamic TASKS list, three varied fonts, dark/light mode, and toggle-able text indicator for 'press any key' commands
For both detailed step-by-step and spoiler-free walkthroughs of the game (and information on how to obtain the secret ending), click here.
- Written by groggydog
- Raven portrait pixel art from craftpix.net
- All other pixel art by groggydog
- Created in the Adventuron Engine
Many thanks to my alpha/beta testers:
Alpha: jbeebs305, manonamora
Beta: Christopher Merriner, Dee Cooke, Mike Russo, Travis Moy, ZAG On Em Clan
Comments
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oh this was REALLY really good. i got the secret ending :D
oh i want to ramble so much but i don't want to spoil people
i'm just really warmed by this story! simple and sweet. i love the characters and i love the little details
i think i can hide spoilers if i go down enough rows right??
OKAY! Spoilers below!
UH!
Is here safe?
How about here?
Okay. I really enjoyed this story. Navigation was a little confusing at first but I loved the puzzles because they're not too difficult! They take thinking but you can solve them within a few tries.
I was glad the chocolate I took didn't count as stealing @-@
The cage. I was like. "Oh maybe the cage will fall on the owl and he'll be trapped within- oh. Oh."
Despite the fact I didn't get to stop the fall or face the wizard I'm still pleased by the ending. It's not a magically perfect happily ever after but people are healing. The characters are making bonds towards and brighter future and I'm a sucker for those kinds of endings.
I was surprised the game went and told me I was cautious after.
I kept checking for owls because the city kept having the sound of owls and I was like "He's coming after me. He's coming after me. Where's the owl. Why can't I find the owl." I kept typing Look Owl only to get nothing!
Sweet game, and overall wholesome whilst keeping a sombre tone. (The war. The death. I wasn't really expecting that from a game about playing as a crow, honestly.)
ALSO I haven't even mentioned the art. Simple without an overwhelming colour palette whilst remaining beautiful in its owl way. Really loved it!
I was really glad to drop that nut on that guy's head. That's what you get for ignoring me!
Thanks for the game! It was a great experience. :D
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Caw.
This was a splendid playthrough! I loved every minute of it, and the secret end really tied it all together. Very short and sweet, big props! ♥️
Just got done playing this. It was so much fun and I've already shared it with my partner who also loves crows! I'm sure I'll come back and play it again!!!
Thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear that you liked it, and I hope your partner does as well.
That was just adorable. Action-packed, with a great protagonist. I really enjoyed it!
That's so kind of you to say. Really glad to hear you had a good time with it. Fran says CAW back at you.