During the Guerrilla Collective Day 2 event, Joy Manufacturing Company showed off their Ambition: A Minuet in Power with a trailer.
The game is a rogue-lite visual novel set in France during the late 18th century - specifically, 1789. Yep, the revolution's coming.
You play as a young lady who has traveled to Paris to be with her lover, but who is sadly left behind by him. Now alone, and far from home, she turns towards self-advancement in France's circles of power.
Your goal is to attend parties, walkthrough social circles, and build a strong, powerful network. Since it is a rogue-lite visual novel, each time you play the game is different.
What does procedural generation mean in a game like this? For one, the parties you attend will be procedurally generated. So if your networking schemes fall apart in one playthrough, on the next pass you may be able to talk your way into powerful circles.
To win influence, you'll be using wit, gossip, and seduction. You can try to learn about as many people as possible through such social manipulations. The kind of characters you'll be interacting with are Parisian nobles, priests, wealthy widows, and other players and outcasts from a time of great upheaval.
Your choices affect history - indeed, actual historical events may end differently then what's in your history book. At the end of it all, you'll either find riches, victory or the guillotine. Suffice it to say, it seems like there will be many different endings.
The developers have not given a release date yet, but Ambition: Minuet of Power will be coming to PC and Mac.
Get a taste of moving through the social circles of revolutionary France in the trailer below:
Intrigued by the visual style and historical setting? Interested in using charm and wit to win your way through powerful social circles? Let us know in the comments below!