Choice of Rebels: Uprising

Choice of Rebels: Uprising is a text-based interactive fiction game set in a grim fantasy world dominated by the oppressive Hegemony empire, which sustains its power through blood-fueled magic and brutal slavery. Players rise from humble origins to lead a ragtag band of outlaws, forging them into a rebel army while grappling with profound choices about what to preserve and what to tear down in their fight against imperial tyranny.

Choice of Rebels: Uprising: Review

Introduction

In the shadowed Whendward Pass, where the chill winds of winter bite as fiercely as the Hegemony’s blood mages, one choice echoes through history: what to preserve, and what to tear down? Choice of Rebels: Uprising thrusts players into this moral crucible, demanding they lead a desperate uprising against an empire sustained by harvested lives. As the first installment in Joel Havenstone’s ambitious epic fantasy series from Choice of Games, this 637,000-word behemoth stands as a towering achievement in interactive fiction. My thesis: Uprising isn’t merely a game—it’s a masterclass in blending unforgiving resource management, political simulation, and philosophical depth, redefining text-based RPGs as gritty simulations of revolution where every compassionate ideal clashes against the brutal calculus of survival.

Development History & Context

Choice of Games LLC, a boutique publisher specializing in ChoiceScript-powered interactive novels, birthed Uprising on November 9, 2017, across a sprawling multi-platform release: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and iPad. Founded by industry veterans like Dan Fabulich (credited on 374 titles), the studio leveraged its proprietary ChoiceScript engine—a lightweight, HTML5-based system for branching narratives—to democratize high-fantasy epics without the bloat of graphics or audio. Writer Joel Havenstone, a forum darling whose beta threads ballooned into community lore repositories, envisioned a series dissecting imperial sociology, drawing from real-world rebellions and fantasy tropes like blood magic.

Development spanned years of iterative betas, with dozens of testers (e.g., Isabella Amantea, Philip Barret) refining mechanics amid 2017’s mobile gaming boom. This era saw text adventures resurging via apps like 80 Days and Sorcery!, but Uprising bucked trends by embracing austerity: no visuals, no soundtrack—just prose and stats. Constraints fueled innovation; ChoiceScript’s menu-driven interface sidestepped parser pitfalls of old IF like Zork, while RPG elements echoed The Banner Saga‘s tactical despair. Havenstone’s vision—four planned books, starting with this “ungainly beast”—mirrored epic series like Wheel of Time, prioritizing depth over polish. Copy editor Mary Duffy and artist Ann-Christin Pagoda polished the prose, ensuring a launch that shattered CoG records with its biggest opening day, displacing Heroes Rise: Redemption Season.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Uprising‘s plot unfolds across four chapters, a taut arc from personal defiance to army-crushing climax. Chapter 1 roots players in Shayard under the Karagond Hegemony: as a helot slave or renegade aristocrat, you witness the Fourth Harrowing—a mass blood-harvest fueling Theurgy, the empire’s “angel-granted” magic. A straw-breaking moment (saving children like Aless) sparks rebellion, forging a ragtag band in the wilderness. Chapter 2’s winter gauntlet tests survival; Chapter 3 unveils intrigue (spies, mutinies); Chapter 4 erupts in battle against the Archon’s phalangites, alastors, and Plektoi hellhounds.

Characters pulse with agency: Breden, the charismatic seditionist whose Kryptast ties (Hegemony infiltrators who foment then crush revolts) breed betrayal speculation; Simon/Suzane de Louvete, a blademaster defector embodying Defector from Decadence; Wiendrj phalangite Korszata, whose clan feuds demand cosmopolitan mediation; ruthless Zvad or idealistic Elery, clashing over anarchy. Romances simmer amid rebels, from ace mystics to bi jongleurs, with dialogue revealing fractures—e.g., Redmar’s accusations forcing stat-dependent interventions.

