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keltenaA few weeks ago, I found Fallen Hero: Rebirth in my endless backlog of recs, grabbed it on a whim, and promptly fell so deeply in love that I haven't emerged from the rabbit hole since. At this point, I think I owe some people a "sorry about all the Fallen Hero" cake…
It's a work of interactive fiction about a telepathic ex-superhero who returns years after their untimely demise to make a fresh start as a villain, while juggling multiple secret identities, old allies turned unknowing enemies, and a near-Gordian snarl of PTSD. Or in simpler terms, it's Identity Porn: The Book: The Game. It also asks tough, relevant questions, like:
• can a relationship — or a life — built on false pretenses ever be real?
• am I a bad person, or just a person with PTSD? (or both?)
• when is murder an appropriate method of career advancement?
• how many secret identities can one person have?? (and do I have to fill out a full character sheet for all of them?)
• how can I grow and change as a person when my friends are still attached to the old me?
• does it count as imposter syndrome if I'm literally lying about my identity?
• can I violate the Evil Overlord List if I have a really good evil monologue in mind?
• is becoming a supervillain a metaphor for being trans … or is being trans a metaphor for becoming a supervillain?
• is it morally permissible to join the superhero-industrial complex for health insurance?
• capes: in or out?
※ I make no guarantees that the game raises all of these questions for all readers.
It's the first game I've played that uses Choice of Games's CYOA mechanics, and I'm impressed by how well it takes advantage of the medium. The format involves very frequent choices even in non-branching scenes, which Fallen Hero often uses to touch on different plot/character background details, meaning you see a different selection of story puzzle pieces each playthrough. (I was surprised on replay by how few story branches and dialogue options felt "empty"— even choices I'd assumed were minor text variations sometimes prompted unique information or insights from the protagonist's internal monologue.) And despite being a largely linear story with a fairly predefined protagonist, it managed — through a mix of careful writing and well-placed conditional text based on past choices — to pull off the illusion of being tailored to my specific roleplaying choices to an extent that wowed me on my first playthrough.
I also didn't expect the story to sell me so well on why my character wants to be a supervillain. This is, at heart, a story about someone making terrible life choices for not-terribly-rational reasons — and yet the deeper I dig into it, the harder it is to just dismiss those choices because… I get it. They're bad choices, but ones that make an awful lot of sense from the protagonist's standpoint. Although they have options far less disastrous than "become a supervillain", I'd be hard pressed to come up with many truly good ones — and their POV conveys the appeal of being a supervillain on such a convincing emotional level that I can see why they don't want to. This story made bursting into gleeful laughter at the terror of my victims a genuinely poignant experience, and I'm still reeling from that.
On an entirely separate note, it makes me happy that not only are the game's two romance options "the paranoid, amoral mad scientist with whom you interact only under a false identity" and "your old friend and ally who still loves and supports you unconditionally", but
Apparently I chose a good time to fall down this particular rabbit hole, because as it turns out, the sequel is coming out in like a week?? So here is a non-exhaustive list of the very specific stupid things I personally need from Fallen Hero: Retribution:
1. The opportunity for a gender-questioning MC to come out as trans to Ortega, who immediately goes, "Ohhhh, so that's what's been going on with you. Wow, that explains everything!"
2. A) The reveal that Dr. Mortum was part of the team behind Ortega's ethically-questionable emergency mod job (because I mean come on, that has to be what those scenes were foreshadowing),
and B) the option for said reveal to happen while all involved parties are present, at the single most awkward and unhelpful moment possible.
3. The potential for the MC to get maimed fighting Lady Argent solely because they insisted on trying to get their cape back against all better judgment.
4. If it's possible for your secret identity to get exposed in this game: the option to have the world's most inane argument with Ortega about your life choices. Specifically, I feel very strongly that the MC should get the option to argue, "I thought you wanted me to be happy? Well, this is what makes me happy!" with a completely straight face before their better sense can catch up to them.
5. An entire sitcom's worth of Mia Ochoa accosting a busy supervillain in full-body power armor to ask for comment/an interview — ideally, on at least one more occasion, while being actively menaced.
6. Opportunities for the MC to have an accidental awkward bonding moment with Steel and then be privately offended by it.
