As a woman who absolutely loves CoG, I was a bit skeptical to see that the character was fixed as a male, but I pressed on, and I was so glad that I did. All my skepticisms immediately washed away when I realized that the character was an homage to John Watson from the Sherlock series, with the companion/love interest Finch being the eccentric Sherlock type character. Not only did I immediately fall in love with a "Sherlock in Steampunk" idea, but the writing itself made me feel as though I were holding a thick novel instead of the phone in my hands. And not to mention he fact you have a choice to romance your very own Sherlock Holmes in the taboo ages of the 1800s, which I happily took. Of course there are romancing options for straight, bisexual, and gay, and I've always found romance to be a large part of why I play these games, but maybe that's just the romantic in me. Anyways, I found my chosen romance to be absolutely beautifully written, just like the rest of this novel. And even though I'm a woman playing as a man, the choice mechanics made my character feel like me. I could choose my strengths and weaknesses, develop my personality and priorities, and overall fall in love with both my character and all the other beautifully written characters in the game. Just get the game. It's so worth it.

This game is right on my top two of the "choose your own adventure" games, of which I am a particular fan of and have played my share. Unlike the rest of the rabble, you are not constrained to a narrow set of choices to build up acquired skills for your character - instead the focus is on CHARACTER DEVRLOPMENT, meaning there is much more leeway for you to change your outlook on things as you grow with your character in the story. The story flows naturally but still plays like a game, with a plethora of meaningful choices to make. A solid and well structured narrative, intriguing characters, great gameplay decisions and replayability - if you're a fan of the genre you will not be disappointed, even if steampunk is not your thing. And if you're new to this genre of game, this is a great introduction.

Fair warning, the character is locked in as a male. That being it’s only offset however, I still think the story is amazing. It’s everything promised in the description, serial killers, steampunk, long lived nobles, and much more. I think what makes it one of hosted games’ best is that it has characters that stay relatively consistent throughout the story. With a few exceptions most decisions matter. The system of stats may not be super complex but it’s simplicity and great story is what draws me in. Being a casual choice of games and hosted games reader games with a lot of stats confuse and ruin the experience most of the time for me. But that’s just my personal opinion. Great for a story and if you’re looking for some simple stats with mostly meaningful decisions.

I am a big fan of these games, whether published under hosted games or choice of games, I find myself quite addicted to these little gems. So know that I do not say this lightly, but I think that this is their best one yet^_^ the choices feel natural and because it allows you to change your views of the world throughout a play through, it makes the characters seem more alive, and allows them to grow. It's a fairly long game, I'd say probably twice as long( maybe more) as the deathless series, but it doesn't at all feel padded, it just elicits excitement when you see that you can keep going!^_^ I would highly recommend this game to just about anyone!