The Archmage is an HTML interactive novel by Black Dahlia Studios, built around a struggle between light and darkness. You create and guide a protagonist after a cryptic message from a late grandfather leads to forgotten secrets once held by the magi. Drawing on retro text adventure roots, dark literary tones, and nukige influences, it asks whether you ascend or become corrupted while navigating temptation, choosing allies carefully, and deciding the fate of a monastery. Fantasy, corruption, and character creation shape the story.
Development continues in v0.1.2 Alpha, released January 28, 2024. The English, uncensored build runs on Windows, Linux, MacOS, and Android. This update expands the monastery with new temple areas and scenes, gives Achlys a contract option that adds a nameable octopus companion and further dreams, and introduces evening tavern availability for Mel plus librarian dialogue. It also includes bug fixes, line edits, and raises the word count to 109,417, adding 21,252 words.
Developer's description
Since the beginning of time, there have been two competing forces: light and darkness.
In this interactive novel—inspired by retro text adventures, dark literature, and nukige—you decide which path to follow.
Upon receiving a cryptic message from your late grandfather, you embark on a journey, uncovering forgotten secrets—long lost by the magi. The path will be filled with obstacles and temptation, so choose your allies with care. Men are capable of both creation and destruction. Will you ascend or be corrupted? Will you remain pure or embrace the wiles of degeneracy?
The fate of the Monastery hangs in the balance...
v0.1.2 (Alpha):
v0.1.2 Alpha Changelog: Minor Monastery Update (1/28/24)
-The temple is populated with various scenes and areas (Faceless, Mark, Funeral, Sermon, etc.)
-Achlys now grants a nameable octopus companion and additional dreams as a part of her contract (1/EA Moloch dream)
-Non-futa farm scene with Belle and her bull (S) & another scene with Jess (S)
-Mel is available at the tavern in the evening after talking to vegetable stall girl
-The librarian has introductory dialogue
-Bugfixes: Truancy Detection, Apartment Time Loop
-Random line editing
Note: (S) indicates smut
Word Count: 109,417 (+21,252)
v0.1.1 (Alpha):
v0.1.1 Changelog: Bugfix Patch (10/29/23)
-Sleeping: Recognizes the proper bedroom
-Apprentice Lessons: Available (1st day), Required (2nd day)
-Charmer: Promotion now works as intended
-Margerie Shower: Fixed a gender-conditonal typo
-User Expectations: Misleading settings and links are now hidden
-Stats: Opening menus no longer affects stat changes
v0.1.0 (Alpha):
v0.1.0 Changelog: The Exploration Update
-Title Screen AI Art
-Apprentice School Exploration
-Smut (Belle, Dahlia, Margerie)
-New Characters (Mel, Cass, Euchary)
-Monastery Exploration*
-Killable: Margerie
-Mechanics: NPC Spawns, Time, Crime Detection, Character Stats, Virginity, Casting, Goddess Rework
-Features: Logbook, Items, Skip, Menu Update, Dialogue
-New Settings: Preferences, Stat Toggle
-Code Cleaning
-Bugs/Typos
Accessible Word Count: 67,442 (+21,073)
Written Word Count: 88,318 (+23.934)
v0.0.7:
Smut Rewrite (40% Complete)
Wandering Rogue Route
Prelude is now Prologue
Enhanced Character Customization
Fetish Toggle Filters
Prose POV Toggle
Changelog Button
Monastery Layout (Incomplete)
Virtue Mechanic (Incomplete)
Bugfixes and Edits (Lots of pronoun fixes)
v0.0.6a:
Hotfix Patch
Added Passage Navigation button in the sidebar menu (Primarily for SMUT)
A few new Monastery passages
Bugfixes
v0.0.6:
Changed player POV from second person to third person
Added Prelude
Player can now enter a custom name
Moved mind control to teaser section pending rewrite
v0.0.5:
Added Prologue
No Dead Ends
Completed Rudy and Austin dialogue
Introduced pop windows on mouse hover of passages which displays content tags for filtered content (Incomplete)
Coming in Future Updates
Mind Control now requires knowing the spell
Break up Family Mind Control into separate events
v0.0.4:
Introduced Home area and a few surrounding area
Additional Box Route content
Polished existing Box Route content
Additional Brutus scene
Passages can now be selected using the keyboard (up to 10 choices per page)
The left arrow key on the keyboard now functions as a back button
Content filters are now more obvious
Exchanged "skill" verbiage with "spell" for clarity
Syntax/Conditional fixes
v0.0.3:
New Content: Rogue Route (Despair)
Merged "Family Mind Control" Teaser content into Main
Established conditional filtering of choices and descriptions based on Sexual Preference and Genitalia
Introduced a Settings menu which allows player to filter certain types of content
Content filters are enabled by default and must be manually disabled
Enabling the Sexual Content filter will provide the player with a wholesome experience for all ages
Enabling the Taboo Content filter will protect the player from feeling socially deviant
Enabling the Disturbing Content filter will shield the player from nightmare fuel
Note: Pansexual preference (Anything) is now locked behind the Disturbing Content filter
Further patch of character pronouns (Hopefully that is the last of them!)
Futa option incorporated into character creation
Modified Intro Skip to take the player to the first major narrative decision
More grammar and spelling fixes
v0.0.2:
Patched character creation system (under the hood) including pronouns
Additional "Family Mind Control" content (Gay)
Grammar and spelling fixes
Created option to skip Introduction for returning players
Standardized links to unfinished passages
Tidied up the source code (.tw file)
Caught some syntax problems
Organized passages in the twee file (was previously decompiled from Twine)
Spaced out bunched up conditionals
v0.0.1:
Not yet fully playable.
Next full release will be playable as an Alpha version with incremental Teaser updates along the way.
All
CATBOX
UPLOADHAVEN
WORKUPLOAD
(Thank you for the taking the time to play my game. Feel free to contact me @
[email protected]
with any feedback. Note: Imagination is the most powerful graphics card.)
Player reviews
Player rating3.0 / 5 · 5 ratings
Written reviews5 · avg 3.2★
Positive (4–5★)40%
Latest review2023-09-28
What players say
Mixed reviews call it promising but unfinished, with appealing writing and navigation/content problems.
5★1
4★1
3★2
2★0
1★1
Players like
Promising writing and worldbuilding
Adult themes and pornstars appeal to some players
Developer shows hard work and updates
Common complaints
Early build lacks content and clear scenes
Navigation is hard and needs better guidance
Missing images and backgrounds hurt presentation
Best for players who accept unfinished adult games with promising writing.
Summarised from 5 written player reviews.
joao28042023-09-28★★★★★
the last time i played this game it was on version 0.0.3 and i waited for the update since now we are at 0.0.7 lets see whats new last time it was a very good game in my opinion and…
eskult2023-09-25★★★★★
A not too revolutionary premise with an interesting execution, which shows hard work an dedication. For the fans of devious world but with less focus on transformation. Right now the thing is a bit empty, but it shows promise, with…
riadhloch2023-09-25★★★★★
Is the writing good? It's inspired, definitely. Is there an indication of plot? Sort of. It's obvious that the dev wants there to be. There are indications of characterization, world building, and more. They're all very promising. The problem is…