Four Horsemen, a Visual Novel SLG by Nuclear Fishin' Software, is now available on Steam according to a tweet from the game's official account.
Four Horsemen is a game that primarily focuses on the lives of four teenagers (appropriately named War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death) who have appropriated a disused World War 2-era bunker as their hang out. The game has a focus on the immigrant experience throughout its story, a narrative that was researched by gathering stories from immigrant teenagers who have faced similar trials & tribulations as those of the characters in the game. Aside from the usual visual novel fare of experiencing dialogue and making choices, players can work towards kitting out the bunker by appropriating (or outright buying) various bits of junk. If a situation goes particularly poorly, the game's combat system may come into play.
Many visual novels offer choices, but Four Horsemen sets out to avoid the black & white morality of such situations. Players can select from twelve different homelands, each with their own cultural norms and sensibilities. Choices that players make (such as to integrate into their new home or cling to their parents' culture) will affect the story further down the road, and there won't always be a right or wrong choice - players may simply experience different consequences. Four Horsemen features four main storylines with nine different endings.
The developers recently released a free V1.1 update titled Migrant Spring which fixes some bugs, fleshes out an existing storyline, and adds other additional content. Nuclear Fishin' Software ran a successful Kickstarter for Four Horsemen and a successful Steam Greenlight campaign. Backers of the Kickstarter project will be receiving their Steam keys soon. I recently checked out the game's booth at Play NYC 2017 and shared some thoughts about it. If you'd like to pick up a copy of the game yourself, you can get it on Steam for $14.99 or on itch.io for $15.00 (where it's been available since April 2017). You can also have a gander at the game's official website.
Have you had a chance to play Four Horsemen? Does it look like the kind of game you might be interested in? What's your favorite visual novel released in the last few years? Let us know in the comments below!