Themes probe rebellion’s soul: preservation vs. destruction (Horion Leilatou’s epigraph), mirrored in axes like Compassionate/Ruthless, Devout/Skeptical, Homelander/Cosmopolitan. The Hegemony’s Fantastic Caste System (helots as People Farms, yeomen/merchants/priests/aristocrats) indicts Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil, with players debating abolition, reform, or preservation. Blood magic’s Unequal Rites (Theurgy vs. Goety/Wisardry) unveils political lies—no angels, just thaumaturgy. The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized looms: low-anarchy pacifism starves followers, high-anarchy rampages alienates allies. Heresy, Corrupt Church schisms (echoing Protestant rifts), and We ARE Struggling Together (lieutenant feuds) force The Chosen One pretensions or secular cults. Havenstone’s prose—gritty, immersive—elevates hypotheticals into visceral dilemmas, like drowning Breden “accidentally” or defying Harrowers with a Defiant Stone Throw.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

ChoiceScript’s menu-driven loops deconstruct rebellion as survival sim. Core stats (Combat, Imaginative, Charisma—allocated 3-3-0 or variants) gate checks, but meaningful failures (e.g., low COM botching interventions) build narrative heft, not railroading. Alliance Meters track five classes’ support, Anarchy (social disruption), and hidden Notoriety (Hegemony ire), creating a political RPG web.

Chapter 2’s winter shines: weekly turns manage food, mules (15-20 for full rations), arms, and morale via raids (tax caravans, temples—Bleys the punch-clock telone joins reluctantly), begging (helot camps), hunting (inefficient rabbits/bears), or buying. Tradeoffs sting—raid yeomen for grain? Anarchy spikes, costing noble recruits like Simon (needs ≤18 Anarchy). Offload kids to camps; prioritize mules via Breden missions. Mutinies loom if rations falter; diseases cull ranks.

Progression ties to background: helots minmax The Savage Warrior (Steam guides laud RNG-proof builds); aristocrats leverage privilege. UI excels—stats sidebar, chapter-redo buttons mitigate permadeath frustration. Combat abstracts to planning/execution: high-anarchy hordes ambush; magic (Theurgy demolition) or pacifist prophets rout foes. Flaws? Abrupt endings irk (sequel bait), confusing mechanics sans saves frustrate newbies. Yet innovations—like Backcountry Plot noble conspiracies or 100% achievement hunts—yield endless replays, with guides proving minmaxed paths (e.g., Pacifist Prophet averts mass deaths).

World-Building, Art & Sound

Shayard’s Fantasy Counterpart Culture—English/French vibes amid The Empire‘s Karagond (Spartan Greece) yoke—immerses via text. Wiendrj’s Afghan clans feud bloodily; Erezza’s Italian peninsula bridges continents; Nyryal/Halassur’s Turkic foes harrow firstborns. Eldritch Locations like Xaos Lands warp reality; Plektoi mutate as Hell Hounds. Indexes (world, characters) reward lore dives, evoking Crystal Dragon Jesus Xthonics—corrupted scriptures justifying Harrowing.

No art beyond Pagoda’s promos, no sound—pure Text-based / Spreadsheet immersion. Prose conjures atmosphere: verdant greenwood vs. harrowed despair, tense raids, battle cacophony. Stats visualize chaos—Anarchy bars pulsing like a heartbeat—amplifying gritty realism. This austerity elevates imagination, turning menus into a fog-of-war ledger where a mule shortfall feels apocalyptic.

Reception & Legacy

Launch acclaim was electric: CoG’s biggest opener, Steam’s Very Positive (88% of 141 reviews praise story/choices/worldbuilding; gripes on difficulty/abrupt ends). Forums buzzed—players hailed “challenging COG,” sharing minmax tips (mules > food raids). MobyGames’ 3.5/5 (sparse); IFDB’s 4.6/5 lauds “epic fantasy army sim.” Reviews gush: “best Choice game” (Steam), “feels like Wheel of Time” (IFDB), “choices matter” (sbenny).

Legacy endures: sparked Choice of Rebels series (Stormwright WIP), influencing CoG’s political depth (Vampire: The Masquerade). Steam guides (e.g., HughMyronbrough’s builds) foster community; 88% positivity cements IF staple. In 2017’s graphical glut, it proved text’s potency, inspiring Choices Matter indies amid mobile RPG rise.

Conclusion

Choice of Rebels: Uprising cements its place as interactive fiction’s revolutionary vanguard—a 637,000-word testament to Havenstone’s craft, where winter’s bite and betrayal’s sting forge unforgettable agency. Exhaustive yet elegant, its mechanics punish idealism without nihilism, themes interrogate empire’s rot, and world lingers like harrowed blood. Flaws (pacing, opacity) pale against triumphs; replays unearth branches rewarding mastery. Verdict: Essential masterpiece, 9.5/10—a historian’s pick for simulating rebellion’s soul, demanding every player ask: What will you tear down?