The Maestro and the Marionette - DEMO

A boy awakens to find himself trapped in a music-themed dream world. In order to leave, he must gather up the pieces of heart of the world's ruler, the Maestro, and put them back together.

…But this means stealing those pieces away from the other residents of the dream, dolls who have been using them to feel human.

The Maestro and the Marionette is a visual novel that was written around the core part of quarantine (March 2020), it's a story fundamentally about isolation and bonds. It starts out very seriously, but it's not an unhappy story!

DEMO Details

• 40 minute read
• It's free (the full version will most likely be too)
• No branching paths in the early part of the story
• The demo ends on a high note, I swear

Requirements

The browser version requires that third-party cookies be enabled for save data. (If you try to run it while having them disabled, you will get several error messages in Japanese and nothing will work). Sorry for the inconvenience! 

Controls

Advance Story: Mouse click/Spacebar/Enter/Right Arrow

Auto Advance Story: 'A' key (clicking anything ends it)

Backlog: Backspace or 'Log' button

Save: 'S' key

Content Warnings

• Screen shakes
• A few instances of children being violent towards each other, one serious injury (not graphically portrayed or described)

Credits

A copy of the credits listing all music and background images used is available on Google Docs!

If you'd like to follow the development of the rest of the novel, here's a few other places you can find me. 

Thanks for reading!