7. Opportunities for the MC to unintentionally bond with Herald and then be privately furious about it.
8. Any response to a dumb choice that lives up to the pure delight of:
It's a work of interactive fiction about a telepathic ex-superhero who returns years after their untimely demise to make a fresh start as a villain, while juggling multiple secret identities, old allies turned unknowing enemies, and a near-Gordian snarl of PTSD. Or in simpler terms, it's Identity Porn: The Book: The Game. It also asks tough, relevant questions, like:
• can a relationship — or a life — built on false pretenses ever be real?
• am I a bad person, or just a person with PTSD? (or both?)
• when is murder an appropriate method of career advancement?
• how many secret identities can one person have?? (and do I have to fill out a full character sheet for all of them?)
• how can I grow and change as a person when my friends are still attached to the old me?
• does it count as imposter syndrome if I'm literally lying about my identity?
• can I violate the Evil Overlord List if I have a really good evil monologue in mind?
• is becoming a supervillain a metaphor for being trans … or is being trans a metaphor for becoming a supervillain?
• is it morally permissible to join the superhero-industrial complex for health insurance?
• capes: in or out?
※ I make no guarantees that the game raises all of these questions for all readers.
It's the first game I've played that uses Choice of Games's CYOA mechanics, and I'm impressed by how well it takes advantage of the medium. The format involves very frequent choices even in non-branching scenes, which Fallen Hero often uses to touch on different plot/character background details, meaning you see a different selection of story puzzle pieces each playthrough. (I was surprised on replay by how few story branches and dialogue options felt "empty"— even choices I'd assumed were minor text variations sometimes prompted unique information or insights from the protagonist's internal monologue.) And despite being a largely linear story with a fairly predefined protagonist, it managed — through a mix of careful writing and well-placed conditional text based on past choices — to pull off the illusion of being tailored to my specific roleplaying choices to an extent that wowed me on my first playthrough.
I also didn't expect the story to sell me so well on why my character wants to be a supervillain. This is, at heart, a story about someone making terrible life choices for not-terribly-rational reasons — and yet the deeper I dig into it, the harder it is to just dismiss those choices because… I get it. They're bad choices, but ones that make an awful lot of sense from the protagonist's standpoint. Although they have options far less disastrous than "become a supervillain", I'd be hard pressed to come up with many truly good ones — and their POV conveys the appeal of being a supervillain on such a convincing emotional level that I can see why they don't want to. This story made bursting into gleeful laughter at the terror of my victims a genuinely poignant experience, and I'm still reeling from that.
On an entirely separate note, it makes me happy that not only are the game's two romance options "the paranoid, amoral mad scientist with whom you interact only under a false identity" and "your old friend and ally who still loves and supports you unconditionally", but
spoilers
the latter is the fucked-up, dysfunctional romance. (I realize this is in part because the Dr. Mortum romance hasn't had the chance to properly blow up in your face yet, but it's also just… Mortum has boundaries and isn't afraid to enforce them. Whereas I'm pretty sure that if you tagged your MC/Ortega fic for dubcon, Ortega would show up to argue in the comments.)Apparently I chose a good time to fall down this particular rabbit hole, because as it turns out, the sequel is coming out in like a week?? So here is a non-exhaustive list of the very specific stupid things I personally need from Fallen Hero: Retribution:
1. The opportunity for a gender-questioning MC to come out as trans to Ortega, who immediately goes, "Ohhhh, so that's what's been going on with you. Wow, that explains everything!"
2. A) The reveal that Dr. Mortum was part of the team behind Ortega's ethically-questionable emergency mod job (because I mean come on, that has to be what those scenes were foreshadowing),
and B) the option for said reveal to happen while all involved parties are present, at the single most awkward and unhelpful moment possible.
3. The potential for the MC to get maimed fighting Lady Argent solely because they insisted on trying to get their cape back against all better judgment.
4. If it's possible for your secret identity to get exposed in this game: the option to have the world's most inane argument with Ortega about your life choices. Specifically, I feel very strongly that the MC should get the option to argue, "I thought you wanted me to be happy? Well, this is what makes me happy!" with a completely straight face before their better sense can catch up to them.
5. An entire sitcom's worth of Mia Ochoa accosting a busy supervillain in full-body power armor to ask for comment/an interview — ideally, on at least one more occasion, while being actively menaced.
6. Opportunities for the MC to have an accidental awkward bonding moment with Steel and then be privately offended by it.
7. Opportunities for the MC to unintentionally bond with Herald and then be privately furious about it.
8. Any response to a dumb choice that lives up to the pure delight of:
Are you really planning to take down one of the Special Directive operatives just for kicks?
The answer is most definitely yes.
