The Path of Totality

An interactive fiction game filled with cozy fantasy, adventure, and romance.

Take a journey through forest glen and over windswept moor to an ancient stone circle, where a goddess will grant blessings during the total solar eclipse.

Overcome natural hazards and mischievous pixies in your path. Form bonds of friendship or pursue a slow burn romance with a traveling party of four diverse travel companions — two half-orcs, a halfling, and an elf — each with their own stories to tell.

Play as a pilgrim, adventurer, or astronomer in this cozy fantasy adventure inspired by the landscapes and folklore of the Dartmoor and the Southwest of England.

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How to play

The Path of Totality can be played for free in your web browser.*

It is choice-based interactive fiction, which means that choices you make will propel you through the narrative and affect the way in which the story unfolds.

Hidden attitude ratings for each character will impact which storylines become available to you as the game progresses. If you want a specific character to like you — for romance or friendship — just treat them with kindness, curiosity, and trust.

If you'd like guidance on getting all of the achievements — and don't mind SPOILERS! — here is an achievement guide that tells you exactly what you need to do to get every achievement in the game. (Since some are mutually exclusive, this will require at least three separate playthroughs).

* SAVE WARNING: This game relies on local storage in your browser to save your game. If you clear your browser's storage, you will lose your saves.

Additionally, if you are playing on itch.io, you may not be able to restore your saved games or achievements in Safari, Chrome for iPhone, or other browsers. It is highly recommended that you use Chrome (desktop) or Microsoft Edge for the best experience on itch.io. If you're using another browser, play the game at lamppostprojects.com.

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Game length

Your experience will vary depending on how you play. The game can take anywhere from 90 minutes to four hours to complete, but the average playthrough is about two hours. Save your game at any time and come back later if you prefer to play across multiple sittings.

The game's script is nearly 43k words, but you'll only encounter about half of that in an average playthrough.

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Romance options

There are four romanceable characters: two female (an elf and a half-orc), one male (halfling), and one nonbinary (half-orc). Ages are not specified, but are implied to range from mid-20s to mid-30s.

If romance isn't your thing, though, you can absolutely play the game without romancing any of the characters. And you will have opportunities to form friendships with all four of them!

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Audience

This game is intended for adults and older teens who are fluent readers in English. It may also be appropriate for young teens and tweens — just keep in mind that this game does include optional first-person romance storylines with adult characters. (Spice is limited to kissing and cuddling.)

Content warnings: Themes and topics referenced (but not directly depicted) in this game include the childhood loss of a parent; caring for a chronically ill parent; injury from woodworking; hunting; and magical gender transition.

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Inspirations

The landscapes, language, and folklore of the Dartmoor, Devon, and Cornwall. The film Labyrinth and the artwork of Brian Froud. RPG video games Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2. Dungeons & Dragons. C.S. Lewis' The Narnia Chronicles and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Modern cozy fantasy fiction (Legends & Lattes; The House Witch).

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Credits

The Path of Totality is a production of Lamp Post Projects: an artist who makes everything in their games.

Coded in ink: a narrative scripting language for games.

Playtested by Arthurianmaiden, John Ayliff, Max Lich, John R., and Una. Thank you all!

Special thanks to John R. for technical support and many hours of discussion about this project.

Please contact lamppostprojects@gmail.com with any technical issues, questions, or comments.