The player controls Shadwen directly, who can use her acrobatics, dagger, grappling hook, and other tools to misdirect and assassinate guards quietly. Lily will automatically run between hiding places whenever she can do so unseen; both characters must reach the end of each zone together in order to proceed. The story and dialogue change slightly depending on whether Lily ever witnesses Shadwen murder any guards.
The backstory is never stated outright, but is rather alluded to during the "killer" path and by gossiping guards. The short of it is that Shadwen, a recluse living in the forest, was hired by a usurper to assassinate the former king. She did so; the usurper not only refused to pay Shadwen's fee, but had the whole forest burned down in an attempt to kill her. Her quest is one of equal parts collecting her rightful payment and revenge.
This video game provides examples of:
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The nobility and royalty are pretty much the source of everyone's troubles in this story: ordering assassinations (without paying), hoarding wealth and food, strong-arming each other, and threatening to start civil wars. The town guards are only caught in the middle of this madness; they'd be happy enough if the nobles just stopped doing anything for a while so the common folk could finally have some peace and stability in their lives.
- Create Your Own Hero: By attempting to kill Shadwen, the usurper king provides her with two of the strongest reasons to strike back at him — self-defense and revenge. Depending on the player's choices, the result could range from humiliation as his guards are played for fools and his crown is taken as payment, to the wholesale slaughter of the night watch and assassination of the usurper himself.
- Drunk with Power: There is no indication as to what the usurper king was like before he took the throne, but the guards' gossip paints him as a resource-hoarding maniac who is only tolerated because deposing him would start a Succession Crisis and civil war.
- Escort Mission: The entire game is technically an escort mission because there are many doors with levers that must be pulled by Shadwen and Lily simultaneously. However, Lily is invincible and guards don't react to her in any way. If she is seen, she will simply backtrack to her last hiding place. The mechanics on this are pretty loose, so Lily can sometimes make her way past partially-distracted guards if you keep ordering her to move forward.
- Goomba Stomp: Landing on top of guards from a decent height will kill them, including the heavily armored guards that are immune to backstabs. If the attack button is used right before impact, it adds a little more horizontal leeway and an animation of Shadwen using her dagger, but it otherwise has the same effect as the goomba stomp alone.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy:
- It wouldn't be much of a Stealth-Based Game if they weren't. The guards' response to any crate or barrel flying around is to mutter about dark spirits and take a cursory look around. They give up on searches very easily and don't notice if one of their buddies has gone missing.
- On the more competent side, they are smart enough to put a crossbow bolt in Shadwen's head if they get a good look at her. If they confirm that Shadwen is there (but miss the bolt), or find a dead guard, they will run for the alarm bell, which is also a Game Over if rung. If any guard is within earshot of an alert call, they will run for the alarm bell as well.
- Improperly Paranoid: Paranoia is an implied trait of the usurper king, given what little we are told about him. The guy seems fairly unhinged in the first place, and he might have been afraid that someone would hire Shadwen to assassinate him the same way he hired her to kill the previous king. If he had just paid Shadwen's fee and left well enough alone, he probably would have been just fine.
- It's Personal: Shadwen is only going through all this trouble because the usurper king didn't pay her and tried to kill her.
- The Kingslayer: Shadwen has already slain one king, and the player can optionally have her slay that king's successor as well.
- Multiple Endings: There are three ending sequences that play after dealing with the king and escaping the castle:
- Shadwen kills the king: Shadwen offers to foster Lily, but Lily angrily refuses to go anywhere with what she sees as an evil murderer. Shadwen shrugs and leaves on her own.
- Shadwen is never seen killing anyone: Shadwen tells Lily to run far away and find someplace safe. Lily asks if she can come with Shadwen, but Shadwen refuses. Shadwen thanks Lily for being a friend, and leaves on her own.
- Shadwen is seen killing guards, but spares the king: Shadwen offers to foster Lily, and she accepts. They leave together, with the implication that Lily is starting to see the world more like the coldly pragmatic Shadwen does.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: There are no health bars in this game. Anything that does damage is an instant kill.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: In retribution for denying her payment and trying to have her killed, Shadwen confronts the usurper king and either punches him out or murders him, and steals his golden crown as well.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The guards are all just normal blokes with lousy jobs (standing around for hours in the miserable cold), trying to keep food in their mouths and survive another day.
- Succession Crisis: Both implied and discussed. Some of the guard chatter mentions that they were fighting for their lives just a fortnight prior, implying that Shadwen set off one succession crisis when she assassinated the prior king. Everyone knows that the new usurper king is a lousy ruler, but he's the only thing stopping a second succession crisis within the same month as there are two other lords looking for any excuse to start another civil war.Guard: This land can't afford another war [...] I haven't seen a season of peace in my life. So I pray every night that the king keeps his crown and his life for years to come. I could do with a bit of peace.
Shadwen: Well, that sounds a little inconvenient. - Time Rewind Mechanic: For no adequately explained reason, time only moves if the player is holding any of the movement keys, and there is a time rewind keybind that is very useful for undoing mistakes. This is essentially a substitute for saved games and Save Scumming; getting spotted unintentionally or even getting Shadwen killed can be rewound immediately and without limitations.
- The Usurper: The current king at the start of the game only holds the throne because he hired Shadwen to assassinate the previous king. He's a greedy and paranoid bastard, but some of the guards' gossip points out that his death would result in a Succession Crisis while everyone's still recovering from the last one.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: None of the guards do anything that would deserve death. Yes, they will shoot Shadwen on sight, but she's an assassin out way after curfew. The guards are all pretty much ordinary people trying to survive in a messed-up kingdom where the nobles are constantly abusing their power. Some of them even talk about their families, or about imminent plans to move out to countryside farms. None of this stops you from killing every single one of them for Steam achievements, and you can even prevent Lily from finding out if you order her to stare at a wall while you do the work and hide the bodies.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Appears to be in full effect, considering that the most uplifting ending (where the orphaned Lily gains a surrogate mother) is earned by murdering at least one guard (who was just doing his job) in view of Lily, but sparing The Usurper who is hoarding wealth and ordering entire forests burned down out of paranoia.
- Wreaking Havok: Weaponized by Shadwen's grappling hook. It can connect with anything made of wood, including the many crates and barrels strewn about each zone. Simply moving them around causes guards to come investigate, and the objects can kill if dropped from height.
