Cautionary Tale

Cautionary Tale is a visual novel anthology exploring themes of agency through three distinct, contemporary stories. In ‘Beyond Yesterday’s Grasp,’ a scholarship student with a prosthetic arm investigates a mystery at her new boarding school. In ‘Let Go.,’ a young man nervously prepares to confess his feelings, plagued by a strange sense of déjà vu. In ‘If in Your Dreams; the Flood,’ a woman haunted by apocalyptic flood dreams wanders the Seattle nightscape to avoid sleep. Developed by a large team for NaNoRenO 2018, the game features full voice acting, 22 original music tracks, and a bonus section for completing all three tales.

Cautionary Tale: A Monumental Misfire in Agency and Ambition

In the vast annals of video game history, some titles are remembered for their groundbreaking innovation, others for their captivating stories. A rare few, however, earn their place as cautionary tales—not just in their thematic content, but in their very existence. Watercress LLC’s 2018 visual novel, Cautionary Tale, is one such artifact: a game whose ambitious thesis on player agency is tragically undermined by the chaotic, controversial, and ultimately cautionary story of its own creation.

Introduction: The Promise and the Paradox

On paper, Cautionary Tale is a concept ripe for academic dissection and artistic praise. A triple-threat anthology visual novel, developed by a coalition of studios for NaNoRenO 2018, promising a 60,000-word “metaphor for agency.” It is a game that explicitly seeks to explore how individuals navigate the choices presented to them. Yet, its legacy is not one of critical acclaim or player adoration, but of obscurity, unresolved controversy, and a development history that serves as a masterclass in how not to manage a creative project. This review will argue that Cautionary Tale is a fascinating, flawed, and ultimately failed experiment—a game whose most compelling narrative is the one that occurred behind the scenes.

Development History & Context: A House Built on Sand

Cautionary Tale was born from the high-pressure, rapid-development crucible of NaNoRenO, an annual game jam for visual novels. The involvement of four separate entities—Illusory World, Starlight Visual, Tin Man Games, and Watercress—suggests a project of scale and ambition. A team of nearly 50 people was assembled, a staggering number for a jam project, hinting at grand designs.

However, this very structure contained the seeds of its dysfunction. The provided source material from a Reddit post by a former contributor reveals a project plagued by a complete lack of clear vision and strong leadership. The post describes a development environment of constant, chaotic shifts in core game design and lore, leading to a “Road to Nowhere.” This was exacerbated by a project leader who allegedly resorted to toxic micromanagement and, in a shocking escalation, fabricated evidence—including inserting a racial slur into a contributor’s document—to justify removing dissenting voices. This story paints a picture of a project where the thematic exploration of “agency” was brutally ironic, as the developers themselves had theirs stripped away by poor management and alleged abuse of power.

The technological constraints of the era were not a significant factor; developed in modern visual novel engines for Windows and Mac, the game’s challenges were purely human. Released into a gaming landscape saturated with indie darlings and narrative gems, Cautionary Tale was doomed to be overshadowed by its own dysfunctional creation myth before it could even be judged on its own merits.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: Three Tales of Navigation

The game itself is an anthology, presenting three distinct stories under the overarching umbrella of its core theme.

• Beyond Yesterday’s Grasp: This segment follows Alex Kartha, a young woman who lost her forearm and her parents in an accident, as she attends a prestigious boarding school on a scholarship. It positions itself as a mystery at Artemis Hall, asking the player whether they will “solve the mystery” or “turn away from your duty and value your life.” It is a story of trauma, resilience, and the weight of obligation, potentially the most grounded of the three tales.

• Let Go.: A classic romantic anxiety narrative. Protagonist Eli practices confessing his feelings to his childhood friend on a snowy day, plagued by a terrifying sense of déjà vu—the feeling he’s “done this before.” This story leans into psychological unease and the paralysis of fear, exploring the agency required to break a potentially cyclical pattern of inaction.

• If in Your Dreams; the Flood: The most overtly surreal and poetic of the trio. Ophelia is haunted by apocalyptic dreams of a rising flood that she believes will claim her upon her eighteenth birthday. In her somnambulist desperation, she wanders the Seattle nightscape and meets “an unfamiliar friend.” This is a story of fatalism versus action, of seeking connection to avert a predetermined destiny.

