The Thief, the Witch, the Toad, and the Mushroom
As an evolution from books, visual novels don’t tend to revisit their roots the way other games do. It makes sense – most of the time, a downgrade wouldn’t be more than plain text – but Australian VN The Thief, the Witch, the Toad, and the Mushroom goes beyond retro, embracing the presentation of decades- to centuries-old physical media for a unique experience. It blurs the line between visual novel and “gamebook”, a medium often referred to as “Choose Your Own Adventure” after a specific brand of gamebook. TWTM styles itself as a relic from your local library, right down to a barcode sticker, a “This Book Belongs To:” page, and other people’s scribbles in the margins.
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