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The Ghost and the Golem

Shop Info

Developers Publishers Release Date Price Buy The Ghost and the Golem

Choice of Games

Choice of Games

8 Aug, 2024 (10 months ago) 7.99$ STEAM
Kinguin
KeyForSteam
SteamDB

Description

Can your magic amulet save your Jewish village from destruction? Uncover the truth and forge alliances with soldiers, peasants, bandits, anarchists, and demons!

The Ghost and the Golem is an interactive historical fantasy novel by Benjamin Rosenbaum. It's entirely text-based, 450,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Nebula Award Finalist for Best Game Writing in the 60th Annual Nebula Awards!

The year is 1881. Life in your village on the border of Poland and Ukraine is sweet as raisin pastries and bitter as horseradish. Matchmakers arrange marriages and klezmer musicians play at the weddings; friends reconcile after feuds and gossip about their neighbors; people pray in the little synagogue and study holy texts. But it is a tense time in the Russian empire, with antisemitic riots spreading across the land.

And inside your pocket is a magic amulet, revealing visions of the future, omens of your village in flames. When you hold it, you can see the blood and the bodies, smell the gunshots, and hear the marching songs. (Is that Russian? Or Ukrainian? You hear shouting in Polish.)

How could this future come to pass, and how will you stop it?

You'll need allies. Can you sway the local Christian peasants or the Czarist garrison to protect your village from harm? What about the bandits and anarchists lurking in the wild forest? When a demonic sheyd offers you a bargain, what will you do to save the ones you love?

Or, there may be another answer. One of your closest friends has built a golem, a hulking clay creature stronger than a dozen soldiers, waiting to be animated with a forbidden power, a secret name. Will you breathe life into the golem? If you do, will it help to defend your village, or help to destroy it?

Or perhaps the amulet's previous owner can help you. He was exiled from the academy for studying forbidden texts—for delving into mysteries he was far too young and unstable to understand, and now he's missing. Can you find him? Can you harness the powers he unleashed? Does he know a secret name?

• Nebula Award Finalist for Best Game Writing in the 60th Annual Nebula Awards

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; cis or trans; intersex or not; gay, straight, bi, or asexual.

• Accept an arranged marriage and make your Mamma happy—and maybe yourself, too! Or find love on your own terms with a childhood friend or an anarchist musician.

• Delve into the secrets of the Unseen World to tangle with ghosts, dybbuks, prophetic visions, and a golem—or even ascend to a mystical plane to discover the greatest secrets of the universe!

• Hold fast to the traditions of your people’s past, or chase modern new ideas.

• Pursue your love of music and get a standing ovation onstage—or be pelted with potatoes as you fail miserably.

• Stand up to antisemitic agitators, angry peasants, Czarist soldiers, and hostile bandits to defend your village—or face defeat and flee in the wake of violence.

• Succumb to demonic influence, fend it off with faith or Enlightenment skepticism, or help those spirits find their path to the gates of repentance.

Can you find peace for your people—and your heart?

Windows Requirements

Minimum:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS *: Windows 7
Recommended:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

Mac Requirements

Minimum:
  • OS: 10.13
Recommended:

    Linux Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Ubuntu 20.04
    Recommended:
      Achievement Icon

      It's Alive

      Not unlocked yet

      A newly created being enters the scene.

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      Some Days, Nobody Dies At All

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      Despite ominous premonitions, avoid anyone dying in the conflict.

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      One Shot

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      See a riot brought to a halt with a single well-placed bullet.

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      Oorah!

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      Witness a cavalry charge.

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      Heavenly Extraction

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      Returned to Earth

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      Return a mystical servant to its original state, releasing it from obligations.

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      Servant of the People

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      Liberation

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      Dynamic Duo

      Not unlocked yet

      Left the shtetl, accompanied by a mysterious protector and guide.

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      Journey to the East

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      Embark on a journey to a distant location.

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      Matchmaker, Matchmaker

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      Marry the candidate the matchmaker presented.

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      Love Match

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      Marry someone other than the candidate the matchmaker presented.

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      The Road Goes Ever On and On

      Not unlocked yet

      Leave the shtetl to seek your fortune elsewhere.

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      A Khasene In Shtetl

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      See a poor girl get a dowry and marry a poor suitor.

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      Four Weddings and No Funeral

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      Bada Bing, Bada Boom!

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      Make a business arrangement with some gentlemen engaged in…business.

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      Battlefield Medic

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      Save a patient yourself, with impromptu medical care under difficult conditions.

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      El Na Refah La Na

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      Ambulance Driver

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      Bring an injured person somewhere they could get competent medical care.

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      Acquire (perhaps unwillingly) a master capable of teaching you mystical powers.

      Not unlocked yet

      Unwillingly became Aksakov's apprentice, serving the demon patron, and acquiring mystical power.