The central thesis—that these are parables on how people “navigate” agency—is intellectually compelling. The problem, as reflected in the external accounts of its development, is that the narrative execution may lack the focus and cohesion its theme requires. The jarring shift from a realistic boarding school mystery to a dream-logic flood apocalypse suggests an anthology that is tonally disjointed, a likely symptom of its fractured development by multiple writers and a lack of a unifying creative voice.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Visual Novel Standard

As a visual novel, Cautionary Tale‘s gameplay loop is inherently simple and well-established: read text, view accompanying artwork, and make periodic choices that influence the narrative’s direction. The MobyGames description classifies its gameplay as “Visual novel” and its perspective as “1st-person,” confirming the player experiences the stories directly through the eyes of Alex, Eli, and Ophelia.

The provision of a “bonus” for completing all three sections is a standard but effective incentive for engagement, encouraging players to see the project through to its entirety. Furthermore, the fact that “all conversation is voiced” represents a significant production effort, especially for a jam game, and would typically be a mark of high quality. The inclusion of “22 original musical tracks” by composer Tim Reichert also suggests an ambition to create a rich, auditory atmosphere.

However, without hands-on experience, it is impossible to gauge the quality of the writing, the impact of the choices, or the branching complexity of the narratives. The fundamental mechanics are sound but entirely conventional for the genre; the game’s success or failure here rests entirely on the execution of its writing and the perceived weight of its player agency—the very thing its development process allegedly failed to respect.

World-Building, Art & Sound: The Unseen Potential

This is the greatest tragedy of Cautionary Tale: the sources available provide no screenshots, no promo images, and no direct descriptions of its art style. We are left to imagine the visual representation of Artemis Hall, the snowy city park, and the rain-soaked streets of Seattle. Based on the talent involved and the scope of the project, one can assume a professional level of artwork typical of the genre, but its specific aesthetic direction is lost to history.

The sound design, however, is one area where we can be more confident. With 22 original tracks and full voice acting, the game was clearly intended to be an immersive audio experience. Composer Tim Reichert’s involvement specifically in the “Let Go.” and credits themes indicates a tailored audio landscape for each story. The sound likely serves as the primary tool for building atmosphere, from the chilling dread of Ophelia’s dreams to the tense anxiety of Eli’s confession and the mysterious ambiance of Alex’s school. This component, at least, seems to have been given focused attention.

Reception & Legacy: The Silence After the Storm

The most telling review of Cautionary Tale is the deafening silence that surrounds it. As of this writing, there are zero critic reviews and zero player reviews on its MobyGames page. It has a mere three user votes on VNDB, averaging a respectable but inconsequential 7.67. It was included in a Kotaku weekend guide years after its release, not for its own qualities, but seemingly as part of a broader list. It has vanished into the ether.

Its legacy, therefore, is dual-layered. As a piece of media, it has left no discernible mark on the industry. It did not influence a new wave of anthology visual novels nor was it hailed as a narrative masterpiece.

Its true legacy is the cautionary meta-narrative of its development. The Reddit post and blog article about failed projects have become, for a small audience, more significant than the game itself. It stands as a case study in how visionary ideas can be utterly derailed by a lack of clear direction, weak project management, and toxic leadership. It is a lesson taught not through its in-game parables, but through the real-world drama of its creation. The game about agency became a stark warning about what happens when it is abused.

Conclusion: A Tale for Developers, Not Players

In the final analysis, Cautionary Tale is a profound disappointment. Its ambitious thematic premise and significant production efforts—in voice acting and original music—are completely nullified by its nonexistent cultural impact and the deeply troubling allegations surrounding its development. It is a game that cannot be judged solely on its text because the context of its creation is an inextricable part of its story.

For historians and developers, Cautionary Tale is a valuable artifact. It is a perfect, painful example of how the most talented team (reportedly nearly 50 strong) cannot succeed without a clear vision, strong leadership, and a respectful, collaborative environment. For players seeking a meaningful narrative experience on the subject of agency, there are countless other, more coherent and successfully executed titles available.

Cautionary Tale ultimately succeeds only in embodying its own name. It is not a cautionary tale for its characters, but for anyone who dares to make a game. Its place in history is secured not as a classic, but as a warning.