Asher
You play as Tetrine Reish.
You live in the glorious city-state of Asher, once the center of the Aeserian Empire which fell a hundred years ago. You are a librarian. No, make that librarian's assistant. You got the job when you were a student at Asher University.
Lately you keep dreaming of a mystery man. Bad dreams, sometimes dreams of the future, run in your family. But that's not what is about to get you in trouble.
You have a dangerous secret.
You can see magic.
It's not supposed to be dangerous to be a scrivener-seer, as your kind are called. The old empire is fallen. Only in old Imperial times were people like you routinely rounded up and fed to the shadow demons.
Those times are gone. Or they're supposed to be.
So when a woman comes along asking for a book that isn't part of your library's collection, a book that glows with the magical letters called Nell Marks... you realize you're in trouble.
To make matters worse, treasure hunters discover your secret.
And they want something from the haunted ruins of the Imperial palace. They want you to help them.
You have a feeling your life will never be the same again.
Make choices as Tetrine...
Influence her personality & the plot.
And tell her story in this interactive novel with nine endings. Some endings are distinct, some endings have significant variations based on your choices.
Play for free?
Play for free and if you like it, please consider throwing in a tip. Your support goes toward making more games.
If you liked Asher, you may want to check out Tell a Demon (more unique endings, highly influenced by your choices) or our in-the-works project, the Empress of Aeser, our first adventure game/visual novel hybrid!
World of Aeser Series
Drown the Bride (Prequel to Winter's Trumpet and Asher)
Winter's Trumpet (Prequel to Asher)
The Last of the Lords of Ice (also free)
Goblet of Mercy (also free & features the Empress)
The Empress of Aeser (Itch.io | Website) - Upcoming - Act I now available free to play.
"And I'll Never Leave" (Free, new & short)
Twine Template
Want the Twine template? You can get it here.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Asher Update (Executables)Jun 15, 2020
Comments
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I loved this one! So beautifully written and imaginative. The art is awesome, with its vintage black-and-white charm and so much in the spirit of the story. I got Ending 8 first and then unlocked every other one - all in just one evening.
I also started The Empress of Aeser but got stuck quite early into it.
this shit was wild. i loved it sm though
So glad you liked it!
hello, i wanted to play this on my macbook air but it doesn't work, when i launch it on itch it just shows this blank screen with nothing to press on ): tried reinstalling & still the same thing. need help huhu i was rly excited to play
Hello hana, I'm sorry you're having trouble.
Unfortunately, I have the worst time troubleshooting anything mac, as I do not own one, so I can't guarantee when this will be fixed, especially because I am working on a different version of this game that will supercede the version you downloaded.
In the meantime, you could try the twine version, which is browser based and fairly reliable. (By navigating to the Asher game page and clicking the button "play visual novel")
You had me at the Vincent Millay quote, tbh. She's my favorite.
Thank you! She's my favorite as well. I am thankful her estate permitted me to use the quote. (They were really kind!)
Oh wow! I've tried to play it as friendly to everyone as possible, and boy, oh boy, did they make it difficult at times! I kept on thinking: please, don't kill Rosemary for my decisions. Please–
I loved the writing (the descriptions! the pacing in Acts II and III!), but this line especially: Tetrine projected her most skeptical tone—the one she reserved for patrons who returned damaged books or no books at all. :D
The Act I was a bit hard to get into, but I think it was mostly because of all the clickable words, I never knew whether the next word would open a new "window", further the story, or if it was just a hidden sentence. It got a bit frustrating to use the "Back" button so often, but around Act II, I no longer had this issue so I think it got more balanced by then!
Anyways, my first one was Ending V! That was... intense. I need to process it a little before trying other things. But it was a great experience, I liked the slow reveal of things and I want to know more about all of the characters.
Btw, I only did one run so far, but you should definitely change the average session time to longer than half an hour! :)
*** spoilers ***
Wow, Markaius is so quick to turn around and become an absolute ass. I played through some options back-and-forth and he switches between cruel and bitter or all oohh I'm sorry I'm the good guy. I was looking for redeeming qualities but that all seems like a facade. :0